please log in to view this image In an article published by the Premier League, Fulham Academy Coach Geoff Noonan explains: "Futsal is a five-a-side game which is normally played indoors on a hard court surface area," he explained. "We've had it in our programme for four years through the Premier League and accessed the various activities and futsal tournaments the Premier League has run.” "We include futsal in our syllabus from the age of nine through to 14s, so it goes from our foundation phase into our Youth Development phase and we feel that the benefits it brings are enormous. It's highly technical, but also highly tactical because it's a five-a-side game in which the players have to be skilful, quick-thinking, good at one v ones, good at wall-passing and good at movement. It brings benefits from the age of nine, right through to the age 14." Those benefits have already begun to take shape in the form of silverware. Fulham have won the last two Under-18 Barclays Premier League titles and lifted the Under-19 Dallas Cup at the end of March, and the younger generations at the West London club are also excelling themselves. A year after the Under-15s came runners-up in the Barclays Premier League Futsal Finals, the Under-12 won the competition outright. The differences between futsal and orthodox five-a-side football are small but essential in helping nurture talent. The ball is heavier, thereby encouraging it to be played along the floor for longer and promoting passing and a focus on ball skill. Other rules also help promote close control. "There's a four-second rule where if the ball goes out players have to play the ball back in very quickly, which encourages quick decision-making and movement, and the back-pass rule is probably the biggest benefit," added Noonan. "Once the ball has been played out from the goalkeeper to a defender he can't play it back to the goalkeeper, so you have to attack and go forward either by beating a player or by passing forwards." Here is the link to the full story, which is well worth a read to get an insight into what the Club are doing (and achieving) at the ’grass roots’ level: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/features/futsal-key-to-fulhams-flourishing-fledglngs.html
Sounds great, wonder how many of them have got agents and a contract for an Aston Martin when they sign professional forms.
