Olympic Champion Gebrselassie hosts sports day for Tondo’s children
1 March 2010
Thursday 25th February saw the children of the Philippine Christian Foundation (PCF) dumpsite school in Tondo, enjoy a unique day of sporting fun with one of the world’s greatest sportsmen and some of the athletes of the G4S 4teen – a team of global sports stars. Having officially welcomed young Filipino boxer, Charly Suarez, to the G4S 4teen at a glittering event at the British Ambassador’s residence the previous evening, Thursday saw Gebrselassie, Suarez and three of their fellow G4S 4teen athletes pay a special visit to the Tondo school to treat over 150 excited children to an unforgettable G4S Sports Day.
Before the activities begun, G4S’ Global Ambassador Gebrselassie, surprised the school with the donation of new sports equipment provided by G4S to mark the beginning of an ongoing relationship between the school and the world’s biggest security firm. Gebrselassie, Suarez and the other G4S 4teen members then kick-started the activity-filled afternoon by teaching the 150 enthusiastic youngsters new sports, skills and games, allowing them to enjoy a unique opportunity of playing with an Olympic Champion.
G4S 4teen’s newest member, and the Philippines most promising young boxer, Charly Suarez, who was officially welcomed to the global sporting team last Wednesday, was delighted to be joining Gebrselassie and his new team-mates in providing such a rare opportunity for the school. Commenting on the sports day, Suarez said: “you know, where I come from it is a little like this place, it reminds me of when I was younger and all I wanted to do was play sports so it is really good to be doing that today for these kids. This is also just the beginning because G4S and I are going to come back here a lot more.”
After joining 200 other runners for a fun run at the Manila Polo Club that same morning, Gebrselassie travelled directly to Tondo to meet the children. Commenting on the sports day Gebrselassie said: “This is a great idea, it’s so lovely that we have been given the opportunity to meet these children and provide a day of games for them – they have such energy and have really enjoyed themselves. It’s days like this when I am really proud to be associated with G4S.”
The G4S 4teen global team is comprised of 14 young international athletes from 13 countries brought together as one united team. Despite their different backgrounds and a dynamic mix of Olympic sports, all the youngsters have one common goal – to compete at the London Olympics in 2012. Conceived to nurture and support a new generation of young stars from around the world, the initiative attracted the exclusive support of legendary two-time Olympic gold medal winning athlete, Haile Gebrselassie. The Ethiopian marathon world record holder is the Ambassador of G4S 4teen and a mentor to the young sportsmen and women, and was in Manila this week to meet the new member of his team – Charly Suarez.
Charly will receive the ongoing support of G4S Philippines, as well as access to G4S’s international network of staff and athletes around the world. In addition to receiving financial support to help him with training, equipment, and travel to major competitions, Charly will be provided with training in key life skills such as computing and foreign language lessons, as well as help to raise his profile at home and abroad.