The Football NSW Schools Futsal Championships for the Sutherland region was conducted this week at Menai Indoor Sports Centre.

The Girls under 14 division contained 8 teams representing Kirrawee (3), Blakehurst (2), Jannali, Woolooware, and St John Bosco High Schools.

Four players from the Sutherland Shire Futsal Association G13 team were playing. Jessica Ellis, Morgan Maxwell, and Natalie Rajnsz represented St John Bosco College along with debutante players Amy Edwards, Laura Owen, and Alana Humphries. SSFA G13 player Bronte Eather represented Kirrawee HS.

St John Bosco started with a 1-2 loss to Blakehurst A in their first game. Bosco reassessed their tactics and changed their formation from box to diamond and made a dramatic improvement with a 5-4 win over Wooloware HS, surviving a spirited comeback by Wooloware, followed by a 5-0 win over Kirrawee B. Bosco finished second in pool B behind Blakehurst A, while Kirrawee A and Blakehurst B came first and second respectively in pool A.

The first semi final between Kirrawee A and Bosco was the game of the day. The ball movement was impressive with few tackles possible and shots being fired at both ends of the court. Bosco prevailed 2-1 thanks to a fabulous left foot volley by Morgan Maxwell. Unfortunately Kirrawee was knocked out of the competition, missing out on progression to the finals at Penrith. The final was an anti climax with a 6-0 win to Bosco over Blakehurst B.

It was great to see so many talented girls Futsal players along with some first time Futsal players in attendance. All girls had a great time and I hope to see some of the new players decide to further their participation in the sport of Futsal.

The depth of talent for Futsal in the Gold Coast region was further emphasised this evening when Assisi College became the fourth different school to win a Vikings Coomera River Schools Cup title this year. The Open Boys division saw an entertaining afternoon of Futsal with 29 goals scored and some spectacular goal-keeping as well. Assisi took the honours but Robina SHS, Rivermount College and Anglican Church Grammar College all showed excellent form in many of the games. Congratulations to all of the boys and coaches who competed on the night.

FINAL RESULTS : OPEN BOYS MAY 28th, 2009:
ASSISI COLLEGE 4 defeated ROBINA SHS 1
ROBINA SHS 3 defeated RIVERMOUNT COLLEGE 0
RIVERMOUNT COLLEGE 5 defeated CHURCHIE 2
ROBINA SHS 4 defeated CHURCHIE 3
ASSISI COLLEGE 4 defeated RIVERMOUNT 0
ASSISI COLLEGE 3 defeated CHURCHIE 0

FINAL STANDINGS:
1. ASSISI COLLEGE
2. ROBINA SHS
3. RIVERMOUNT COLLEGE
4. ANGLICAN CHURCH GRAMMAR COLLEGE

PREVIOUS TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

2009:
OPEN BOYS WINNERS (MAY 2009) : ASSISI COLLEGE
14 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 2009) : RIVERMOUNT COLLEGE
15 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 2009) : ROBINA SHS
14 BOYS WINNERS (MAY 2009) : ROBINA SHS
OPEN GIRLS WINNERS (APRIL 2009) : ROBINA SHS
16 GIRLS WINNERS (APRIL 2009) : ST ANDREWS LUTHERAN COLLEGE

2008:
13 GIRLS WINNERS (SEPTEMBER 2008) : BENOWA SHS
13 BOYS WINNERS (MAY 2008) : ROBINA SHS
16 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 2008) : ROBINA SHS / ASSISI COLLEGE
14 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 2008) : ROBINA SHS
14 BOYS WINNERS (MAY 2008) : ASSISI COLLEGE / UCSC
16 BOYS WINNERS (MAY 2008) : ROBINA SHS
15 GIRLS WINNERS (APRIL 2008) : ROBINA SHS
OPEN BOYS WINNERS (APRIL 2008) : ROBINA SHS
15 BOYS WINNERS (MARCH 2008) : ASSISI COLLEGE
OPEN GIRLS WINNERS (FEBRUARY 2008) : ST ANDREWS LUTHERAN COLLEGE

2007:
15 GIRL WINNERS (OCTOBER 21ST,2007) : ROBINA SHS
16 GIRL WINNERS (SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2007) : ROBINA SHS
16 BOYS WINNERS (SEPTEMBER 6TH, 2007) : ROBINA SHS
13 BOYS WINNERS (AUGUST 30TH, 2007) : ASSISI COLLEGE
14 BOYS WINNERS (JULY 19TH, 2007) : ST ANDREWS LUTHERAN
15 BOYS WINNERS (MAY 31ST, 2007) : PACIFIC PINES SHS
16 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 17TH, 2007) : ASSISI COLLEGE
15 GIRLS WINNERS (MAY 3RD, 2007) : ST ANDREWS LUTHERAN

With just over 5 weeks to go to the kick off the A.F.C Club championship in Isfahan, Iran, the N.S.W. Thunder team’s preparation has lifted remarkably in intensity.

