Courtesy: heraldmailmedia.com

Fast futsal helps footwork for local high school soccer players

The action is fast, when the ball can be kept within the lines.
Local high school soccer players worked on their foot skills and got some exercise Sunday playing futsal. The game is similar to soccer, but is played indoors with a ball that is slightly smaller and heavier than a traditional soccer ball, said John Whitman, a program director with the Washington County Recreation & Fitness Department.
"I love it. It's fast-paced, higher scoring, more action, good exercise, gets them out in wintertime," said John Adams.
He and his wife, Lisa, were watching their son, Grant, play for one of Williamsport High's futsal teams Sunday at Hagerstown Community College.
Three games were going on at once, divided by large curtains in HCC's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center. In addition to the high school league that plays on Sundays, a pickup game is offered for registered adult players on Thursday nights, and a spring adult league will be held on Tuesday nights in March and April, Whitman said.
Each game consists of two 20-minute halves. A team can have only five players on the floor, including the goalie, but there can be numerous substitutions during the game, Whitman said.
The term futsal was "derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer,"futbol or futebol, and the French or Spanish word for "indoor," salon or sala," according to the U.S. Futsal website.
The smallest touch or kick can send the ball far on the indoor floor, so "rolling" or dribbling the ball can provide better control, said junior Evan Bowman, a defenseman for one of Williamsport's futsal teams.
This is Evan's second year playing futsal, and he said it's definitely helped him with his footwork.
"When you're playing on a smaller court, it helps you move the ball faster and work in tighter spaces," Evan said.
"It definitely teaches them to act quick and gather the ball in, and distribute it (quickly)," said Evan's father, Todd Bowman.
There were stretches when the ball frequently ended up out of bounds.
"At a young age, ... the foot skills aren't always there. ... So it's hard to keep it in play. And the ball is different. A lot of these kids, this is the first time they've played with a weighted smaller ball, so it makes it difficult sometimes," said Dan Doub, who coaches one of Williamsport High's futsal teams.
Doub, a 2010 Williamsport graduate, played futsal when he was a teen and played soccer for Williamsport's Wildcats.
"I definitely felt like I got a lot better from playing futsal when I was younger," Doub said.
The futsal program has been going on since before Whitman joined the recreation department 14 years ago, he said.
The high school league, which ends this coming weekend, was open to boys' and girls' teams from public and private high schools in the county, Whitman said. About 175 youths on 13 teams are participating in that league, Whitman said.
Other schools scheduled to have teams play Sunday were Boonsboro, Grace, St. Maria Goretti, Smithsburg and South Hagerstown.
Because the ball is heavier than a traditional soccer ball, it doesn't bounce as well.
When Williamsport goalie Grant Adams didn't have a man open to throw the ball to, he threw it hard on the floor to get enough bounce in hopes that one of his teammates would get the ball. But after the first game ended, Adams said it's probably better to roll the ball out because there's a 50-50 chance a bounced ball could end up going to an opponent.
"It's a lot faster paced than outdoor (soccer). There's a lot more shots on goal and it's a lot harder," said Grant, a junior.






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