So, if we are to develop top quality soccer players in Eau Claire, we need to focus on player development. We do not have numbers on our side, we just don’t. Eau Claire has approx. 65,000 and when we add in the surrounding communities we get to maybe 100,000. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro market has approx. 3.8M people. When it comes to resources, available player pool, etc. we can’t compete with that, so, we focus on player development.
Futsal
So what is Futsal and how can we use the game to develop our players.
Futsal, (literally “mini-football”), is a form of soccer played on a hard court or smooth surface (field turf) that is smaller than a normal soccer pitch and mainly played indoors. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited substitutions are permitted. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a surface controlled by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller, harder ball. The surface, ball, and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity, and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.
I heard about Futsal years ago when I was coaching and started bringing players to the Stillwater Dome over the winter of 2010. We had a quality group of 8th graders who were looking to prepare themselves for the high school game. They were also looking for another level of skill and competition to push their development forward. It worked. The game is fast, fun and forces you to improve your foot skills.
Eau Claire Indoor Sports Center. We do have some options here in Eau Claire and Eau Claire United and the Sports Center have done a nice job developing winter leagues for local players to build their game. The field turf and hard court are fast surfaces that force players to adapt, play quick and develop good feet. The chance to play over the winter is huge for development, so we have a great resource with the indoor sports center. So what is the difference in playing Futsal and playing in the indoor leagues at the Sports Center. Basically it is the field size, ball and structure of the sports center fields with walls. Walls make a difference. Not the good kind. Players tend to get lazy when there are walls. Players tend to use the walls to pass off to beat a defender. Your pass does not need to be as accurate when there are walls, the ball always stays in play, there are no penalties for a poor pass or sloppy touch. The ball used is also a big difference. Futsal uses a smaller, harder, heavier ball. The concept is the ball stays on the ground and does not bounce as much. It promotes passing and quick play. The standard ball tends to bounce around and players are forced to get the ball back on the ground in order to play quick. 5v5 is also a great concept. 4 players on the field mean a ton of touches for every player. The only other difference is the competition. The Futsal games in the Cities provide an opportunity to test yourself against the best players in that area, clubs like Woodbury, St. Croix and others all have teams participate. No walls replicates the full game much better and really forces the players to focus on touch and passing to feet. Both Futsal and Indoor Sports Center provide great winter options. Definitely play at a minimum in the local indoor leagues to build your game. If you are able and can find 6-7 interested players, I would definitely encourage your team to check out Futsal.
U15 Girls. A group of players from the U15G team has joined the Stillwater Dome Futsal league the past two years. I have the pleasure of coaching the girls for ECU and recently had an opportunity to watch them play one of their Futsal games. They have a group of 8 players and generally have 6-7 at each game. I love their concept for rotation as well. The team plays a 1-3 formation. One defender with 3 midfielders across the front. About every two minutes or so, they rotate. The player coming into the game goes into the defensive spot. The defender goes to right mid, right mid goes to center mid, center mid goes to left mid, and the left mid comes out of the game. Phew…did you follow that….that was interesting to write and maybe hard to follow. The concept is simple…force the players to play every position to build their game. It is noticeable when a player gets “out of position”. Defenders are uncomfortable playing up top on offense. Forwards are uncomfortable playing back on defense as the lone defender. But in this case, being uncomfortable is a good thing. It forces growth and development. Games are 25 minute halves so lots of touches, passes and game play. I also love there is no coaching. The girls coach themselves. The parent “coaches” are just there to make sure they rotate properly. Great to see the girls learning the game and pushing each other. The game is the best teacher. In all the videos you will see below, not one coach yelling to make a pass. It is all about the girls working it out and understanding the flow of the game. Love it!
I had the chance to take some video of the game and wanted to share some of the highlights. One thing to point out is that as these players move into high school, the game gets faster. Learning to play quick is good. Learning to play 1 and 2 touch soccer is critical for success at the next level. As well, ball movement is critical. The ball moves faster than players, so if you can move the ball quickly, it is hard to defend and usually leads to a successful outcome.
Let’s take a look. Sorry about the video quality….it is dark in the dome! And a bit chilly! On to some highlights.
I dropped this goal in because it shows off something I love in soccer. You can really get rewarded for hustle and hard work. As this play develops, MJ could have dropped back and not chased down the ball. That would be the easy thing to do. The hard thing was to press and close down the defender, not once….but twice. The little pressure she puts on the other player forces the turnover and leads to a goal by Greta. Nice trap, touch and shot by Greta. But ultimately, the play is made by MJ.
Ball movement. This is the lesson to really learn as you develop as a soccer player. One v One is fun and required, but for team success, learn to play fast, 1-2 touch soccer and get everyone involved. I went back and looked at all these plays a few times and in every case, all 4 players on the field touched the ball. The ball is moving and switching sides and that is hard to defend and almost always leads to a shot.
Here is a great example with a shot at the end by Nevaeh. Only one player touches it twice, Addison, and that was a nice turn and layoff by her. Good soccer!
Here is another good example. The ball is settled by the defender, nice trap Addy, and then played forward. After that, it is all one touch soccer. The ball is moving constantly and leads to a great shot by Molly. Great work ladies! Again, also notice, every player on the field touches the ball. Really good stuff.
So I dropped this one in for another great example of ball movement. We coach that if the ball can’t go forward, then just drop it and start over. MJ makes a nice wide pass to Molly who does a great job of dropping a pass to the defender Greta, who swings it opposite to Shelby for a powerful shot on goal. Nice save or that was going in! As well, if you listen closely, you will hear a player shouting, “Shoot”. Pretty sure that is Molly. She is the “coach” on the field. Love it when I hear her calling out plays, positions, encouragement, etc. You don’t want to disappoint her either, she is a bulldog out there.
Here is the last example. This turned out to be a really good game and was tied late in the second half. ECU kept pressing and playing good soccer and then came up with the game winner. It really is just a culmination of all the things we have been discussing. Every player touches the ball. There are 5 passes before the shot. The ball starts on the far left and the shot is taken from the far right. They actually score two on this one, Greta’s shot crosses but was not called a goal, Addy, follows it up and jams it in for the game winner. Great work by the whole team.
So there you have it. A fun night of soccer and some excellent play as well. Turns out the team we played was all high school girls and mostly sophomores with a few juniors. We thought they looked bigger than our girls (mostly 8th graders). In Futsal, skill and quality of play are important. Maybe on a full size field, 11 v 11, the older girls win, but on a smaller field, with Futsal rules, ECU was the better side with better skill and team play. Fun night and great to see all the girls developing their games.
So what do you do after playing hard and having some fun on the soccer pitch. Of course, only one option….ICE CREAM at Culver’s. What a group. What wonderful players. Awesome kids and great families. A joy to coach. I can’t wait till they get to play High School soccer. It’s going to be fun!
