Courtesy: www.thefa.com

Planning Futsal's future
Friday, 25 February 2005.

Futsal National Coach Graeme Dell has outlined his plans for the development of a larger pool of England players for the foreseeable future as England enter their second full year on the international stage playing FIFA’s fast flowing official version of small sided football.

Dell has initiated the F30 Programme to increase the number of players who will work regularly within the England camp and develop the National team’s awareness of the game.

Launching the Programme Dell said: "At the moment The FA are developing the game from an increasing number of angles but that takes time and careful strategic planning to ensure that our investment is wisely made.

"The National Team is the focal point for our Futsal players to aspire to, as it should be with all England teams, but first we have to develop the players with the ability to play at the international level of this game.

"At present the game is still new to England and we don’t have access to sufficient players at that level and whilst we are developing the grass-roots development of the game, which will take time, I need to establish an elite group that our staff team can work closely and frequently with.

"The F30 Programme has been designed to provide the coaching and physiological conditioning support to a focused group of players who I think possess the abilities to play this game internationally.

"By working with them each month and exposing them to regular Futsal specific work the aim is to accelerate England’s development and increase the players knowledge through the programme.

"My objective is to have an established group of players where we can focus on their Futsal development whilst also improving their skills and knowledge in all aspects of the game so that they can also take that back to their Futsal and football communities. In the longer term that will aid the improvement and development of more futsal players.

"The F30 group will vary slightly throughout the season as we identify better players and we learn more about those I have selected, but having a broader group from which to select for international fixtures and give them that experience can only help the growth of our domestic game.

"The search for players goes on daily and this programme will also introduce more players to this exciting game.

"The F30 Programme is based on ‘performance through education’ and players will be able to access the very best we are able to offer at this time in all areas of support including technical, physiological, psychological, injury treatment and prevention. I am a firm believer that the better educated player will have a better chance of delivering success."

England’s 2005 friendly calendar kicks off on Tuesday 08 March against France in the northern town of Villeneuve d’Ascq and TheFA.com will bring you news of all the action.