NGO Globalteer plans to stage a ‘mini-Olympics’ involving different NGOs in Siem Reap this year, on the back of a successful soccer tournament.

Globalteer sports coordinator Charlie Pomroy said, “We’ll do a mini-Olympics at each different NGO, and teach them all these different sports, all the athletics. We’ll do some funny silly races too, and high jump, long jump, triple jump.”

Globalteer marketing manager Simon Hare said it’s not a problem if players talents veer more towards the sack-race than the shot put, because there will be something for everyone.

The ambitious plan follows a successful soccer outing in May, when Globalteer’s junior league football teams competed for the first time in a national competition.

During the two-day football tournament at Siem Reap’s soccer stadium, the league’s teams played against local state schools plus teams from Poipet.

Eight teams were involved: four from assorted NGOs in the Globalteer Soccer League, two from Siem Reap state schools and two from NGOs in Poipet. There were four under-eleven teams and four under-fourteens.

Charlie Pomroy said the tournament was born out of a meeting with Pip Miner from Poipet-based NGO Christian Care for Cambodia, who is also involved with the Sports and Leadership Training Academy in Battambang.

Tournament matches were played over May 13-14, with the finals held on Tuesday May 14.  About 120 children took part, with 60 of them coming from Globalteer. The youngest player was eight years old.

Pomroy said that despite the heat, the kids loved it.   “It went really, really well,” he said. “Globalteer had two under-11 teams, a blue team and a yellow team. Our blue team finished bottom of the group unfortunately, but our yellow team won that tournament. With the under-14s again we had blue and yellow teams. Our yellow team came third, and our blue team won all three of its round robin games but lost the final to Poipet two-nil.”

Pip Miner was also delighted with how the tournament went, and that the games were played fairly and competitively.

“Football builds team-work, discipline and confidence in players,” she said. “There are many talented footballers in Cambodia, and tournaments such as these give young players an opportunity to test their abilities against other strong players.”