We had our second game over the weekend. We tied 1-1 with an 07 (so presumably a team that normally plays U11) team. My daughter is an 07 and about half of her U12 team is, so it was nice to play a team closer to our general age. My daughter still may have been the shortest on the pitch. She was a little hesitant in the beginning, but she performed better in the 2nd half. Once I saw her running hard and even bypassing some shoulder shrugs as she made her way to the outside, I felt pretty satisfied!
Futsal is a fantastic way to improve overall skill level but, as you say yourself, it is a completely different game. I am not confident in coaching my players in Futsal (although I could) as there are people around with Futsal qualifications/licences and it was not played here when I was a kid. The top teams in our league all play futsal regularly and it is expected by parents that a top club would offer futsal as well as football. Many of my players have played in Futsal leagues or regular social games for a few years now and it has improved those who have. I prefer they do this as I would prefer they learn to play it from a suitably qualified specialist but may look at getting a futsal qualification as I am currently deciding on whether to accept the role of my club’s development academy director. One of our keepers is very good with his feet and a keen Futsal player - the modern keeper can play and use his feet equally as well as most outfield so this should not be underestimated as part of Futsal’s development of a keeper (it is also v good for pure shot stopping and quick positioning for a keeper) Enjoy it. If they play each other it will help them understand each others strengths and weaknesses and can help the players’ rankings of each other become more realistic.
I think it depends upon what you are looking for from futsal as to what is desired in a coach. I view Futsal as additional training for touches, speed of play, and creativity, so to me, a qualified good futsal coach handles the substitutions. and that's it.... (yes that is a little exaggerated, but very minimal coaching). If you are looking to win futsal leagues and become "specialists" in futsal then there would be a need for futsal specific coaching.
Futsal is great and fun to watch. Later on I don't think (in my humble opinion) the skills totally translate as it becomes too very different games but for young players it's fantastic development tool.
Tend to agree here. My u13 son has played in a futsal tournament or two every winter the past few years and will again this year -- it's fun, and I do think the emphasis on keeping the ball on the ground, movement in tight space, quick passing, ..., is helpful at any age. But in my admittedly limited experience, it resembles indoor soccer a bit in that the combination of the perfectly smooth surface and the smaller "field" allows some players to really look good in ways that just don't completely translate to outdoor soccer. I see kids every winter at the local indoor facility who make me think, "Wow, they're really about to make a leap," and then see them unable to play at nearly that level outdoors.
Thought I'd give an update. My daughter's team has played four games and she was able to make it to three; in addition, she played on the other team (so her regular 9v9 teammates) for two games as well. The 9v9 team didn't record any wins and the only "victory" some of the team tasted was in the game we played each other (of which we were on the losing in). Tonight, my daughter's half experienced their first win! We looked sharp and played well as a team, which was great to see. I know the Ws/Ls/Ds aren't the most important thing, especially for these winter sessions, but it felt good.
That's great for confidence and enjoyable for you as a parent, I'm sure. How is your daughter taking to the play in futsal? It's really all about developing ball control under pressure.
I think she is starting to get the hang of it. Last night everyone seemed to handle the ball well when it got to them. Her footwork has improved and I liked her being more aggressive. There is more work, but from the first game to this one, has been a big difference.
Just remember that youth development is a long-term, cumulative process. It often works in starts-and-fits, so don't sweat it if you don't see consistent, steady progress. Getting touches and having fun are really the two most important things pre-teen, IMHO. How she puts it all together will likely come out later, down the road.
Thanks for the advice! I think the girls will have even more fun when they really get to know each other, but they looked like they had a lot of fun the last few games.
It is one thing I wish they had made a bigger effort to do earlier (some party or get together). It's been practice and games with most of the girls not knowing each other well.
Our first Session of Futsal is almost done. My daughter scored her first goal with this team over the weekend. She had nearly scored earlier in the same game. From our angle (upper tier looking down at a field farthest away due to the way that building is setup), we thought - and clapped as if it was so embarrassingly enough -- she had scored earlier, but i think the ball went outside the netting. At any rate, she officially scored later in the same game. Although we field two teams it really feels like it's one team as most play on each one. Technically, the team my daughter is officially assigned to I think won their last three games. I think we will finish around middle of the table and have a suspicion our consolation final next week will be against her teammates (again...coming full circle to my post about the first game experience). Not positive when session 2 starts, but I know we are only fielding one team so that will be nice (as long as he rest are back in the spring).
As I anticipated, we had to play our teammates in the final game of Session 1. It was much closer, but we lost 0-1. Each team finished 3 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses (so two of our losses were to our teammates). A little controversy from my perspective:. The host club had two teams like we did; however, their two teams didn't play each other in the regular season. The regular season consisted of 7 games. Our team and one of the host teams finished 3-2-2. Due to goal differential (mostly due to the that first game against our own teammates) we finished lower. I wonder if their teams have played if we might have finished higher. At one point I almost went full blown tinfoil hat, but it looked like in other age groups this club's dual teams did play each other.
Session 2 update:. We are three games into the second session. Our coach decided to field one team -- makes sense based on player availability; miss out on some extra games, but won't have to play each other in an "official" capacity. We had our best game yet to start, played one of the host club teams and lost a close game, and then played the other host club team and won 3-1. (For those that read my last post, the host club teams have already played each other in session 2 so that is good.) The last game was satisfying though a little steam was initially let out from it. That team is listed as 07 (it is a U11-12 league and we had 5 07s And 2 06s playing for our team). Someone (not anyone on our or the opposing team) said it was made up of 08 and 09 girls. That didn't pass the eye test for me: my daughter was the smallest on the field; we may have had the tallest, but they were bigger on average; plus I have a January 09 daughter who played with a lot of 08 girls, and this team we played clearly looked older.