Indoor vs Futsal So both clubs I've been involved with now (one as a coach one as a parent) have tried to extol the virtues of futsal over indoor soccer. Specifically that it's better for development. I think I disagree. Having held indoor soccer practice on a hard surface court I dont think it translates all that well. Plus I think indoor is more fun for kids. I'm specifically talking 8 year old girls in this case. But I'm open to my mind being changed. I mean there's got to be s ok no reason clubs are pushing it. Though we've already been through my current opinion on the state of club soccer. What say you?
To me, the no. 1 thing at any level is touches. The more you get to touch the ball the better. That's one advantage of indoor--the ball doesn't go out of bounds as much. The disadvantage is that you can develop habits using a wall that will not work outdoors--and there's no wall in futsal. But at that age, as @puttputtfc noted, the important thing is to have fun. It isn't the World Cup.
I prefer futsal to indoor. My son has been playing for almost three years now and I can see how it's developed his touch in different ways than he'd have developed just playing indoor. You also get more work in tight spaces (important!) as well. Keep in mind that playing on a hard surface with a soccer ball instead of a futsal ball is going to result in some craziness. We're actually doing futsal year-round as a supplement now. If you're only going to play games, I'm not sure which is better, but if you're going to supplement with training, I'd strongly consider futsal. *Real futsal*, not soccer on a hard court. edit: @west ham sandwich I just saw your comment about playing time on the last page. If playing time is that lopsided on a regular basis, I would immediately bring it up. At U9 (and IMO pretty much all levels of club soccer, IMO, since you're paying for player development) playing time should be as equal as possible. If the coach/club director don't address this in a satisfactory way, I'd start looking for a new club. Not sure if you want to mention what club you're at, but I'm curious. Just for reference, my son is a 2008 that plays for an upper elite level club team here in town. Playing time is damned near equal for every player, and there's definitely some variance between our 'top' and 'bottom' players, though they're all very good.
Tough to gauge since she's never played futsal. Though she did prefer indoor to outdoor after her first season of indoor (now she says both are her favorite) I was just wondering if there was a reason clubs seemed to be pushing futsal.
PM'd you about the club. The only reason I mentioned age, is that the girls have enough trouble working in un-tight space right now. My guess is that the ball will continually roll out of bounds making for lots of stops in play. I'm not sure if they're going to use a futsal ball or a standard soccer ball. I've heard from a few parents that their kids had a lot of fun with indoor, and were less than impressed with our last clubs indoor training. Granted that was straight up indoor training and not futsal.
My niece plays in a 3-4 yo league. The game I went to, the ball went out of bounds every 6 seconds and they would stop for a throw-in (which was a huge production, every time). I wish the coaches (who already are on the field) would stand on the sidelines to prevent the ball from going out and let them play. I get teaching rules and whatnot, but it was sooo choppy. Let them run around and kick the ball.
Or what we sign them up for since “we” had no idea futsal was even an option or the option. Oh FFS, Green soccer, just take my money for indoor soccer. I am far too tired and unsophisticated to follow any of this 21st century suburb wave.
Am I allowed to say how jealous I am to all of you who's kids into soccer. @Ch(Elsey), Markus and Tal have at least got my girl to enjoy coming to the stadium. @chr1st bring Maddie to Megatailgate and Family Nordecke next season and help drag her the rest of the way to caring.
If I could hashtag SaveCanton, then I would. Your daughter will end up loving soccer and Crew. @chr1st and co. are always welcome at my table.
Give Otto Orf a call if you're interested. He runs a very good program. http://grla.usyflive.com/home.php (my kid is one of the ones in blue )
My girls team is registering for indoor at Lodi. Anyone familiar with that facility enough to know whether the small field is artificial turf or carpet? I read that they put in artificial turf out there but I dont know if that is just the large field or if they did both. Been having a hard time getting a hold of them when I call and I forgot to ask when I finally got through a couple days ago. Also since I will have a team of girls in need of shoes, anyone know a good group shoe order company we can use to get a discount on indoor or turf soccer shoes?
Unfortunately I don't know that one specifically, but it seems like they've all gone to Field Turf (or equiv) for pretty much every field over the last 5 years or so. Honestly, a lot of girls should be okay in tennis shoes. The technical director at my old club had a place he recommended for equipment i'll try look it up. But honestly, tennis shoes probably work just fine in indoor. For my daughter we've always gotten either indoor or turf used shoes at play it again, or similar. But at the same time, a couple years ago she had some Surprise by Stride Rite shoes from target as her every day shoes that I thought would have made great indoor shoes (though my wife thought she had to have specific indoor/turf shoes) *Edit, can't seem to find that email. Sorry.
The blessings of being a parent. We bought new outdoor kids cleats for fall season because Markus' feet had grown two whole sizes. Last week, I realized that indoor starts the first week in November. Probably going to need indoor shoes. Soccer, you have my heart and money.
May your never know the "joys" of being a parent of an Irish dancer. It's right up there with ice hockey.
I most likely will not know those joys, which does not sadden me much. I was not into dance much to my poor mother’s eternal dismay. She had three boys and a girl, and her girl turned out to be as much of a “boy” if not more of a boy than some of the actual boys...
It's ridiculous how much it costs but my daughter loves it. But don't count yourself out yet...there's actually a ton of boys in her class too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grupocampus.exercises Good practice drill resource I just stumbled on for Android devices.
My son finished up his first season of club ball last weekend. It was a tough season but he improved greatly in his ability. It was fun to watch. He's still lacking in understanding the movements of the game. He's tentative and/or indecisive so is very often a step or 2 slower than his opponents. Both in games and in practice sessions. He's a smart kid but it just hasn't clicked for him to the point where he can react quickly. He's also not getting enough touches during his training sessions. They do some ball work and warm up drills but use the time for other things mostly. So I've put together a quick little set of drills that he can do in 10 minutes and get 740 touches on the ball. Best of all he can do it in the basement. I've been using it as a reward for PS4 or PC game time, but he enjoys it too. 60 toe touches, 60 tic-tocs, 60 sole rolls: x3 = 540 touches 50 kicks each with the instep and laces of both feet against the back of the couch (or wall or whatever). During set, do not put your kicking foot on the ground. In other words, keep your balance and the ball under control, balance on your plant foot for 50 straight kicks. 50 left instep, 50 right instep, 50 left laces, 50 right laces = 200 540 +200 = 740 He needs work on his balance and coordination and touch. He's gotten way better at all of them in a few short weeks of doing it maybe 4 times a week. We've done some other Coerver type stuff too which is great in small spaces. L and V cuts, that kind of thing. It would be easy to get 1000 touches in 15 or 20 minutes by adding a few of those. I plan to ask him to do that as his outdoor training comes to a close next week and they get a bit of a break before indoor starts.