Daily Times

Sports builds courage, discipline, leadership qualities, and a sense of unity in an individual thus leading to a prosperous nation. In Pakistan, sports have been at a decline, not from the ones who play them but from the ones who should encourage, fund, and organize them. It will be appropriate to mention that other than cricket, the second game that is also played on the streets, parks, and any open spaces is football, so you can imagine the God gifted talent for this game in our country. Unfortunately, we have just not been able to properly advocate for the exciting game in our land. APSA (Association of Private Sports Academies) is the pioneer of providing state of the art international standard FIFA approved artificial grass football playing grounds in twin cities since 2015.

With 5 Football Grounds i.e ( Midfield FC (Ayub Park/Askari-14 Rwp , Vibrant FC ( DHA -1, Rwp), Strikers FC ( DHA -2, Isb), Zaraj FC (Zaraj Housing Isb), APSA have also recently developed a cricket academy with artificial grass and imported pitch with the name Strikers Cricket Club in DHA-2. All of their fields have day and night flood light facilities. They have been training players starting from age 5 to the max age, with an ambition and vision to promote a healthy lifestyle, and take our young generation out of radiation world of technology and gadgets and boost up there immunity. With more than 5,000 registered members who train from the professional coaches everyday , they are also having the most number of girls students in any football academy in twin city and countless other self-made teams from all walks of life who use their facility to play and enjoy the game.

They have been hosting teams from all over Pakistan in their tournaments right from Gilgit Baltistan till Karachi and also have conducted many international tours for their members. To promote the sports activities and to encourage the young talent in football regardless of gender ,APSA has recently organized a promising event ” APSA Football league 2023″ in DHA Phase 2 Strikers Club Islamabad. Renowned schools i.e. Future world Roots, Frobels, DHAI APS and Defence education system (DES) participated with their under 12 girls and boys football teams. All the teams performed exceptionally great and raised the bar of performance after each match . It was a treat to see the beaming energy and excitement among these kids. Striker Club was full of spectators cheering for their teams and among them we saw many proud faces of parents watching their kids playing an outclass game.

Syed Zeeshan Ali Naqvi ex Deputy Mayor Islamabad graced the ceremony as Chief guest and distributed Trophies, Medals and certificate among winners. Chief Guest appreciated the efforts of APSA for organizing this event and for training hundreds of boys and girls and help them progress and develop into footballers. The Ceremony was concluded in high spirit . We at APSA believe in the power of sports to transform lives and communities. It is absolutely critical to involve girls in sports. Sport increases self-esteem among adolescent girls and provides opportunities for the advancement of girls in the face of gender-related barriers. We indeed can’t change the current picture of sports in Pakistan but let us all do what we can individually and collectively do to support these events and clubs. Let’s do it for the sake of our coming generations. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, on the occasion of the first national games of Pakistan in Karachi, said “Dedicate yourself to sports promotion, for when you and I are gone, leadership will go into the hands of Youth.”