Courtesy: The Oregonian





Fast-paced futsal scores with players

Fans and players gather for the popular sport in a warehouse in Hillsboro

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Bea Villaraldo, 17, has always played soccer and basketball with great passion. When she discovered the sport of futsal last fall, her enthusiasm hit an all-time high.

"It's faster and the field's smaller, so you get a lot more chances to score," said the incoming Hillsboro High School senior, who plays forward for the all-girls team called Mexico. "It's fun to be out there with girls from so many different schools."

Each weekend and most evenings, teams and their fans squeeze into a former warehouse near downtown Hillsboro for hourlong contests that can best be described as five-on-five versions of indoor soccer.

Games are played on two makeshift basketball-sized courts, next to a complex of low-slung buildings housing the M&M Swap Meet. Boisterous supporters squeeze together on small bleachers behind rope netting, enjoying cool drinks and sweets while urging on their favorite players.

A single, yellow-jerseyed official signals fouls and out-of-bounds during the nearly nonstop game.

"I had heard of the sport but didn't start playing until about four months ago," 16-year-old Denis Cazares of Forest Grove said, as she cooled down after a high-scoring match. As goalie, the high school junior blocked more than three dozen shots and came away with a bruised arm and leg. "You really have to keep alert and your eyes on the ball because it's always coming at you."

While the action inside is heated and fast-paced, outside the warehouse people snack on fresh tacos and burritos, bargain over truck parts and appliances, and watch their kids chase one another around the crowded parking lot.

"I started the leagues because I wanted a place where kids -- especially girls -- could play safely and learn to rely on one another," said Jaime Miranda, who has run the marketplace for the past six years. "We tried some other sports, but nothing caught on like futsal."

Miranda oversees several leagues that have grown to 35 teams and several hundred players, ranging in ages from 9 to mid-30s. He recently started weekly skill-training clinics for children as young as 4.

"I like this game because there's lots of physical activity but no tackling or slamming into walls," he said. "Kids have to learn to play with partners, so there's no intimidation factor or anyone out for number one."

Futsal originated in the 1930s in Uruguay as part of a YMCA youth program. It caught on quickly in South America, where large soccer fields are scarce, especially among Brazilians, who have made it a national pastime. By the mid-1980s, the game found its way to the United States and has been growing rapidly over the past two decades.

The U.S. Futsal Federation was incorporated in 1983 and sponsored the first national championship two years later. Today, more than 1,100 Boys & Girls Clubs have adopted the sport, and a growing number of soccer coaches are supporting its development as a way to keep middle school and high school players in shape.

Gabi Avila, 16, a junior at Liberty High who plays for Candela United, said she's having so much fun playing futsal that she's not sure she wants to go back to slower-paced outdoor soccer.

"Here, you really feel like you're in the action and that what you do affects the team," she said. "For now, I like playing with my cousins and my friends, so I think I'll stay with futsal for a while."






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