SJND Varsity Soccer Futsal Training

Written by Joel T. ‘27

SJND soccer varsity coach Fergal Mackay is taking the soccer offseason very seriously. He is hosting futsal training every Wednesday and Thursday at our SJND gym from 6:45–8AM.

During this training session, we are not only staying fit for soccer season but we are also creating a bond with one another that will help us when soccer season comes to a start. Last season was rough, as there were a lot of conflicts on and off the season, but it seemed like the biggest conflict was how we weren’t playing as a team and being very selfish with the ball.

As a member of the soccer varsity team, I think that coach Fergal hosting a futsal practice as a team will help connect our team, as in futsal it’s a way smaller field, meaning you have to move as a team and continue moving the ball. You need to play as a team; you cannot win a game in futsal by playing by yourself. This training in my opinion will create a very strong chemistry between the team that was much needed

Ernesto Delgado was a member of the soccer varsity team for SJND playing the positions of left back and left wing. His playing as a defender and a forward position gives him experience on both sides of the ball, attacking and defending. “As a player who played both sides of the ball, I can notice that our team had no chemistry,” he reflects. That is one of the reasons we did as badly as we did.

Alexander Nguyen was our goalie for the season and he is one of the only players who can see the whole field. This is obviously because he is all the way in the back seeing all the gaps, spaces, and rotation. He is how we found out that there was a big team problem, which was how we weren’t rotating as a team. This would mean that there would be a big gap for easy up-field ball movement that gives them a chance to start an attack and on the defensive end helps cut the field in half.

“As a player who has been a goalie for most of my life, I can say that there was a big spot missing while playing…” Alex said. Alex has been playing soccer since he was a little kid and playing goalie throughout all the years played. I’m sure that during his many years of soccer, he can tell what the mistakes the team is making and was one of the first players to actually see it. He is the one who saw the big gap in our rotation later on in the season and we changed it ASAP. Obviously, we didn’t have a lot of time to perfect it, but we got better than we used to rotate.

This just goes to show that you really need to play team ball to win games. We (the SJND soccer varsity team) started off hot early in the season starting off 3–0 but then went south. We lost a lot of games due to losing players to grades, conflicts of the fields, and being in the right mindset. We were lacking playing soccer the way it’s supposed to be played, as a team.

Miguel Angel Ascencio-Zavala is a sophomore who was also a player on the SJND soccer varsity team and played most of the up-field positions. Due to the lack of rotating up and down the field, we didn’t score as much as other teams. Miguel says, “Futsal has improved my footwork, reaction time, close passing, and speed on/off the ball. As a team, it has allowed us to grow closer together and slowly build chemistry.”

Futsal training will help players pick up new skills and get better at certain things that a regular soccer field won’t give you. On top of that, it will get us prepared for our season and will create a chemistry that was much needed.