Courtesy: Hackensack Chronicle


North Jersey Futsal League takes off

by K. Darius Amos

September 10, 2008

The game’s greatest get their start here

Rare does a communications director come across a loss for words, but Justin Allessio accomplished that last week. In an attempt to describe Brazilian football star Falcao, Allessio repeated the same phrases over and over.

Amazing, brilliant, the best. Amazing, brilliant, the best.

To avoid repetition, he finally made a telling comparison, one so illustrative it almost rivaled Michael Jordan’s "Air" or Earvin Johnson’s "Magic."

"It’s just like dancing," he said.

Wait a second, did he just compare football (or soccer as it’s known in the states) with dancing? Soccer’s well known to be a contact, sometimes violent, sport.

"This game is a little different," said Allessio. "Falcao is the world’s best futsal player."

Futsal, not soccer, football nor futbol, is the fastest growing sport worldwide. Commonly known as 5-A-Side, futsal combines the rules and regulations of indoor and outdoor soccer with a unique set of guidelines. The result is a fast-paced game of skill and scoring.

Governed by FIFA, the Federation International Football Association, futsal is similar to soccer — scoring, penalties and other basics cross the sports’ lines. But there are also considerable differences.

Futsal is played entirely indoors on a special surface, either the hard wooden floors of a basketball court or the FIFA-approved material similar to the one found on a handball court. The ball resembles a soccer ball, but the one used in futsal is smaller, heavier and has little to no bounce to it. Regulation soccer balls are a size 5, whereas futsal’s ball is a 4.

And unlike soccer, which fields 11 players a team during play, a futsal squad consists of five on-court players.

"This creates a game where you touch the ball a lot more," said Allessio, who handles most of the publicity for the North Jersey Futsal League. He added that indoor soccer incorporates walls, such as those found on a hockey rink, and the ball is always kept in play.

"With the wall, if you miss track of the ball, it will come back and stay in bounds," he said. "In futsal, however, there are boundaries, so you have to keep the ball from going out of bounds."

Those facets, along with the ball’s size and weight, separate futsal from soccer.

"You have to have good and proper technique to play futsal. A lot of footwork is needed because the game is amplified and there are fewer people. This sport really shows a player’s skills," Allessio said.


A learning game
Albeit competitions around the globe are played at the highest levels, particularly in South American and European countries, futsal is also used as a developmental tool. Throughout history, some of the best soccer players in the world have credited futsal to laying their foundations — Pele, Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo are among the many to hail futsal as their teaching base.

Founded in December 2007, the North Jersey Futsal League is designed to do the same. Earlier this year, the league sent its elite team to Baltimore to compete in U.S. Futsal National Championships. Al Moran, NJFL president, was a part of that team.

"The North Jersey Futsal League gives the opportunity for the elite players to play and to give others the opportunity to learn the sport, improve their skill and move up," said Moran, a Montvale resident and former Bergen Tech soccer star.

"Futsal is really where you see the best. It’s very entertaining and exciting and there are a lot of goals. There’s so much creativity and ball control," he said.

Though the sport, founded in the 1930s in Uruguay, has been around for decades, Allessio and Moran agree that it’s now only hitting its stride in Bergen County.

"In this area, futsal is a novelty," Allessio admitted. "But now that we have a league, we’re going to try to make it as easy as possible to get involved. That’s one of the things we’re working on — educating people on how to get involved."

"We’re not re-inventing the wheel here; the sport’s been around," Moran added. "What we’re doing is bringing the environment from the national level to North Jersey."

Allessio, Moran and other league officials and players have already started to introduce futsal to the community’s youth. In South Hackensack, futsal clinics have run since February.

"The kids have a good time and they love futsal," said Allessio, who said the South Hackensack participants have shown a tremendous leap in their skill levels.

"When I took the same group of kids outside to play soccer, they were just knocking the ball around so hard and under control. Futsal is a great development tool," he said.

To further jumpstart the NJFL, the only league endorsed by the United States Futsal Federation under FIFA, officials are hosting a an open house event Sunday, Sept. 14 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn. There, prospective players will receive an introduction to the sport, meet players and officials, and watch demonstrations, among other activities.

The open house is a lead-in to the grand opening of the league’s new facility in South Hackensack. When it opens in October, that court will be the only futsal surface in the area.

"We’re really excited for it. Now, there’s a home, a genuine place to play futsal," Allessio said.

"We have an open-door policy. If you want to watch, play or learn, there’s a place. Now, it’s just not a guess where to find futsal. You know where it is now."





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