Futsal on the rise at Civic Center

This article originally appeared in the Times Argus on April 2nd, 2013

By Bradley Smart

CORRESPONDENT

From Friday evening to Tuesday evening, the Central Vermont Civic Center is bustling as teams from all across Central Vermont compete in futsal, in a variety of age groups and skills.

Everybody from 10-year olds to adults play in competitive leagues that span the lull between winter and spring sports.

Headed by the dragon of Capital Soccer, every March means the start of yet another seven-week season, with 10 leagues, all competing to win there league’s Capital Soccer Futsal League Championship.

The leagues are there not only to provide something to keep people occupied, but to help increase skill levels in youth soccer players, as one of futsals main components is footwork.

Soccer greats like Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Brazilian legend Pele both became star soccer players because they worked in futsal leagues to improve and refine their footwork.

The main futsal hub is in Brazil, but the sport has been consistently spreading under FIFA, soccer’s main governing body, and now has leagues all throughout the world.

Brazil is still the top Futsal country, as is evident by their dominance in past Futsal World Cups, but it extends beyond, into their soccer game.

The way Brazil plays their soccer shows that there futsal leaks out onto the field, and the world-famous style that Brazil plays is futsal leaking out on the bigger pitch.

The United States has been behind the trend, but futsal is growing throughout the United States, as leagues like the one at the Civic Center are popping up in towns and cities in America.

The Civic Center awakens on weekends, as from 9:00 to deep in the afternoon, family and players come and go, with games right after eachother. One could sit and enjoy countless hours of quality play, toughness and determination.

This league is filled with many players from various schools across Vermont, and rivals meet, determined to win, and friends clash, the friendship ignored for the time being,  making for intriguing storylines and exciting play.

One of the moments that symbolized just how determined this league is was a player on a team that was down a few goals. He had two bloody knees from scraping his knees on the hard, artificial turf, but he kept going. He toughed up and never once stopped hustling from one end of the pitch to the other.

These leagues, all 10 of them, have turned weekends in Central Vermont into days filled with futsal, a remarkable event, a event that everybody involved in this league should be proud of.