Courtesy: STL Highschool Sports


Panathinaikos U9 girls soccer readies for nationals

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Despite no previous experience playing futsal, a Panathinaikos Soccer Schools U9 girls team has earned a shot at the national futsal championship.

The Panathinaikos U9 girls academy team won all four of its games recently at the U.S. Youth Futsal Midwest Regional event in St. Louis. The team earned a spot in the U.S. Futsal Nationals, to be held Feb. 17-20 at the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kan., and is the recipient of the Cardinals Team of the Week honor.

Coach Aaron Wagner said the girls had only one training session to adjust to the differences between futsal, which is played on a hard court with a smaller ball, and the walled indoor soccer game they are more familiar with.

"My assistant coach told me after the first half of the first game, they were nervous and scared because they'd never played before," Wagner said. "They picked it up very quickly and started clicking."

Wagner, who wasn't able to coach those games because he was in Kansas City, said the girls had decided they especially wanted to win so they could force him to make another trip to that area for the national event.

"It's very cool to see a bunch of 8- and 9-year-old girls do this," he said.

The team includes a mix of members of Panathinaikos' three U9 girls teams. In the Midwest Regionals the team scored 40 goals and allowed only four.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com