Futsal course lays foundation for national spread

A four-day Futsal course, held here last week, is laying the foundation for that format to take root in St Vincent and the Grenadines as another sporting option.

The course, which was conducted by Constantine Constance, involved 21 coaches, who are in the main involved in the national football programme.

Technical director of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) Keith Ollivierre explained that the idea behind the move to have futsal in train is “to improve and complement our football on the grass.”

In outlining the framework for the formal incorporation of Futsal, Ollivierre said, “First of all, we are going to the educational aspect, where we are going to bring the coaches up to speed about futsal, what it entails and what are the skills that are needed… They in turn will impart that knowledge to players and other coaches.

“This first cadre of coaches we have here on this course, with about 90 per cent of them are from the national set-up…. Our plan is to use them, the club coaches, the inter- league coaches in the various areas and use futsal and see how they can improve their teams’ performance on the grass,” Ollivierre outlined.

He noted that a pilot project will soon be rolled out.

“We have earmarked Rose Place, where we are going to introduce futsal in that community…From that we are going to look for certification the futsal coaches and not in the distant future we will be introducing futsal as part of the SVGFF calendar,” the national football technical director revealed.

Ollivierre said that football’s world governing body, FIFA, has in place avenues for funding of futsal pitches; hence the SVGFF will be seeking to have such a facility erected here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Initially, though, we are going to source some equipment and utilize the hard court surfaces around the country to kick start the process of introducing futsal to St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Ollivierre related.

The technical director forsees a seamless introduction of futsal, as many players and coaches have been accustomed to the street football format, which according to him, whilst not the same, has some similarities.

But it will not be the first time that Vincentians will be exposed to the futsal brand, as efforts were made by a previous national football executive to have it rooted here.

Such was the interest then, that there were representations to competitions overseas.

Futsal is a five-a-side game, normally played on a flat indoor pitch with hockey sized goals and a size four ball with a reduced bounce. It is played to touchlines and all players are free to enter the penalty area and play the ball over head-height.

Games are 20 minutes per half, played to a stopping clock (similar to basketball) with time-outs permitted.(RT)