Youth ambassador Sylar Alcantara awarded back-to-back silver in World Virtual Sports Festival

Ateneo de Manila Grade School student athlete Sylar Alcantara (4-Dagohoy) has again won a silver medal for the Philippines in the United Through Sports (UTS) World Virtual Youth Festival 2021, where he was one of our country’s youth ambassadors. It is a back-to-back feat for the football player, who bagged the silver medal in the UTS World Virtual Youth Festival 2020 as well.

Sylar also spoke at the UTS Ambassador Cultivate Community webinar workshop, which had around 4,500 athlete participants. Asked how he is helping and contributing to his community in the Philippines, Sylar replied that his football club, Loyola Football Club, not only equips him with the necessary skills to become a competitive football player, but also teaches its members “good values” that will help them to become inspiring athletes. “Our club has been donating shoes and football equipment often to some of the kids and clubs that are struggling,” Sylar shared. “Some are really unfortunate that they can’t even afford to buy shoes for training. But we know that they love the sport, and we know how hard they value and wanted to learn because they still even train barefooted…. this is our way of giving back and this is our way of contributing to our community.”  At 9 years old, Sylar was the youngest ambassador at the Festival.

The UTS World Virtual Youth Festival was held from November 20 to 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to coincide with the celebration of United Nations World Children’s Day on Nov. 20. The UTS Ambassador workshop where Sylar spoke was also held on Nov. 20.

United Through Sports (UTS) is an alliance of many organizations and people working together through sports to bring inclusion, unity, and equality to the world. Through the many sports and education events it organizes, UTS strives to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to succeed in the playing field of life.