The new head of Hekari Football Academy, who flew in from the Solomon Islands, said it would be a privilege to build football in PNG.
The Hekari United Football Club flew in Jerry Sam and his brother to help build the team in preparation for the National Super League competition.
With a strong background in futsal, Jerry Sam and elder brother and Hekari head coach, Jerry Allen, will use their expertise to further strengthen one of the toughest teams in the country.
Sam, who has 10 years of futsal experience under his belt, believes that this variant of football can be used to develop players to soccer.
“For me there’s no problem for me to come in and start to develop players for Hekari academy,” he stated.
“So we’re going to combine both futsal and soccer. I think it’s a good combination for the two codes to develop players.”
Sharing similar sentiments, Hekari manager Vonnie Kapi Natto stressed the need for futsal in PNG.
“We need to have that code in our country so they can be very skillful players and are going to be a great contribution to our national team in different grades; either the youths or the junior and the senior.
“And for Hekari, our goal is to make it to the FIFA Club World Cup. It’s not an easy job but it all depends, if lord willing, if we work hard, if the players follow the rules and regulations and accept the two coaches because you know, when Hekari train, it’s not a time to relax.
“Jerry took us to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2010; it’s not hard.
“The young players that we have I always say they’re the cream of the country too. So we are not playing for Hekari only but we are building team players for the national team.”
(Manager of Hekari Football Academy, Jerry Sam)