Coach Jamie Amendolia has settled on the 20-men preliminary squad that must be delivered shortly to the tournament organisers. The list of names sees some experienced, familiar faces with a few youngsters interspersed among them. The full list is: Peter Spathis, Dylan Maloney, Toby Seeto, Danny Martinez, Tuan Cao, Andrew Paine, Ben Lawson, Adrian Vizzari, Rhys Giovenali, Greg Giovenali, Isaac Wadick, Roberto Maiorana, Josh Da Palma, Miles Downie, Andres Gomez, Chris Zeballos, Marino Musumeci, Shervin Adeli, David Von Dinklage and Robert Greenway.

From this list the final 14-men squad must be selected and those players will be the ones to represent Australian Futsal in the Asian stage.

The team has been competing in trial games against the U/21 Youth Academy and the Simon Keith- coached Australian Maccabi team who will also travel overseas shortly. We would like to thank them for their contribution and wish them well in their endeavours.

There are several more training camps and trial games planned for the Thunder team before their departure, and that will afford Amendolia the opportunity to further mould the team into a cohesive unit.

You will notice some new faces around the Glenwood Futsal Wednesday competition. The competition is only a few weeks old, but it is intense.

One team in particular is making an impact – “Football United”.

Come to a game and you will see highly charged robust competition between Football United and Bada Bing; Shockeroos; United; AC Tuary, Persian Gulf and the like.

For Football United, Mohammad will be controlling play from the back. He’s got a grace about his strategic play that, most of the time, keeps the team structured. James and Mubasher will be darting about up front, and causing havoc for the other team’s defence in the process. The ball skills of the two strikers are first class, to say the least. Sasco and Lual tend to hover around the fringes looking for any opportunity to rifle a shot into the net. Ajak is the go to man for switching up play, and for some deft touches. John has a quiet but strong presence in the net. They are all settling into their first Futsal NSW season nicely.

Settling in is what all these young men do, every day.

From Sierra Leone and Sudan the young men have been in Australia for a couple of years, and love their new home.

They bring a wealth of innovative football play and skill learnt on the street to this Futsal competition. Their background has taught them versatility and resilience. Each game against them has to be hard fought. Their enthusiasm equals high-intensity play, every time.

The young men also bring a wealth of experience to Australia more generally too. They are multi-lingual, hard-working, community leaders, and respected mentors.

Football United recognised their abilities and now supports them.

Football United is a program that uses a football development program as a mechanism for promoting well being, and fostering social inclusion in Australian society. Football United’s vision is to foster social equity, inclusion and respect for cultural, ethnic and religious differences. The program uses people’s love for Football (soccer) to also build opportunities for empowerment and life-skills. Participants are from families that have survived and overcome war and trauma in places like Burundi, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Futsal NSW and the other teams have welcomed the Football United team into the competition with helpful support. The competition is perfect for the young men to showcase their skills, and also their ability to settle well into Australia. Their community, families, and the younger generation watch them and will follow.

Mind you, it hasn’t been an easy road to chase their football and life dreams.

More than 13,000 humanitarian refugees are welcomed to Australia annually. Refugee families are highly vulnerable to social isolation in their countries of resettlement. The difficulties of refugee settlement are well documented including new languages, differing cultural and societal values, emotional trauma, loss or separation from family and life-threatening events preceding arrival. Settlement issues, together with the ‘normal’ challenges every young person experiences when growing up, could affect the young men’s capacity to trust and form relationships with family, teachers, referees, peers and the broader community. But these young men overcome this with the same enthusiasm they have for playing football.

In the refugee camps there are no certainty, little safety, and no security, but these young men kept playing football. It’s where the young men developed their passion, and football helped them dream and kept them optimistic. They soaked football into their skin, and are now footballers to their core.

Being part of the Football NSW competition helps these young men to enjoy settling into Australia, to feel happy, to make friends and gives them opportunities they might not get otherwise.

But be warned, this team is the tip of the iceberg. The next generation is even more resilient and skilled at football. They are pacing the floor waiting for their shot.

The resilience, optimism and skills new Australians bring to this country is a gift to Australian football. Lets foster it. The Australian Futsal community, and society more broadly, will be a premier league example if we do.

The Solomon Islands ‘Kurukuru’ team head into this year’s Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship as favourites.

They are certainly the favourites after gaining valuable experience as Oceania’s representative at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008.

The countdown to the OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 can now begin after OFC released the official draw.

With four teams confirmed, OFC said the championship is set to take place from July 6-10 at the Vodafone Arena in Suva, Fiji.

According to the draw, Match Day 1 action sees Fiji pitted against Vanuatu while New Caledonia will clash with defending champions the Solomon Islands.

