Well here we are again, another season of superb futsal with a fantastic group of girls. We welcomed back, wait for it, 51 players across all the age groups! Amazing support, and just brilliant to see.

We had two new players come and try futsal for the first time – welcome, Lauryn and Nina, we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

In this block of six weeks we will reinforce the basic principles of futsal – these being sole of the foot control, recovery runs and as few touches as you can. The first group worked on keeping the ball in a 2v1 situation in various different areas. We saw some fab play with players working really hard all over the court and also showing some fantastic touches. The second and third groups worked on support play in different numbers, making sure they used the correct technique at the correct time. They also worked hard on their movement after they passed the ball, not a natural thought for most. There were some great one and two touch player from so many different players.

Click here to see all the pictures from the session

Player of the week for the first hour was Mollie – she has such good feet and looks like she can beat anyone at any stage, and today she was also much more aggressive when trying to win the ball back. Fab start to the new season, keep this up Mollie!

Player of the week for the second hour was Funmi – what a start to the season! She was powerful, aggressive, winning tackles but also dribbling the ball passed one and two players time after time. When you consider she is one the youngest in the group it was a fab performance, top day Funmi!

Player of the week for the third hour was Sophie T – she had her first session with the ladies team this week and saw how fast the game can be. Today she really stepped up her performance and showed what a quality player she really is – her movement and understanding of the game is getting better and better – the future is so bright!

Final thoughts of a coach – after the summer break, I am always worried how many players will come back and continue their futsal journey. We have to be honest, we are trying to promote a game that not many play, the FA don’t really support and competitive games are few and far between. BT Sport are doing a fantastic job of showing the game on TV and especially having the women’s game live is really positive for us. That said, I never know what to expect week one of a new season….I need not have worried, we had 51 girls turn and work their socks off. The future for futsal might be unsure but Bootham are really going places. I honestly can’t wait for this season…