Thinking about signing your child for soccer?
Think Futsal Instead. Here is why. If you’ve never played futsal, it can be hard to imagine how it’s so much different from soccer. Allow me to help you visualize the difference between playing futsal and soccer. Think of Futsal as the next generation soccer experience for children. Kids develop soccer skills playing constantly with the ball, high intensity activity to improve speed, agility vision, creativity. It's a fun way to learn real dribbling, passing, shooting, tackling and much more – all leading to immediate improvement. Futsal provides better ways to develop skills: Especially for young players ages 6-12, Futsal is a much better game for a players development. Most of a player's learning comes from playing, especially at the young starter ages of 3-6. The size of the court and speed of Futsal means 6 times more opportunities for a player to touch the ball vs soccer. It also puts players in constant situations where they need to think fast to solve problems, constantly be forced to protect the ball, work out of tight situations among other. Soccer is normally played as an outdoor game on large fields, whereas Futsal is a form of soccer that is played mostly indoors on a much smaller courts. Futsal is also played around the world in outdoor courts anywhere. The smaller field size ensures a game of Futsal is fast-paced and more intense, with more opportunity for goal scoring. Another difference is in the number of players. There are eleven players for each team in the game of Soccer, while Futsal is played with five players on the court. Less players at one time means more opportunities to touch the ball. There are three substitutions allowed in a game of Soccer, whereas there are unlimited substitutions in Futsal. Once again players can come in and out of the game as often as possible, giving them more time to play. There are many other differences between the two games in terms of tactics, positioning, and the skills required. However, the fundamentals of the two games are essentially similar, making Futsal a great option for Soccer players and vice-versa. If players become good at playing in a faster surface like a futsal surface they will immediately stand out on turf or grass.
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Over the years, soccer has been labeled as a "Thinking Man's Game". The term has been derived from the game's uninterrupted, steady flow of play without timeouts or many set plays, full of player engagement, creativity, situational recognition, adjustments and problem solving on the fly is what it is called a "player's game".
In soccer a player must be a thinker, problem solver and a creative machine without much help from the coach at every single minute of the game. There are unlimited options, combinations and opportunities to score goals. A player's imagination and creativity is the only limitation in the game of soccer. Because of this game setting nature players grow not only in their game but in life as well. The ability to constantly think, adopt and solve has massive benefits in everything. Well, futsal adds to the mix, a faster playing surface, restrictive smaller playing area, less time to think, react, adjust and solve game situations. The pressure is multiplied ten fold. If soccer is a "thinking man's game", then futsal is a "thinking man's game" on steroids. Futsal will absolutely, unequivocally, without any doubt grow a player's soccer game. Spring soccer season is upon us and every soccer player is returning to the big spacious soccer fields for pre season or tournaments. Do not forget that team soccer training does not mean that a player should stop its individual skill training. Let’s face it, when team training begins it is only natural that teams focus on team technical and tactical concepts and skills. Players must find a way to train their individual skills along side in order to be able to stand out. In an hour and a half team session with 14-18 players an individual player will not get as many touches on the ball as it will with a technical development specific program. Now lets add to that, training with a futsal ball in a smaller, faster, restricted training surface and your player will be shinning in soccer team training.
It has be observed that the children who train with heavier and less bouncy futsal balls make contact with the ball more often and they become more focused, which results in an enhancement in their game skills and also has a positive effect on traditional soccer game. (Read research report here) This is what supplemental futsal training along your player’s soccer team training will bring to the mix. LEARN MORE The Elite Player Futsal Spring Training Schedule has been released and it will serve as supplemental training for soccer players. It is widely known that futsal is the key development tool for soccer players. Families now understand the reason why year round futsal training is benefiting soccer players and keeping the elite players at their top playing form. This is a 100% Club Neutral Program. All players belong to their current clubs. We do not recruit or form soccer teams to compete outdoors. This program is a feeder for the Champions Cup Series and the US Futsal Regional & National Tournaments. If a player is identified he/she maybe asked to play in one of these futsal events, provided their outdoor soccer program permits it. This program offers a pathway to national and international opportunities and exposure to international coaches from all over the world. We invite you to make this training part of your weekly spring training. There is a limited number of students that we will be accepting in the program so don't be left out. LEARN MORE WHAT ARE COACHES SAYING ABOUT FUTSAL, CENTRAL JERSEY, EX ALBANIAN PRO SOCCER PLAYER, VANI MEHMETI1/26/2021 What are coaches saying about futsal and Central Jersey Futsal - In this video learn what ex Albanian Professional Soccer Player Vani Mehmeti has to say.
"I think futsal is great development tool for young ages staring with 5 or 6 years old all the way to 13, 14 and older ages", Vani says. Just like many other coaches who have developed their soccer skills by playing futsal in their native countries, Vani is a big believer in futsal not only as a development tool, but as a sport as well. He goes on to mention how US must build more futsal courts and make it easy for youth soccer players to have access to futsal courts everywhere like it is done in many other countries. Being able to play unstructured and unsupervised small sided games like futsal will help build a player's confidence, creativity, and ability to get out of tight spot situations as well as improve their 1v1 skills. Following is a quick video on how creating space in futsal will massively develop a player's outdoor soccer game. We often see players on the futsal court trying to play a position and stay at that position while their teammate possesses the ball. (This is what they been may have been taught by their soccer coaches). That creates and amplifies the problem that since the futsal playing space is restricted the player possessing the ball will not have options and will be forced into trying to keep possession under the defender's pressure. Although this develops the players ability to keep possession with own personal foot skills it does not allow the team to advance the ball and penetrate.
