Futsal is a lot closer to soccer than flag football is to football - and the NFL is sure pushing flag football. https://nflflag.com/
Because it's a hell of a lot easier for 6 kids to get together and play 3v3, on a court, where the water can be easily swept off, than to get 22 kids together, and find a field that is 110 by 60. Especially if you live in an area that gets any amount of rain & the park monitors are going to kick you off if the grass is damp - if they'll ever let you play soccer on the grass at all. Also, by your definition, when does futsal become soccer? I've played in all sorts of pick-up games. Is anything less than full field, 11 v. 11 full size goals not soccer? I've played 13 v. 13 with gym bags for goals, was that not soccer? We should have said fck it, and gone home? What is the big bright line, where it magically becomes "soccer"?
This guy isn't advocating for pickup soccer. He's advocating that significant resources be dedicated specifically for futsal courts.
What I'm advocating* is a push for hard surface, small soccer courts - to provide a ready made place to play small sided games. I don't care if you call it futsal or soccer. Just a place to play pick up games. * I don't know if that is what OP is advocating. I read that article about Richmond, and that's great. But, I think they're trying to over control it. Just let 'em play. Show up with a team. Boys, girls, mixed, adults, kids, whatever. Assign the teams to an A court, B court, C court, D court, E court. Then play short games. Winning team stays on the court, losing team gets back in line. Have a kick around area, aside from the court. Or, like a skills area. Hit the target, or an area where you see how many times you can pass it around a triangle in one minute. Put the scores on a board. And a "rondo" area. So people are doing something while their team is not on the court.
The OP is specifically calling for futsal courts. As for your idea--is there a call for that? Where I live, I think they might get some use. As mentioned above, my son and his friends used to play pickup wherever they could. And my son does like futsal--he even used to go up to Maryland to practice with a futsal team. I played indoor soccer with a bunch of Romanian guys, and they told me that such courts are all over the place in Romania. That's where most of them learned to play, not on full-sided courts. The appeal of futsal seems heavily based on its use as a developmental tool.
Well I'm far from California and have never seen pickup soccer come close to skateboarding as a popular do-it-yourself past time. Understandable to me that I notice skate setups in parks where that stuff was non-existent when I was growing up. I rather doubt industry money is funding the stuff where I live. But even if so and that was a big part of the skate boom nationwide, then we should probably be looking to Nike and Adidas as much as the Fed and MLS to fund futsal courts.
I'm just saying there should be a push to build places to play. It would be super easy, when building a public park, to lay down a hard surface, the size of a basketball court, and put in metal pipe goals. That's all I'm saying.
Ya, the skate industry doesn't have to pay for/push for skate parks now. They did it in the beginning and it caught on. I guess. They're interest in growing the sport in the U.S. is pretty tangential, compared to the Fed and MLS. They have their irons in a lot of fires. Fed and MLS, less so. But, sure, whatever pressure any of us can create on anyone (none) to create available spaces for pickup soccer games, is cool with me.
Whenever I've played pickup soccer, even 3v3, it's been on grass. It's not hard to set up goals in any open space using bags, water bottles, or whatever else is at hand.
https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2016/...let-open-new-futsal-courts-striker-s-hometown Search MLS and futsal and you get similar stories. Although I still believe you need demand first to make this sort of thing "ubiquitous" across the country. Public futsal courts in my neck of the woods would delight the street hockey scene more than attract people to soccer, I'd wager.
The Fed seems to be leaving the cities to MLS. I'm not sure how the Fed would manage this anyway. Shouldn't it be down to the state associations?
Because state associations have their boots on the ground. And 400 new pitches is better than no new pitches.
"This guy" referred to the OP, it wasn't a swipe at you. In retrospect I can see you might have thought I was quoting you and talking about you, which would be sort of rude. Not my intent, just wanted to clear that up.
But, state associations have no money for building mini-pitches. 400? it's 20 per team? Ok then, that's awesome!
the ONLY Latino fanbase keeping baseball alive are the Puerto Ricans and the Dominicans. Must convert them into Soccer players and fans !
Used to be a slab of concrete. Now a football-specific court, courtesy of @NYCParks. Pickup games happening, courtesy of @StreetFC. More of this, America. More of this. 🇺🇸⚽️ pic.twitter.com/OJy1iUXRGc— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 29, 2019