In this blog Luke Webb, UEFA A Licence football coach and recently qualified UEFA B futsal coach, discusses his thoughts on how futsal has impacted his outlook as Head of Football at Bradfield College.
Futsal
When we analyse an 11 a side football match performance, more often than not the main failings are in the form of basic fundamental errors; links in the chain that break causing the interruption of attacking moves or exposing too much space in defensive coordination.
Futsal provides repetition at a rate that football could only dream of in the most important constraints of the sport, such as ball literacy, receiving techniques, weight transfer in relation to off and on the ball movement, 1v1 defending, hold up play, understanding of space and an ability to share the ball simply and quickly.
Added to this the expression and creativity it allows for is so key to use in a sport such as football that often denies its players the opportunities to make regular mistakes.
Iteration, continuous improvement and experimentation
I stumbled across the sport in 2017 as I experimented with the best way to provide football related activities for our Junior Elite footballers in the Lent Term (January-April).
We tried a futsal programme as the games would be guaranteed whatever the weather, as they are played indoors. We had our first full futsal season in the Lent Term of 2019 and wow did it blow us away!
At first the players looked like football players trying to play futsal; they hadn’t appreciated how totally different the game understanding and technical detail was, neither had I. But as we introduced specialist coaches, we began to teach them how to play properly, and the technical and tactical level they were able to reach was mesmerising.
Added to this, the joy they gained from playing the game, the amount of action they were involved with in each training session or match and the amount of experimentation they could attempt, took their solution finding ability to a higher level.
We were then fascinated to see whether this would translate into their football - let’s just say the first players who developed through the programme were last season a part of one of the best U18s teams of all time in Independent Schools Football. From my current observations, I don’t believe a futsal player would ever play football to improve their futsal but a football player should definitely play futsal to improve their football.
Street football
Many football coaches and teachers often cite the reduced access to street football in the UK for our passionate young footballers as a reason why certain fundamental traits and a motivation to practise are often missing in young footballers of this generation.
What I have found fascinating in my research is that Brazil developed their street football into an official game that could be played in a safe and controlled environment – Futbol de Saloa, that later became Futsal under UEFA.
Unfortunately, in the UK we did not develop our beloved street football and then external factors such as growing populations, health and safety and regulations made it harder for our children to enjoy a more expressive and independent game.
Futsal is the answer, but we do not have as many young people playing futsal at this moment in time because as a country, we are still to be convinced by the awe-inspiring merits it gives to our sporting population. Currently, facilities are minimal and belief in the game is low. For me it needs three major changes to happen.
- The international programme to return for men and women.
- A top men’s and women’s club league structure that is televised consistently and promoted intelligently through media. The product of futsal is undeniably riveting and entertaining. It just needs someone to show one of the big television companies its marketing potential.
- The facilities development departments and grant allocation committees in the FA, EFL and Premier League to consider futsal hall development when enhancing community facilities. I recently visited Spain on a futsal tour and seeing the community connection to futsal was inspiring. Halls were magnificent, all with seating and they were all community access. It reminded me of how football clubs in the Netherlands are run. In the UK we can combine the two and create community hubs of connection and excellence through both football and futsal.
Variety
A criticism of my elite football programme is often surrounding specialisation too young and professionalisation of school sport. Those who have been a part of the programme know that the variety offered in the programme is more than most schools offer in their whole year co-curriculum.
We know that to be the best in your passion you must do it a lot but we also know that to be the best you also cannot do it all the time. The pupils in the programme participate in yoga, boxing and dance, strength and conditioning, football and futsal. Futsal is a different sport to football, it’s important to understand this.
Burnout
I am also extremely passionate to ensure our pupils are able to enjoy sport their whole lives by being healthy in their bodies for as long as possible. Unfortunately, due to the separation of club sport and school sport in the UK, young people are asked to participate in too much sport.
Although they feel unbreakable at the time, they often feel the consequences in adult life and often have to give up playing sports regularly due to injury. With the knowledge of load, it is our responsibility as educators and coaches to plan pupils’ sporting commitments, even when they are desperate to play more.
This is why the elite football players in my programme see the programme as their football club and another reason why we have introduced futsal. In futsal the contact time is more productive therefore less of it is needed to gain the improvement benefits and the surface and footwear are easier on the joints.
Even if we played two terms of football in the junior school at Bradfield, in order to improve and guard against unnecessary load, I would still encourage our elite players to play futsal in the Lent Term instead of football.
The ideal football development programme for me would be 3 months of futsal per year from when they started playing football to 18 years old. For an aspiring futsal player it would obviously be more futsal.
Coaching
I have studied the game of football my whole life, but within my learning journey of the game I have never been accelerated in my understanding so much compared to the time I have studied futsal. Meeting and becoming a part of the futsal community is joyful as there is so much unconditional love for the sport.
And for my own coach education I am so grateful that I connected to futsal as I now see details so much more clearly and my intelligence to iterate solutions and concepts in both sports has improved exponentially. My football, futsal and human philosophies are all embedded in the discovery of the truth and futsal has allowed me to see a truth about the game of football that was previously hidden from me.
The future
I will one day build a community hub of football and futsal, which will facilitate the participation development and elite development of both games for the local people of the area as well as act as a place of education, connection and excellence for all. I very much hope somebody does it before me so we can fill the country with them.
If you have any questions or thoughts I would love to hear from you so please comment below.