Simply Sport: WHY NOT MINI-FUTSAL?

Training in Hereford with the England Futsal National Squad for the next two friendly games against France, I have shared with the technical staff some ideas that I had a few years ago when I was studying my Degree in Physical Education Teaching. Sito Rivera (Romania Futsal National Team Head Coach) has recently reminded me of these in his blog Futsal Olímpico. Also, Flávio E. R. Araújo has suggested them in his blog. I will translate the general ideas below.

If children can play mini-basket, mini-handball or football 7 with modified and specific rules, why not mini-futsal?

A project led by Miguel Rodrigo (Japan Futsal National Team Head Coach) and other coaches, which started in 1999 (see below). Basically, the document is the modification and adaptation of the rules of the game for children according to their abilities.

The first rule that should be changed would be the size of the ball (in Brazil 4 different sizes have been available for Under 8, Under 10, Under 12 and Under 14 for several decades). In Spain, there are only two sizes since 2003: one size for competitions U12 and another size for leagues over 12, the latter being the same size ball that professional players use. However, there are four different sizes made by Penalty only for the training sessions. In their research, the Federación Paulista have proved that the use of inadequate balls (too big and too heavy) could cause knee injuries.

Four different sizes of futsal balls.

Comparation of two balls with different size.

The second one would be the size of the goal. That would also be very easy to implement, since handball has goals whose crossbar’s height can be modified for U12 and U10.

Handball goal whose crossbar's height can be modified.

Kids playing futsal with a hanball goal whose crossbar has been moved down.

The last one would be the size of the court. Mini-handball courts could be used if the sports hall has the relevant lines on the floor. The second option would be the basketball court’s length combined with the futsal court’s width (28x20m).

Other rules that would also improve children’s development in futsal would be: not to allow zone defence until U14, or not to allow players to press further away than the midline until the rival goalkeeper throws the ball in.

Following the next links, you will be able to see the minifutsal project (text in Spanish) led by Miguel Rodrigo (Japan Futsal National Team Head Coach) and other coaches: