Sean Hungerford of the Dolphins. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.
I'm in the Beach Football Association of the Philippines office in the Philsports complex in Pasig, and president Mike Athab is about to teach me a whole new way of kicking a Football.
Wearing a somewhat unusual ensemble of red shorts and a pink and white long-sleeved shirt, coach Mike removes his red espadrilles and gets a Football close to his right foot.
The Iraqi who has spent most of his adult life here cocks his toes skyward and hits the ball with the fleshy of the front ball of his foot.
The ball rockets towards the wall and back, powerfully.
I try the technique myself and end up with nothing but sore toes.
Athab (red) coaches the team. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.
“I tried to teach the boys to shoot like that” says Athab, who coached the Philippine Dolphins during their stint in the qualifying for the Beach Soccer World Cup in Qatar last January.
Unfortunately the players found it hard to ignore the years of instinctively kicking with the inside of the foot. The Dolphins, who were a last-minute replacement and lacked preparation,
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