A new league is introducing West Florida to a game that helps soccer players improve.
By LAURA LEE
Published August 14, 2003
CLEARWATER - Morgan Kimsey showed up to the first night of the West Florida Futsal League looking for an indoor soccer game.
Although she'd never played indoor soccer, Kimsey, 13, a club player for the Countryside Lightning, had seen it on television and figured it couldn't be much different than the outdoor game she has played since she was 4.
But it wasn't quite indoor soccer. It was futsal.
"I thought there'd be walls. There's no wall," said Kimsey last Thursday at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex.
The game was played on a basketball court with just five on a side. The ball was smaller and heavier than a regular soccer ball and didn't bounce on the wood court. Everything moved faster. It's a combination some coaches say will improve ball skills and make their players stronger, especially in one-on-one situations.
"It's all about quickness," said Frank Coorey, coach of East Lake's boys soccer team and also with the Countryside Lightning. "It's all about ball control.
We'll see the benefits in three or four months when they're in their (club) season. What they learn from here, they can take it to their big game."
Partners Tony Mazzone and Ron Elliot organized the West Florida Futsal League, the first youth league representing an area spanning up to Hernando County, goes as far south as Fort Myers and as far east as Orlando. It is also part of the of the United States Futsal Federation (USFF).
The Clearwater branch of the league is the first, and opening night was last Thursday. In September, another season will begin in Safety Harbor, and they hope to start a league in Tampa soon.
Futsal has its roots in South America but has spread to around 100 countries. It is the only indoor soccer game recognized by FIFA, the international soccer governing body. The USFF estimates more than 70,000 play futsal in the United States. While pick-up futsal games have been played for several years in Tampa, this is the first league organized in the area. There are also leagues in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Inglewood.
So far, 14 teams have signed up for the Clearwater league representing boys and girls and men's open categories. A season lasts just 10 games. Teams can qualify for a regional tournament in the spring that could lead to the national championship.
Mazzone knows most people have never heard of futsal. To recruit players and teams, he and Elliot invited club soccer teams to play. They've tried to sell the game on its skill-building benefits. Mazzone, who is also the coach for a girls club team, uses league play as a training day.
"We want to enhance the game," Mazzone said. "We don't want to compete against it."
First, everyone has to learn the rules, which differ on some major points from soccer. There are no kick-ins, but throw-ins. Players can't play a ball back to a goalie, and substitutions are unlimited.
Last Thursday night, a referee pulled out a yellow card, and Katie Torro gave him an it-wasn't-my-fault look. Like most of her teammates, Torro, 13, had never played futsal before, and her coach had gone over the rules just minutes before the game. She didn't know what rule had been broken, but the confusion didn't bother her. She was still having fun.
"It's relevant to soccer, and I love soccer," Torro said. "I would do anything involved with soccer."
Not everyone is a beginner though. Erika Tymrak, 12, of Sarasota, first played futsal when she was 9 and living in Michigan. She and her club teammates have been practicing the game for a couple of months.
"I like this better (than outdoor soccer) because it's quicker, faster, harder," Tymrak said. "The play goes so fast. Right when you get (the ball) you have to make a smart choice."
After the kids played for a few hours, the men's open games started. Many had futsal experience and played a smoother, faster game.
Mazzone and Elliot want to build the league so that teams represented in all age groups from under-9 to under-18 boys and girls and men's open.
"It's not going to happen overnight," said Mazzone who expects to reach the goal in two or three years.
Elliot said it only takes playing one game to be hooked.
"Once the kids play it, they'll love it, and they'll put pressure on the coaches," Elliot said.
Alex Delgado, 18, who thought he was dropping his little sister off at an indoor soccer game got a little envious when he saw they were playing futsal.
Delgado, a recent graduate of Palm Harbor University who will play soccer at the University of Tampa this year, was introduced to futsal this past summer while on a soccer trip to Brazil where he saw "futsal courts everywhere." Since he'd come back, he hadn't found anywhere to play. Now he has.
WHAT IS FUTSAL?
Futsal is a five on five version of soccer created in Uruguay in 1930. It's often played indoors on a basketball court but can also be played outside on smooth surfaces. Futsal is played in more than 100 countries. It is the only indoor soccer recognized by FIFA which sanctions a Futsal World Championship held every four years. Surprise, Brazil has won three of the four world championships.
The United States Futsal Federation (USFF) was incorporated in 1981 in California. The organization has held a national championship tournament for 18 years for all age groups and supports a select national futsal team which represents the United States in international competition. According to the USFF, 70,000 people participate in futsal nationally.
DETAILS: Call the West Florida Futsal League at (727) 791-1102. The league will have a clinic demonstrating futsal led by former Paraguay national futsal coach and Tampa Soccer Academy president Luciano Fernandez.