In the outdoor game of possession, although there is a basic shape a coach will use with players primarily maintaining their position, players are also asked to pass and move, recognize and make timely runs, overlaps and basically move away from their primary position in an organized fashion. Meaning, if the left back over laps maybe the midfielder will drop back to cover that position, if both the back and the midfielder play together to advance the ball, one of the center backs will shift to cover the left back position of maybe the defensive midfielder, (if there is one), will drop to cover that spot. The bottom line is that in an organized manner although players have primary positions they will shift and move out of positions to either advance the ball or cover for each other. Learning how to recognize and create space with timely runs off the ball, thus providing additional options to the ball handler in the futsal restricted space will massively develop a player's outdoor soccer game. Continuing Futsal Education and how it is the number 1 development tool to the outdoor soccer game, we would like to point out certain benefits that no one can deny. The first one is to be considered in direct comparison to a similar 5v5 game on indoor turf . Take the following points into consideration: Not only a smaller playing area with less players playing at a time, but also a much faster playing surface, which makes ball control harder, and with a futsal specific ball which is smaller and less bouncy allowing the quicker development for ball handling skills.
When one first engages futsal for the first time, he is taken back from what he is watching and initially may not be able to express what is going on, but quickly realizes this is not an ordinary game. Many have tried to debate futsal's benefits and how it helps outdoor soccer but the bottom line is futsal must be purposely used year round along side with soccer and come first in the younger starter age groups of 3 to 9 years of age. Futsal develops top soccer players and you can take it to the bank.
Following are some key point as to the differences of futsal and indoor soccer that will help everyone understand why it is some much better than indoor soccer. One of the things that we constantly try to preach, is that regardless if you agree or not only time will tell if your child will keep playing the sport of soccer past the ages of 12-13 and become either a top level soccer player or at the very least a life long soccer lover.
Some of the things that we try to educate parents with fall on deaf ears and parents do not realize how right we were until it is too late and their child has stopped playing soccer. By the way, it is the player's decision to quit not yours, and as parents we must respect that. However, is it in their best life development interest to stay in sports and are there ways to better increase the odds to accomplishing such goals? We think so, and the best two things to remember in helping us towards that goal are: IT STARTS AND ENDS WITH THEM The best trainers or environments will not keep them playing if they don't want to. According to a poll from the National Alliance for Youth Sports, around 70 percent of kids in the United States stop playing organized sports by the age of 13 because “it’s just not fun anymore.” We, as adults, suck the fun out of it because we view the game from a different perspective than the kids do. We must know and understand the best ways to allow them to enjoy the sport and at the same time help them make the decision to stay in it because they love it and have tons of fun. UNSCRIPTED, UNSUPERVISED FUN Playing games in an unscripted, unsupervised environment with no adult interaction or coaching will allow them to discover, interact, solve, and succeed. It will make it FUN, help them fall in love with the game and keep them playing for a lifetime. As we get older we forget how much fun it was to just get out and play with our friends. Just play, and enjoy the game. Winning was not the motivating factor behind playing. Just being with our friends was, laughing and having a great old time, no matter how silly we were. Recreating that relaxed unstructured environment is crucial to keeping the kids playing. Why Futsal you ask?
Many top soccer players started out at their young age playing Futsal, as it taught them early on about the necessary skills to succeed on the big soccer field. Some of the current players who got their start playing Futsal include Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Christian Pulisic and many more. Here you have 5 reasons why you SHOULD PLAY Futsal. 1. Adaptability Futsal is a game that can be played on any hard surface, indoors and outdoors. A gymnasium, a cafeteria, a convention hall or a parking lot, a skating rink, a tennis court or anything else. All you need is a ball and shoes. It also happens to be the perfect addition to soccer. Almost any soccer tactical session can be adapted to be played on a futsal court or vise versa. It is perfect for training concepts on the “micro”, younger age groups, before bringing it to the big 11v11 soccer field. 2. Improves Athletic Intelligence Futsal's fast-paced and non stop nature aids in improving a player’s spatial intelligence and ability to learn to read the game in a short time period under pressure. 3. Speed of Play The futsal small playing area requires players to not only play quicker but also to think quicker and make faster decisions. In futsal, you only have a split second to decide what to do with the ball before you are put under high pressure. 4. Ball Skills and Control As per Dr. Emilio Miranda from Sao Paolo University, a futsal player will have 600% more touches on the ball during a futsal game, than a soccer player will have in a soccer game. This naturally aids players to master their touch on the ball and give them confidence to hold on to the ball more, than just kicking it way out of fear of losing it, as well make them more confident in taking on players in a 1v1 situation. 5. Creativity In our opinion the single most important reason to play futsal is that it encourages players to be creative and think out of the box. Because the futsal court is much smaller than a soccer field, and a player gets so much more touches on the ball, they try things that they would never risk doing on the soccer field. |
AuthorNiko is someone who believes passionately that futsal should be intentionally used as a tool for developing soccer players year-round and come first in the developing process at the younger starter age groups of 3-12 years of age. He has a massive amount of experiences, observations, thoughts and ideas from being submerged in the futsal community as a player, coach and operations director waiting to be released that could truly benefit the futsal community as well as the soccer coach that is just getting into the futsal methodology as a soccer development tool as well as the futsal game itself Archives
August 2021
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