COACHES :  There will be a Coach meeting and attendance is MANDATORY. 

FUTSAL  RULES :  A Coach's rule book will be posted on this site and/or made available. One can be down loaded from www.futsal.com  Rules will be modified for younger age groups and recreational play.

        U.S. FUTSAL  YOUTH  COACHING  MANUAL

    1. BASIC FUTSAL

The Priority in Futsal is to motivate players in an enviroment that is conducive to learning. The more pleasure kids derive from their participation, the more they wish to play on their own. While their instinct to play is natural, their affection and appreciation for soccer must be cultivated. Futsal is the foudation to such goals because it:

    Allows players to frequently touch the one "toy" on the field, namely the ball.

    Presents many opportunities to score goals and score often.

    Encourages regaining possession of the ball as a productive, fun and rewarding part of the game (defending)

    Maximizes active participation and minimizes inactivity and boredom.

    Provides a well organized playing enviroment with improvised fields.

    Reflects the philosophy of player development expressed in state and national coaching schools.

    Eliminates complicated rules such as off-side that may hinder youngsters from "playing".

    Reflects the appropriate role of the coach as a Facilitator.

    Makes the game more "beginner coach" friendly because the game is simpler, thus making it easier to recruit more volunteer coaches.

    Allows the game to be the teacher.

The Goalkeeper requires a combination of skill, athleticism and decision making. A Futsal keeper has the added advantage in that he learns to react faster because the ball moves faster and he gets more involved in the game since there are more shots on the goal than in 11 v 11 soccer games.

Goalkeepers must be field players first. Prior to specializing as goalkeepers, children must learn the broader parameters of "play". This is difficult to do when they hide beneath the cross bar. Keepers must also learn intuition and anticipation from moving in and playing the game of Futsal. Keepers must possess field playing skills as they are required to play without the use of their hands at certain times of the game.

2. WHY  FUTSAL ?

The mode and method for children's play has changed substantially. The sandlots and playgrounds which allowed for free play have been replaced by organized sport associations and leagues which are instead governed by adults. As a result these leagues reflect what adults believe the game of soccer should be like for youngsters. The by-product is often overcoaching and the investing of an abundance of money and resources on uniforms, warm-ups and equipment. There is always the likelihood that parents and coaches become too involved in the game during "the game".

Teaching Futsal to children requires that the information provided to them is appropriate for their maturity level through some means (THE GAME) that makes sense to them. The enviroment for play must, essentially, meet the needs of the players.

What is Developed?

    Skill that is realistic.

    Motor ability: balance, agility and coordination.

    Perception: insight and awarness.

    Vision

    Problem solving: choices and decisions.

    Physical fitness

    Psychological domain: fun, enjoyment and competition.

    Learning by discovery: trial and error, playing!

This is perhaps the most single important aspect over the long term process of developing soccer playing ability. On the playgrounds and sandlots, this occurs naturally...No lines, no waiting, participation is maximized. Yougsters recognize differing situations that are constantly repeated.

Repetition influences:

    Skill required to play the game (dribbling, passing, shooting, etc.)

    Decisions and choices that occur during the game.

3. THE ROLL OF THE YOUTH COACH

In Futsal, the role of the coach is that of the facilitator. The coach sets up the game and the conditions for learning, provides some supervision and allows the game to teach. The coach becomes a manager of the games with comprehensive and long range objective being to develop and improve the soccer performance of the players.

The primary objective for youth players under 11 years of age is the development of technical skill.

Another contributing factor for an emphasis on skill development is that skill is considered a shortcoming. Remember, technique is not an objective in and of itself but a tool. Technical skill must always have a relationship with the game (application). Problem solving, decision making, intuition, anticipation and technical skill must be developed in the context of games. 

Technical activities, outside of games, should not be considered the "end all and be all". The game, and involvement of playing the game, is most important. Too often, these activities on the individual basis are "drills" and are not realistic as far as the demands of the game are concerned. Technical skills should not be viewed as "tricks" or "gimmicks", but in the end, must be useful in the game.

Considerations On How the Youth Futsal Coach Can Influence Players

Coaches need to insure that the playing/practice enviroment is conducive for the development and performance and is favorable for learning to take place. They also need to insure that the three main areas of the game occur in this enviroment.

The three main areas of the game are:

   Attacking - when the team is in possession of the ball.

   Defending - when the team is trying to regain possession of the ball.

   Transition - when the ball changes possession.

Futsal provides a much clearer enviroment to analyze the match and its individaul componets and is therefore not as intimidating to beginning coaches.

The Coach can observe if players are:

    Comfortable and confident playing against an opponent individually (dribbling).

    Capable of maintaining possession of the ball both as individuals and as a team.

    Able to create opportunities to score goals both as individuals and as a team.

    Successful at scoring goals.

    Composed while trying to regain possession of the ball (defending).

    Able to adapt to the unexpected and adjust their behavior and improvise appropriately.

Youth Futsal soccer coaches contribute to player development by:

    Observing the game.

    Analyzing the problems.

    Setting simply objectives for practice.

    Planning the practice session.

    Managing the game and practice enviroments.

    While technique, decision making and physical talent can be distinguished from one another, they are not related. 

5. THE BASIC FUTSAL GAME

The team in possession of the ball:

    Can employ buildup by using the entre playing area in terms of length and width (spread out).

    Can learn and determine team shape, which, in a group of four resembles a diamond.

    Can create goal scoring opportunities by taking action individually or as a team.

When the other team has the ball:

    The objective is to prevent goals from being scored by getting behind the ball and to regain possession of the ball.

    Simple principles of defending are reinforced and amplified since there is no spare defender.

Players need:

    To evaluate and identify when to dribble or pass.

    To use the correct attitude ( when to take a risk aggressively).

    To use the technical development and execution of dribbling. 

    To have vision of the field.

    To be able to make changes in direction and speed of play.

    To use decision making skills because the player has a wide variety of options at his disposal:

        Dribbling

        Passing

        Shooting

       Changing directions

The Futsal Passing Game

Since the playing area is longer than it is wide, the emphasis is on creating length in the game. There is a premium placed on playing the ball forward early.The ball can be played forward early:

    To a player running forward, away from the server.

    To a target player who is coming back for the ball with a defender behind them.

    As a shot on goal (scoring attempt).

The passing game emphasis:

    Vision.

    Changes in the direction and speed of play.

    Appropriate use of firm touch on the ball.

    Long and short passing.

    Transition awareness since the team can attack quickly in the other direction, counter attack.

    Team shape and the roles of each player because when there is transition, the back becomes the front and vice versa.

    The priority of the passing game is shooting and scoring. Since the field is small, players should be looking to shoot almost whenever they get the ball.