Finding Futsal

The only way I knew futsal is a sport and not kitchen gadget is that it appears ahead of golf in the “add a venue” section of this website. After entering 200+ golf courses into the data base, I became fully aware that whatever futsal might be, it happened in Maryland.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that July 9-12, the 24th U.S. Futsal National Championship was held at the Baltimore Convention Center for the second year in a row. About 8,000 participants and spectators attended the four days of action, with competitions among all age groups (boys and girls) and a men’s and women’s category. Although the medal rounds were dominated by East Coast teams, a total of 11 states were among the winners.

Since the 25th U. S. Futsal National Championship will return to Baltimore in 2010, I need to know more about it. One thing I did learn – there are a number of teams in Maryland and they seem to have a very active network.

I finally (thanks, Wiki) figured out that futsal is a specialized brand of indoor soccer, played on a hard court surface with a smaller ball and five players on a side. It’s faster and more improvisional than conventional soccer, but a part of their universe. And it seems to be growing exponentially in popularity. Some of the Maryland teams have relationships with the professional soccer teams in the area.

So add a thriving, energetic futsal community as one more reason Maryland is a soccer-centric state. Maybe we’ll see a few of them at M&T next Friday.