Present;
David Ward- Independent Agent, representing The Sheffield and
Hallamshire County FA.
Javier Lozona- Technical Director, Real Madrid and UEFA.
Catalina Del Perez - Real Madrid
PA and Interpreter.
Purpose of meeting;
To determine the role the game of Futsal has in the
development of young footballers around Europe and how this can be developed in
England.
To discuss interaction between professional clubs and
grassroots football in Spain;
GENERAL SUMARY;
In answer to the main question; Does the game of Futsal have
a part to play in the technical development of young players around Europe? The resounding answer was yes, without doubt.
Javier stated that most of the top foreign players within
the Premiership had begun their career playing the game of Futsal. As in South
America, Futsal has become an important part of football development at an
early age around Europe.
The attributes of Futsal teach the fundamental basics of the
technical game at all levels. From the age of 5/6 years old Futsal will be the
main game regarding an individual's development.
Of course there is a time when the 2 codes of football
interact and the 11 a side game eventually becomes priority, but by this time
technical ability of the
highest standard has already been installed into the
individuals game.
Javier also stated that we should not forget that Futsal is
also a mainstream professional sport in itself in Spain, so not all players wish to
peruse the 11 a side game. This situation opens up more opportunities for players
wanting to achieve a professional status in football.
The game of Futsal, played at the tempo regularly played in
the top Spanish leagues is a spectacle worth seeing, especially for the
football connoisseur.
Its something he feels people should experience in order to
see exactly why Futsal develops technical ability.
When asked what are the main attributes of Futsal that
enhance technical ability, attributes that can obviously be carried through to
the 11 a side game?
Javier stated; movement of the ball, the player, team
players around you. Obviously the use of the heavier ball does aid the
development of these skills.
But the main attribute was the games thought process. The
ability to be think quicker generally. There are training techniques within the
game of Futsal designed to improve an individuals thought process, these will
become apparent as our own Football Development programme progresses.
Javier has highlighted these techniques himself in a number
of reports released to UEFA.
PAGE 2
These are the main reason the game of Futsal takes priority in
Europe at grass roots level regarding children
in the age groups stated.
Obviously as they grow the 11 a side game becomes more
prominent regarding clubs such as Madrid.
The switch to the 11 a side game has to be made around the
12 year old mark, should the individual decide to peruse this code of the game.
As Javier also stated, the introduction of Futsal at an
early age installs the fundamental basis of the game in general, such as
technique and balance.
Something that, as noted by a Acadamy director I recently
spoke to, a lot of young English players do not pocess even when being accepted
into the Acadamy.
It is important that these elements are introduced at grass
roots level.
This is where interaction with local schools becomes an
important part of Real Madrid's development regime, something that has
virtually become non existence in England.
School and grass roots Football is closely monitored. All
the local school teams take part in a competition where the winner will enter a
league which includes top professional youth sides in the immediate area.
This ensures that all players interested in the game
generally within these schools will be striving to achieve, generating the
interest that is required to bring through the system a larger percentage of
gifted individuals who are then accepted into the Acadamy.
Spain has
a high success rate regarding international football in most age groups,
success that owes a lot to the system Spain has in place.
Javier also stated that development at Real Madrid focuses
on attacking football, another attribute of Futsal.
A quicker thought and movement process which has an emphasis
on attacking fullbacks has always been a major part of the clubs coaching
regime.
Real Madrid did until
recently have a Futsal team; this is something they wish to reintroduce,
although Madrid
is home to two of the world best Futsal clubs already.
In relation to this Javier stated its Real Madrid's
intention in the next few years to build a Futsal arena within their Academy
complex, such is their believe Futsal is a major requirement in the development
of young players.
The club will be able to monitor and help develop young
players within the Academy environment. The arena will be open for use to
schools, and local teams, ensuring no one slips through the net as such.
Coaches within the Academies development regime have plenty of Futsal experience.
In reply to the Question of how should we approach
introducing Futsal to the main School or grass root curriculum in England, should
we decide to promote the game?
Back to basics was the general summary; our programme needs
to concentrate on the 5 to 12 year old age groups, as it's a new strategy and a
total change to the way players have developed before.
PAGE 3
First we have to expel the myth that the game of Futsal is
in someway a threat to the mainstream game. This will be open to discussion for
future reference.
As my programme has highlighted, International coaches need
to be introduced into the English system to help coach the game of Futsal.
We have to come to terms with the fact our Futsal/small
sided games coaches are not experienced enough to coach the game if we are
going to extract the main benefits.
As proposed a number of selected FA Coaches will be taught
in block sessions over a number of years by an experienced European coach who
has coached a number of different age groups.
Javier agrees there is not a quick fix solution, but there
is a need to ensure the basics of the game are first installed into schools and
grass roots football. This is
Required to develop technical ability on a par with Spain, Portugal, and Italy etc.
At the moment Futsal in England is the 11 a side game just
played on a smaller pitch, a summary I had to agree with after watching and
comparing the game in said countries.
I summarised our own project proposals and Javier agreed the
programme put forward was an acceptable format to progress the development of
the game in England.
He stressed that in Real Madrid's and Spain's view it
was important for the English FA to peruse such proposals, as it has been recognised
that English players seem to lack that technical development.
The continuous improvement of the game in general is based
on each country constantly looking for methods to improve there own development
regimes. But we could see no reason why countries can't help each other in
certain aspects if it will help the game grow generally. We agreed it would be
good to see an English international side challenging the worlds best as well
as a club side challenging for European honours in the game of Futsal.
I personally stated that I would like to see English players
making up the backbone of the Premiership, equipped with the technical ability
displayed by our European counterparts who are so prominent in the Premiership at
the moment; this in turn will benefit our national team's development and
status.
Summarising;
The main factors above for the introduction of Futsal to the
grass roots curriculum are as you can see self explanatory. What is not so
obvious is how quickly we seem to be falling behind regarding technical ability
generally, as well as isolating grass roots football in a number of instances.
As Javier stated teams around Europe
are catching up with us regarding strength and stamina, which has always been
one of the main attributes of the English game.
They are forging ahead regarding technical ability though.
The mix of players acquired by the Premiership teams will dominate Europe, unfortunately only a small percentage of those
teams are made up of English players.
PAGE 4
We in England
seem to be still struggling with the concept of Futsal being introduced and
promoted to enhance technical development. While the likes of Madrid
are commencing a programme which includes building Futsal arenas, emphasising
how important to them the game of Futsal is to technical development in Europe.
More planned visits around Europe
will show that a lot of countries and representing clubs will be following in
the footsteps of Real Madrid.
As reputations grow, Russia are rumoured to become the
next major power in the football world. It is no coincidence that Futsal has
developed two fold over the passed two or three years, with more money being
made available to develop the game and its interaction with the 11 a side code.
My Project and a recent FA brochure titled Your Game, Your
Say, Your Goal, have highlighted many issues within the English game, so taking
these into consideration, we have decided its time to move forward and try a
new approach with a proven track record.
Accepting advice and help from abroad may I foresee be an
issue to certain quarters, but the need to develop and move forward far out
weighs any of those concerns.
Javier Lozano has agreed to me, inviting to Real Madrid's
Academy any FA representative that wishes to speak about the role of Futsal in
the 11 a side game, and even experience the coaching regime in action within
the Academy.
I am hoping it's an invitation that can't be refused.
This report was compiled by David Ward, Football Development.
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