Futsal

The term FUTSAL is the international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer", FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish word for "indoor", SALon or SALa.

About a month or so ago Brent and I were at the AYSO board appreciation dinner. We were dining with Madison's spring competitive coach John. He was talking to Brent about this new indoor soccer team he started for men called Futsal asking him to join, etc. He then turned to me and said "hey, you should start a women's team". Before I could speak, he started to call over other women and asked them to join my team.

THAT my friends, is how Brent and I got involved in what we like to call "old man soccer" when referring to Brent's team. The rules of the game are very similar to outdoor soccer with a few exceptions. The game is played indoors on a basketball court 5 vs. 5 players (including the keeper) and the ball is smaller (about the equivelent of an outdoor size 4) and much harder.

The men's team is made up of coaches and parents from AYSO as is the women's team. The men are the Patriots and I named the women's team the Patriettes. We have been having a great time learning the game and making new friends. Not to mention, it is incredible exercise. The weekend before last, I ended up playing 2 hours per day! I had my women's practice at noon then went to watch Madison's basketball practice and then went to watch the men's practice at 2:00 and they needed another body so I scrimmaged with them. Then the next day the women had practice for an hour and then scrimmaged for the second hour.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) so when I over do it, my body tends to let me know. I guess mountain bike riding every day at lunch and the soccer was a bit much for my old ass. The exciting part is that it never shows itself in the same way each time. This time, my left knee swelled up as if it had been injured. Brent noticed it and told my coach to bench me. I was less than pleased with him for doing this. When my coach asked why I was favoring my left leg I said that I was fine. He allowed me to do the practice but said he would decide later about the game. Lets just say he made the right decision...Incidently we won the scrimmage by one point - not because I played mind you but I like to think that.

What a beautiful game I am really going to miss it...but I will be back