Quake survivor football coaches provide training to children in container city

Earthquake survivor football coaches provide training to children in container city, located in the city centre of Turkiye’s south-eastern Malatya, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Provincial Directorate of Youth Services and Sports trainer, Savas Gunay, 34, told Anadolu that his home was severely damaged and that his 7-month pregnant wife and one child were placed in the Teknokent Temporary Accommodation Centre container city.

Gunay, 34, said they try their best for children to cope with earthquake psychology.

“We provide football training by dividing children into groups. We are trying to teach the basic techniques of football infrastructure,” he said.

The trainer said they would give basic training, teach something here, and send it to other teams, adding, “There is a great demand for football here.”

READ: Turkiye pledges to enhance cooperation, solidarity with Africa

Quake survivor invites Fatih Terim to Malatya

Hakan Koc, one of the coaches in the earthquake zone, said that he wished to organise an activity for children with the participation of the renowned Turkish manager, Fatih Terim.

“Officials of the Turkish Football Federation, we can organise events with former football players and raise the morale of the children to a higher level,” he said.

The 32-year-old trainer added that they aim to discover talented players here and bring them into Turkish football.

More than 50,000 people were killed and over 107,200 injured in two powerful earthquakes that rocked southern Turkiye on 6 February, according to the latest official figures.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces, including Kahramanmaras, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Elazig and Sanliurfa.

READ: +1 Street home to Turkiye’s earthquake victims with Down syndrome