By Diane Campbell
Two teams of girls, one team wearing black jerseys, the other in grey, chase a ball around Algonquin College’s brightly coloured gym, faking, blocking and practically tripping each other for control.
Five minutes later, a girl from the grey team wearing No. 12 uses her skillful footwork to weave her way around her opponents, scoring on the goalie within seconds.
The game is called futsal, and scenes like the one above are being played out by increasing numbers of adults and youths alike across Ottawa-Carleton.
“It’s been tremendous . . . we have to turn people away,”says Karl Gray, chair of the Ottawa Carleton Futsal League.
Hank Schriel, league director for the under-14 through under-18 Futsal divisions, says the kids really love Futsal.
But, Schriel adds, he and the other coaches stress skill development over competition.
“It’s nice to win a game,” Schriel says, “but it’s better to say, ‘I have the skills that will help me be a better player in the outdoor soccer season.’”
Futsal – the international term for indoor soccer – was created in Uruguay in 1930 for youth competition in YMCAs. It became the sport of choice for developing the skills of rising soccer superstars in South America, especially in Brazil. Today the game is played worldwide.
The rules of futsal differ slightly from outdoor soccer, particularly in that the walls are considered to be out of bounds.
“It’s a game that requires a bit more control, because you can’t play off the walls,” says Kim Oliver, league director for the co-ed division.
Gray started out playing indoor soccer with his friends. Then Ontario Futsal Association president Bob Luft introduced Gray to futsal, and the league in Ottawa-Carleton was born.
Since its inception in 1990, the number of league members has grown phenomenally, especially within the the last year. Last year, there were 36 adult teams and 18 youth teams. There are now 50 adult teams and 40 youth teams.
Even more exciting for the league is the addition of a women’s division to this year’s league, and changes to the rules for the co-ed divisions to include more women.
But with the increase in membership — there are about 1,220 members in the league, including coaches, managers and referees — comes the difficulty in finding enough school gyms to accommodate the players. Currently the league uses 12 facilities across Ottawa and Nepean.
“The availability of gymnasiums is not as abundant as it used to be, especially with the merger of both (school) boards,” says Gray. “But they’ve been fair and they’ve been good to us.”
Gray says the league is looking at setting up teams in Gloucester next year, but the challenge is finding available volunteers in Gloucester, and also finding available gyms.
The league hopes to have their own futsal facility, but for now Gray says the league has to take things one step at a time.