Courtesy: The Journal Gazette


Older Beasley kicks it indoors

Jamar thriving in Major Indoor Soccer League

By Ben Smith - The Journal Gazette

Jamar Beasley really can’t hide behind those shades, beneath that floppy USA Soccer hat, inside the long-sleeved shirt that’s at least one layer too many on this June afternoon inside the stifling Plex.

He started this, after all.

He was the one, 10 years ago now, who sat in a crowded room at South Side and signed a contract with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. His parents looked on, beaming. His younger brother DaMarcus sat next to him, watching his own future unfold.

Now DaMarcus is the U.S. World Cup veteran, back in Fort Wayne on Tuesday with his brother and fellow national-team player Cory Gibbs to kick off his annual soccer school. And Jamar is a star, too, in his own particular galaxy.

One that has a roof and boards and a revved-up pace foreign to any player who grew up playing outdoors.

“It was a big adjustment for me,” Jamar, 28, agreed Tuesday, of his current gig with the Detroit Ignition of the Major Indoor Soccer League. “At first I struggled a little bit, to be honest. Coming from outdoor, you have a little more time on the ball. Indoors, guys are right on you, and you have to think a lot quicker.

“Not that you don’t think quicker in outdoor (soccer), but in indoor it’s real tight spaces. You have to be very, very, very technical at least in some aspects of the game. And I think that’s really helped me.”

Not that he needs much help anymore. A six-year MISL vet, the last two seasons Beasley’s been the leading scorer for the Ignition, and in 2006-07 he was named the MISL Most Valuable Player after leading the league in scoring with 107 points. In March he scored his 300th career point.

In September, he’ll play for the U.S. in the Futsal World Cup in Brazil – futsal being the international version of the indoor game, played five-to-a-side with a smaller ball. To prepare, Beasley is hoping to return to Fort Wayne to play some with the Fever.

“It’s still in the works; we have to go through paperwork and everything,” he says. “But we’ve talked about it. It would be just for me to get a good run in, maybe 90 minutes every week so I’m playing and practicing and to keep me conditioned for the World Cup. I would love to play for the Fever.”

And if not?

Well, he still plays some outdoors with his brother and Gibbs. And remembers, when he does, how this all got started.

No, not in a crowded room at South Side. Long before that.

“A big help was Bobby Poursanidis and the Fort Wayne Soccer Academy,” Beasley says. “That’s what we want to impart to these young kids coming up today.”

Indoors or out.






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