Courtesy:
This is Gloucestershire/The CitizenHitchcox is hotshot for rising forceSaturday, July 28, 2012THE University of Gloucestershire women's futsal team finished fifth at the British Colleges and Universities Sports National Championships in Sheffield.
They won a fifth/sixth place play-off against Birmingham 4-2, continuing their steady progress in their third year of competition.
They thrashed Brighton 5-1 in the group stage before going down 9-1 to a strong Loughborough side and 3-0 to eventual winners Durham.
Ella Hitchcox finished as Gloucestershire's top goalscorer with three.
The team were founded in 2009 and initially made up of football and hockey players.
In 2010, they finished 12th and failed to win a single match in the national finals.
Last year they finished eighth and they showed further improvement this year under joint coaches Lorea Sarobe and Alex Cheal.
The women's futsal team were named as the most improved club of the year at the University of Gloucestershire Sports Awards in April.
Sarobe, who also plays football for Forest Green Rovers Ladies, said futsal helps improve technique.
"It helps football players develop technically and physically and it's more about skill," she said.
"We have definitely progressed since 2010, from not winning a single game to finishing fifth."
Futsal is a variant of association football, played on a smaller pitch and normally indoors. It is played between two teams of five players and the ball is smaller and bounces less than a regular size five football.
Spain and Brazil are the top teams in the world in both men's and women's futsal.
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
