By Scout Nicholson / Jambar Contributor
Youngstown State University’s intramural sports league is diversifying its line up with the addition of futsal to its spring schedule.
Futsal is similar to indoor soccer, but there are many key differences. The sport is played in smaller teams of five, as opposed to soccer’s 11 players. Teams play on an indoor court and use a small, heavy ball. There are professional men’s and women’s tournaments, however YSU’s futsal leagues are open to all.
Josiah Horst, competitive sports and youth programs coordinator at the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center, oversees intramural sports. Horst said this sport is a mix of basketball and soccer.
“It’s a faster-paced, quicker game than soccer,” Horst said. “Compare it to if you took soccer and basketball and mixed the gameplay components of soccer with the speed and movement of basketball.”
Futsal originated in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The official U.S. Futsal website reports futsal was founded with the intention to create a five-a-side version of soccer for youth competitions at YMCAs.
As an indoor sport, futsal is typically played in the spring. YSU offers futsal alongside intramural basketball and volleyball this semester.
“I wanted to make sure we were offering [futsal] at the right time,” Horst said. “[The Rec Center offers] mostly indoor sports in the spring semester, when it doesn’t warm up until March or April. So, when the weather’s bad, I just want to make sure we have indoor sports that we can offer for people, and so futsal fits well into that model.”
YSU’s futsal league has four teams with fewer than five members signed up. The sport hasn’t run so far this season, and the Rec Center is working to bring more attention to it.
One group that regularly practices futsal is the men’s soccer club at YSU. Connor Wallace, junior chemical engineering major and club president, said his team won the YSU futsal championship last year.
“I think we had five teams last year. It was lots of fun because we were able to compete,” Wallace said. “We played two games each day. So, we were able to play twice a night, and then that was every week for, I think, eight weeks.”
Due to cold weather, the men’s soccer team regularly plays a version of futsal indoors at the Watson and Tressel Training Site. Wallace said that many of the men’s soccer club’s members came from the intramural futsal league last year.
Horst said anyone interested in available intramurals do not have to know how to play the sport to sign up.
“Intermurals specifically are meant to be very recreational in nature for you and your friends. Even if you aren’t used to playing all the time or don’t have a history of playing soccer or futsal, you can still sign up a team and have a good time with it,” Horst said. “It’s an easy way to release some stress, get some physical activity in.”
Intramural futsal tournaments are scheduled for 6 p.m. every Wednesday until April 18 in Stambaugh Stadium. The cost is $10 for an intramural sport and $20 for a semester pass that includes all intramurals.
Those interested in the sport can join through the YSU IM Leagues Portal or email questions to intramurals@ysu.edu.
