MindanaoToday.com | Cebu’s top lady striker to lead Beach Hut FC
By: Jack Biantan
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – In my long years of experience as a football journalist, player, coach, and team manager, I can immediately recognize talent if I find one.
That is why I have predicted many years ago that this ‘little gem’ of a girl on the football pitch from Cebu City would someday become a well polished diamond. I saw her many times during the Thirsty Cup playing against boys and she would dominate and score goals.
This ‘little gem’ Jodie Marie Banzon, is now a 17-year old rough diamond. The daughter of my Bosconian brother Jesus Banzon and Mae Yu Banzon, Jodie is just rough diamond as of the moment, but with more experiences, she will someday become a 21 karat diamond that many football managers and top football clubs would want to acquire.
One club from Manila, Beach Hut FC with their coach Joyce Landagan have recognized this ‘rough diamond’ and signed her up with five other Cebuano players to bolster their line-up in the current And Liga Filipina 17&Under category.
FIVE CEBUANOS
The five other Cebuanos who have been traveling to Manila every weekend to play for Beach Hut FC the past few months now include, Celina Salazar of St. Theresa’s College, Jelena Soon, Jonah and Junalyn Cuerpo of Pardo National High School and Joshper Halilia of Ateneo de Cebu.
Aside from these five Cebuanos, midfielder Kellyn Pongos also plays for BHFC. Kellyn is the daughter of another Bosconian brother from Cebu, Nick Pongos. Nick was a Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduate and was a Philippine Air Force and Philippine Air Lines pilot.
BHFC investment for these players have definitely paid off as the Beach Hut girls easily advanced to semis losing only to Tuloy FC 2-1 in the elimination round of the 8-team And Liga Filipinas 17-Under competition.
The semis round was much easier for the BH girls as they thrashed UMAK Azzuri, 15-1.
TULOY FC DON BOSCO
Tuloy FC swept the elimination round and then ripped Kaya FC 14-3 in the semis to arrange for a title showdown against Beach Hut FC this Sunday.
Jodie has been playing for BHFC since April of last year in the Youth Football League. Since then she has seen action for the club with the other Cebuanos in Manila, Thailand (Bangkok Soccer League) and in Singapore (Singapore Cup).
These experiences have started to polish this ‘rough diamond’ who is still unpolished but remains precious because she is a diamond, a valuable stone.
“I’m always grateful for BHFC because it helped me grow and gave me exposure that I need to get better on the pitch,” the grade 11 student of Ateneo de Cebu said.
Jodie’s talent has been on the radar of national team coaches since 2022 as she saw action in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) U18 championship in Indonesia.
She then again made it to the national youth team and played in Asia Football Confederation (AFC) U20 qualifying tournament in Laos where she was a teammate of Julia Benitez.
FRIENDS OF FEMALE FOOTBALLERS
Julia and her father Eric Benitez are active fund raisers of the US based charity Friends of Female Footballers (FFF).
After her stint in Laos, she signed up for Beach Hut FC with her five other Cebuano teammates in 2023.
She also made her third stint with the youth national team when he was named to play in the AFF U19 championship in Palembang Indonesia in June of 2023.
This year, she became busy with Futsal representing Ateneo de Cebu-Mandaue City in Department of Education Futsal competitions.
She led Ateneo de Cebu-Mandaue to the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVRAA) Girls Futsal gold medal in the Cebu City regional meet to qualify for the Palarong Pambansa which is also set in Cebu City in July.
Jodie missed the Philippine U17 team in the AFC U17 Asian Cup in Bali, Indonesia missing the age cut off date for few months.
Jodie’s Beach Hut teammate Jelena Soon played for that Philippine team which had a decent performance finishing third in their group winning over Indonesia 6-1, drawing with South Korea 1-1, and losing to North Korea 0-6.
OUT FOR REVENGE
Jodie and BHFC will be out for revenge against Tuloy FC in the championship on Sunday evening in the Ang Liga Filipinas.
Jodie, who was inspired by her football playing father Jesus and her brother JC Miguel, has so far scored 24 goals for Beach Hut from the elims to the semis.
Jesus still plays and is a football fanatic. He is a graduate of Don Bosco Missionary Seminary in Lawaan, Talisay, Cebu while her brother was also a football varsity player at Don Bosco Technology School (DBTC) in Labangon, Cebu City then at the University of San Jose-Recoletos. JC Miguel is now a graduating Engineering student at Cebu Institute of Technology-University.
Jodie credits her father and brother for influencing her to take up the beautiful game as young as four years old as she would tag along with her father and brother to play the at DBTC.
However, as she now has grown up to be one of the best or probably the best lady striker that Cebu has ever produced, she still looks forward on how to get better. “I always find ways to get better in every game. I reflect on my mistakes and do double handwork during training with different coaches,” she said.
COMPETITION
She also said that her competing against different players from different places has done lots of wonders to increase her confidence and improve her skills.
“Competing against football players from different places are more competitive. I try to think in every game what skills I have that they don’t and what are my weaknesses that they can use against me and how I can improve on them,” she said.
She added that there are many great players that push her to work double and there are also different coaches who share their knowledge and push her to be a better version of herself.
Jodie has one more year left before she finishes her Senior High School studies with Ateneo de Cebu. As of the moment, she wants to take up business in college, aims to play for the Senior Philippine Women’s National Team (PWNT) and the UAAP.
However, these big dreams could wait for Jodie as she has one more year of schooling with Ateneo de Cebu before she begins the next phase of her football journey.
“I still need to train harder so that I could be fit in the competitiveness of international competition,” she said.
But as of the moment, Jodie remains focus in their match against Tuloy FC on Sunday evening.
Right after their championship game, win or lose she will be back in Cebu to focus training for the Central Visayas Futsal team for the Palaro.
Jodie is a busy young girl polishing her skills to be a 21 carat diamond of a player someday. I wish we have more girls in our country like her. (jackbiantantambok@gmail.com)
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