OFC said Vanuatu will be up for the challenge having beaten the Solomon Islands 5-1 last year while New Caledonia, who have arguably the best domestic league, are also likely to be strong contenders.

Fiji, meanwhile, have the all-important home advantage so the stage is set for an intriguing title fight.

“Since the conception of the OFC Futsal Championship in 1992, the event has been held every four years as part of the qualification process for the FIFA Futsal World Cup tournaments,” the OFC said.

Fiji 2009 marks the first year of the new annual format for the championship, which shows OFC’s commitment to developing futsal by providing meaningful competition on a regular basis.

“The popularity of futsal – an indoor form of football played with five players per side and a weighted ball – continues to grow throughout Oceania as a number of Member Associations start to build domestic structures to support the game.

“This year’s championship will follow a round-robin format with the top two teams advancing to the final and the remaining teams playing off for third place,” it said.

Linwood College of Christchurch are setting the bar for all other schools to follow when it comes to Futsal.

In 2008 the Linwood College Snr Boys Futsal team was name the schools Sports team of the year after winning the NZ Schools Champion of Champions tournament in Queenstown. They are now looking to back that result up in Dunedin this weekend (May 30-June 1st) at the 2009 Champion of Champions.

The school takes it’s Futsal serious and is producing many of the countries best players. Recently they were interviewed on Canterbury’s CTV about their Futsal program and goals.

Sydney Benfica FC would like to congratulate the following coaches on their appointments for the upcoming season.

Fernando Oliveira will continue to coach Benfica’s men, targeting the semi finals will be their priority. Joseph Pinto will take the Youth, given he has made the past three grand finals for two championships. The step up in leagues will prove challenging. The 16 Boys will be coached by two of our youth/mens players in Husky Akil and Costa Chronopoulos. Boy boys are extremely young, serving as assistants last year, this team is sure to have a blast whilst playing some entertaining futsal. Their energy and knowledge as players, will filter throughout the team. Mario Da Silva will take the 14 Boys. Mario’s passion and commitment to the side will prove telling in the later stages of the competition. Lorenzo D’Addona will take the 12 Boys. After having a successful season last year, he knows what he is up against, and is sure to have the boys rip raring to go.

In what can only be describe as exciting times for Benfica’s female teams, the appointment of Ian Skeoch as 1st Grade Women’s coach is sure to be a fruitful one. Ian is a Futsal Level 2 coach with development of the girls a priority. Ian successfully took the FNSW Women’s Lightning team all the way to the Nationals final. Ross Anderson, takes the 16 girls again, looking to build on the nucleus of the squad. The girls will be hungary once again and look forward to the challenges that they will encounter. The 14 Girls will be coached by Club Captain Jessica Abi-Sassine and Olympia Avramidis. Both girls are part of our 1st Grade women’s squad and will provide the leadership that is required for these younger age groups. The 12 Girls coach will be announced, once it is confirmed that this age group has been integrated into the competition.

Our goalkeeper coaches will be Joshua Da Palma and Costa Chronopoulos. We are also pleased to announce that current NSW Thunder and Futsalroo goalkeeper Peter Spathis will conduct some sessions throughout the season. Peter has a busy schedule with Magic, NSW and the Futsalroos, along with his pending marriage later on the year, but has committed to several sessions.

Mens – Fernando Oliveira
Youth – Joseph Pinto
16 Boys – Husky Akil & Costa Chronopoulos
14 Boys – Mario Da Silva
12 Boys – Lorenzo D’Addona
Womens – Ian Skeoch
16 Girls – Ross Anderson
14 Girls – Jessica Abi-Sassine & Olympia Avramidis
12 Girls – TBA
Goalkeeper Coaches – Joshua Da Palma and Costa Chronopoulos

Ten schools in Honiara will participate in a coaching clinic this and next week.

Solomon Island Football Federation (SIFF) Fustal Development Officer, Victor Wai’a said the futsal training is part of the Oceania football Confederation’s (OFC) programme of activity to develop the sport in the country.

Wai’a said the training is focused on the basics of fustal.

“It will basically feature fustal trainings and skills,” he explained.

Wai’a said the whole aim is to spread the fustal message to interested schools in and around the capital.

The trainings will be conducted through their respective sport masters and arranged according to age groups.

Chung Wah School is one of the first to be visited this week to participate in the coaching activity.

School staff and participating coaches will taught students the various techniques of fustal including trapping, triple and shooting skills.

Wai’a said next year similar activity would be conducted in various provinces. Auki will be the first target.

Forty-five participants completed the coaching training last week.

OFC fustal Development Officer Scott Gilligan conducted the Level One coaching course.

Round three of the Futsal winter state league was a nice night for some close Futsal action at the Sports Halls, Sydney Olympic Park.

