U.S. Youth Futsal National Futsal I.D. Day Two Recap From Kansas City
This is a recap of the action at the U.S. Youth Futsal National ID program on Day Two – It was a highly competitive day at Overland Park, Kansas City with more than 400 players participating in training sessions in the morning and afternoon, followed by fast, action packed pool play in the evening. The National ID program was created to identify and develop elite Futsal players in the most challenging and competitive environment possible.
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Day Two Recap: Hundreds of America’s most elite youth soccer and futsal players are gathered in Overland Park, Kansas to develop their Futsal skills and compete for a highly coveted roster spots on the U.S. Youth Futsal National Teams.
U.S. Youth Futsal Technical Director, Keith Tozer, the U.S. Youth Futsal Regional Directors and Futsal coaches are constantly evaluating players as they select the 10 field players and two goalkeepers for each of the U.S. Youth Futsal teams. These U.S. Youth National Futsal teams will compete in a series of international friendlies against top Costa Rican futsal programs from July 30 – Aug. 1.
“The passion in America for the game of Futsal is rapidly growing and the quality of our youth players has significantly increased — as evidence from the Futsal matches today,” said U.S. Youth Futsal Technical Director, Keith Tozer. “The high skill level of the players at this National ID program has a lot to do with the quality of the Futsal coaches we across the country. The future of the game is very bright!”
“The focus for the first 2 days is to review the proper Futsal specific techniques and different tactical scenarios such as offensive rotations & different ways to defend,” said Jon Parry, Executive Director of U.S. Youth Futsal and a member of both the 1996 United States Futsal Team which competed in the World Championship in Spain and the 1998 team that played in the Brazilian Olympics. Parry holds an USSF “A” License, is also the Academy Director of Sporting Kansas City.
Sean Bowers, U.S. Youth Futsal Southwest Regional Director and founder of 619 Futsal said, “Every player is evaluated on each training session and game. Each day before the pool games each players scores are inputted into our system and we rank them from top to bottom and then make teams. This process allows players to eventually end up in the proper place based off their trainings and their performances in games.” Bowers is the most capped player in US Soccer history earning 36 international caps and was the team’s captain from 1998-2004.
Day Two was the first day the youth Futsal players were ranked by performance for pool play.
“In just 1 year the National ID program has grown tremendously,” said Tom Bellen from Futsal New Hampshire. “We give players a score after each training session and game. The kids put their heart and soul into each session as do the coaches. These rankings allow us to pool the players for games and to eventually find the top players who will make the National Youth Teams.”
What is a great tip for success? “Top performance is based off of several simple things that you can control – proper rest, hydration and refueling your body with a healthy eating plan,” said Bowers, Physical Education Professor at Miramar College and Head Women’s Soccer Coach. This spring, Bowers was named the 2014-2015 Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Female Sport Coach of the Year.
While all the player age groups are strong, the future for Futsal in America looks very positive with very strong performances from the younger ages. “The level of play in the U12 age groups has been quite impressive,” said Parry. “Our Technical Staff is excited to see where this talented group will be in the development in next few year.”
“I am very impressed with the unbelievable display of Futsal ability and aptitude by the ’03 and ’04 girls group,” said U.S. Youth Futsal Regional Director Otto Orf. “All coaching staff, players and parents should be extremely proud!”
“In years past, my job has been to teach how to play this position – now, the goalkeepers are so well developed by the time they have been selected for the National ID camp, I am able to train their existing technique,” said Mark Litton, Technical Director of Goalkeeping for U.S. Youth Futsal who reviews player evaluations with great care, looking for the goalkeepers who have Futsal specific goalkeeping techniques.
“The biggest difference is knowing when to use your hands and feet to make saves. Based on the speed of play in Futsal, an outdoor goalkeeper who is trained for soccer will not be fast enough to make saves that a well trained Futsal GK will stop using feet to block the shots,” said Litton.
“When I train a futsal specific goalkeeper, who has all of the necessary skills and techniques, I train them faster than the speed of the game – when you train faster than the actual game, you’re increasing their speed of thought and reaction.
The players attending this National ID session were selected at their local U.S. Youth Futsal Regional ID Camps:
The Boys :
- 97/98 pool has 56 players
- 99/00 pool has 64 players
- 01/02 pool has 88 players
- 03/04 pool has 62 players
The Girls:
- 97/98 pool has 13 players
- 99/00 pool has 48 players
- 01/02 pool has 43 players
- 03/04 pool has 38 players
“My son, Sam Friedrich, is here at camp with the 99 age group and trains at Jackson Soccer Development/Elite Futsal in Mt. Pleasant, SC and plays for United Soccer Academy – Mount Pleasant ‘17 Premier,” said Lawrence Friedrich. “This has been a fantastic experience for him. To get the opportunity to train with such talented players from around the country as well as the outstanding coaches has been tremendous. Sam is being challenged both mentally and physically and is learning a ton. He is really enjoying himself.”
Amy Bryant, whose son Connor is a goalkeeper in the 2001 age group, trains with City Futsal in Dallas/Fort Worth said, “I think the opportunity to train with dedicated athletes from across the United States is invaluable to the development of both the individual players and the overall level of play in our country. One of the bonuses at this National ID camp is the players train with a variety of coaches — this variety, combined with the concentration of talented athletes, creates an energized environment and improves everyone’s game.”
Who will make the National Futsal Team? This is only Day Two and the dream is alive for all the players competing. Those players selected will become the 2015 U.S. Youth Futsal boys and girls U18, U16 and U14 Teams and will travel to San Jose, Costa Rica to compete with the esteemed futsal programs of Colegio Ezcazu, Colegio Santa Ana and Borussia Futsal.
For more on the upcoming Futsal National Team experience in Costa Rica and why it will be tremendously beneficial for youth players, please read Keith Tozer comments from Day One recap.
The Futsal dream continues – who will be selected to represent our country at the international futsal competition in Costa Rica on a U.S. Youth Futsal National Team? The evaluations are far from over as each player brings their determination, dedication and passion to each and every session.
Costa Rica, the reigning CONCACAF men’s futsal champion, has participated in two Futsal World Cups and hosted the CONCACAF Championships twice. In December 2014 it hosted the first-ever Women’s World Championships.
RELATED ARTICLE: 2015 SOUTHWEST FUTSAL ID CAMP RECAP
Photo Credit: Claudia Uno & Diane Scavuzzo
