Courtesy: The Cumberland Times-News


Futsal returning to YMCA Saturday

Brian Held

For The Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Any YMCA history fan can tell you that basketball and volleyball are two sports that were invented at a YMCA in Springfield, Mass. But if you want to separate the men from the boys, just ask at what “Y” was futsal first played.

More to the point, you only need to ask this: “What is futsal?”

Literally, “futbol sala” — later, just futsal — means “indoor football,” and it was first played indoors at a YMCA in Montevideo, Uruguay. An Argentinian named Juan Carlos Ceriani invented the game around 1930, to be able to practice soccer indoors, as an antidote to rainy weather and canceled practices.

For local fans of YMCA trivia, futsal was first played in the Cumberland YMCA in May 2006. It was deemed a success by players and parents, so the second session will begin Saturday at the Riverside YMCA.

The YMCA’s futsal program will be led by a former Allegany High School soccer player, Brett Showalter, now vying for a spot on the Frostburg State University soccer team.

“I love the game, and I’m really looking forward to teaching younger kids,” Showalter said. “I hope someday to coach soccer, so this is a great opportunity.”

One parent who plans to enroll his kids is Robert Godfrey, who was pleased the progress his sons, Robin, 8, and Patrick, 6, made in the first session.

“They definitely learned some new skills and were developing them,” he said.

The boys are both playing in the LaVale AYSO league in about a month, so Godfrey feels confident this session will help them get ready for the outdoor season.

“They’re really looking forward to playing futsal again,” he said.

Futsal is much like its parent sport of soccer, but is played with a smaller, heavier ball. That prevents players from being able to kick it longer distances, thus requiring better skills for the short game. It is played on a smaller field, often inside a gymnasium.

Frostburg State soccer coach Keith Byrnes has been impressed with the game as a skill-development program.

“It’s a great sport to teach ball-control skills. Kids can learn dribbling and passing, especially shorter, accurate passes. Players become much more comfortable with the ball.”

For those who followed the World Cup last month, many soccer stars got their start playing futsal. Brazilian players Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, and former great Pele, all played futsal as youngsters, according to a futsal website. In fact, Ronaldo is quoted as saying a brilliant, toe-poke goal he scored in a game a few years back was the result of “playing a lot of futsal when I was a boy.”

Futsal will run for five consecutive Saturday mornings at the Riverside YMCA and is open to players ages 5 to 16. It will be played in the Ort Arena on the artificial grass surface.

Jeff Collen, the YMCA chief executive officer, is confident the YMCA’s Arena is a great place for indoor sports such as futsal and, come winter, soccer. He said the YMCA is looking to take the lead in developing a year-round soccer program in the Cumberland region.

Showalter, the futsal program leader, has played in other parts of the state and also on tournament teams. He can tell you how difficult it is for local players to match up when they compete with teams playing year-round for coaches who stick with the team throughout their development.

“We really need to develop the game into a year-round sport,” he said. “I definitely think there are kids who want to play.”




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