Apologies if you are sick of hearing the coaching staff at IFS bang on about the many benefits of futsal as a development tool. I happened to come across some interesting quotes from an article in The Daily Mail about the powers-that-be in the English game finally waking up to the ‘turbo-charged learning environment’ that is futsal.
It is no coincidence that the countries who excel at futsal- Brazil, Spain, Italy and Portugal- also feature prominently in the FIFA World Rankings. In contrast, England’s senior futsal team has won only once from 46 attempts. English futsal coach, Graeme Dell, believes the poor record of his side points to a wider malaise in the English game.
“A lot of the success of countries like Brazil and Italy has to do with the breeding of players in the younger age groups and the fact they grow up playing futsal. They learn to keep the ball in tight spaces because of the nature of the futsal ball and court.”
Zinedine Zidane once said he was fortunate to have played football on the streets of Marseille until the age of 14, meaning no one had the chance to coach skill or improvisation out of him. This is the essence of what futsal is all about.
Finally, on the topic of futsal, our Mariners Development futsal clinic got underway on Friday at Niagara Park with over 60 players set to reap the benefits of this unique learning environment.
Brothergroove says
Julie, Tommy Rogic comes to mind, played futsal, before lighting up the Nike Academy, now he has ‘turbo charged’ to socceroos, reminds me of a young Juan Riquelme. Forza Futsal