One of the beauties of futsal is the games never get rained off or cancelled due to a frozen pitch – but when the weather is hot outside, boy do we get toasted! Very well done to everyone for working so hard in such stifling conditions.

This week we worked on playing out and keeping possession of the ball. The teams had to make 3 passes of the ball in their own half before progressing into the opposition’s half, and then make 3 passes in their opposition’s half before they could score. We worked on the players’ starting positions and support play to allow them to finish the action. Considering the temperatures in the hall, the work rate and play from so many was amazing. We saw some brilliant 1 and 2 touch passing movements, great saves form all the goalkeepers and some brilliant goals to finish with. Top session and one very happy coach!

Player of the week for the first hour was Lucy C – One moment of brilliance showed why this is a fantastic young player. She had her back to the player, foot on the ball and started pushing the defender back towards their own goal, whilst keeping the ball in her possession – perfect pivot player. And why so good – we have never shown her this! Amazing performance!

Player of the week for the second hour was Florence L – For a player so young, she shows amazing perception of what is going on around her. Very quiet when she started, she has really found her feet and asking some fantastic questions. Add in to this she is a serious talent and you have a fabulous young player. We honestly can’t wait to see what happens with this young lady.

Player of the week for the third hour was Hannah B – What a brilliant session from Hannah today, why? Well, when we challenged her on some of the actions, passing etc, she had brilliant answers for them all and best of all, listened to what we were talking about and applied it immediately – not something you see often. Top job from a top young player!

Player of the week for the fourth hour was Megan G – Probably Megan’s best ever session – not as far as saves are concern, but she did make a cracker at the end, it was the massive improvement with her feet and her distribution that showed how much she has improved. Top job – ladies’ player in the future?

Final thoughts of a coach – First of all apologies for the lack of photographs recently, we have somehow managed to break the very expensive camera lens and it is in for repair…

This is the season of academy trials for ETS, RTC and whatever else they are called now-a-days. I have to be careful here as I was employed by a RTC and really did enjoy my time, so I am not knocking them. But let me have my 10 pence worth here…they can be brilliant for the right player…

As a futsal coach, I need to develop futsal players that are good enough and have the passion and desire to play for the ladies’ team in the national league – no new players and the team folds – simple really. The FA want to use futsal as a tool to develop technically better footballers – hence futsal for football. I don’t, I want to use futsal to develop futsal players. It is a totally different game, different attributes and different skills needed. RTCs, I know I was there, tell their players to go play futsal to get better at football! Why, it’s a different game! Bit like saying go play hockey to improve your football…

I could rant about this for ages but I won’t, needless to say, if your daughter wants to attend an ETC, RTC and enjoys it, then go for it, have the time of your life. But please don’t expect futsal to be the answer to her footballing journey….makes sense?