In the women’s match of the round Force 10 took on V.I.M with both sides in the top four this was always going to be a close battle. Force 10 were slow out of the blocks with V.I.M dominating the bulk of the possession in the first half however Mel McCauley was only called on to make a the odd save in the Force 10 Goal. Natalie Spirovski had the best chance in the first half after a nice through ball by Amanda Bowering only for McCauley to make a fine one v. one save.

The second half Force 10 took the game to much fancied V.I.M sided and took the lead after a great goal scored by Jo-Anne Saliba. Force 10 was now having great spells of possession and Sarah Yatim and Steph Haaring having good chances to extend the lead but Tani Rosekelly was equal to both efforts in the V.I.M goals. Spirovski was always a threat on the break for V.I.M and linked well with her team mates, however the final pass would just miss its mark on the edge of the “D” reliving the pressure off the Force 10.

With Minutes remaining Renee Tomkins levelled the scores when her tame effort was spilled across the line by Nina Blundell in the Force 10 Goal at Half time. Both sides will be disappointed with the result as it was a chance to break away from the teams around them in the table.

Match Stats

Force 10 1 (Jo-Anne Saliba 23′) drew with V.I.M 1 (Renee Tomkins 32′)
Force 10: 32. M. McCauley, 11. S. Yatim, 10. D. Caridad, 3. C. Tyson, 4. S.Svinos, 8. J. Saliba, 9 S. Harring, 21. N. Blundell.
Yellow Cards: D. Caridad
V.I.M: 21. T. Rosekelly, 3. K. Doyle, 5. R.Tomkins, 8. A. Bowering, 23. J. Kingsley, 4. E.Goss, 7. N. Spirovski, 9. N. Laws, 6. N. LoGuidice
Yellow Cards: N. LoGuidice
Referees: Jono Moore & Bruce Bailey

Other Women’s results from the round three …

Hachies 3 (E. Rugg 32′, C. Turner 33′, 35′) def. Pirates 1 (G. Tseng 8′)
Just 4 Kicks 6 (A. Gauthier 3′, C. Cannuli 12′, H. Buckingham 13′, E. Rodopoulos 30′, 32′, B. Sim Sing 35′) def. Sienna 0
Sydney City Quake 2 (C. Javie 9′, 16′) def. Wadey’s Army 1 (A. Hulme 29′)

In the Men’s Action match of the round pitted two super league clubs against each other with Barcelona taking on Enfield Rovers. In the first half it was a game of missed chances with both sides creating plenty with A. Riccio (Enfield) and J. Becerra (Barcelona) both working overtime in goals for the respective teams. Enfield took the lead thanks to a R. Foti effort that beat the keeper at the near post. Barcelona then equalized the with a nice build up and finish from JP. Foti. With the scores locked at one-one at half time the game was there for the taking.

In the second half Barcelona took the lead when a R.Ristevski effort was too hot for A. Riccio in the Enfield goal and cannoned into the back of the net. It looked like Barcelona would go on with it however R. Foti seemed to inspire the enfield boys and they resposed with 3 quick goals with R.Foti having a scoring one and having a hand in the other two. Barcelona pulled back a consolation goal in the dying minutes but Enfield prevailed to claim the points.

Match Stats

Enfield Rovers 4 (R. Foti 8′, 29′, I. Kerem 30′, S. Tonkin 34′) def. Barcelona 3 (JP. Foti 11′, R. Ristevski 22′, M Faballo 36′)
Enfield Rovers: 1. A. Riccio, 3. A. Cole, 17. I. Kerem, 14. S. Ehlisoydan, 7. R. Foti, 19. S. Tonkin, 9. W. Donato, B. Khoussainou
Yellow Cards: A. Riccio, S. Ehlisoydan
Barcelona: 1. J Becerra, 51. R. Ristevski, 88. R. Martinez, 8. M Faballo, 6. M. Liberatore, 7. J. Albayiati, 5. A. Garreton, 61. JP. Foti
Referees: Owen Ferguson & Bruce Bailey

Other Men’s results from the round three…

Any District 4 (C. Ongaratto 4′, I. Batista 7′, O. De Barros 21′, G. Carniel 30) def. Riff Raff 1 (B. Lam 28′)
Maccabi Maulers 3 (A. Tow 15′, 21′, D. Pozniak 23′) def. Pirates 1 (G. Kaye 16′)
Quake Youth 3 (C. Sheerin 15′, S. Collie 16′, T. Valentino 29′) def. Northern Tigers 2 (D. Ros 14′pen, S. Doran 23′)
Academy 7 (M. Candy 2′, 9′, 15′, 27′, E. Apkaya 17′, A. Cimitile 24′, C. Hanly 33′) def. Futsal4All Phoenix 2 (R. Da Silva 22′, J. Boutkabout 24′)
Dural Warriors WOF def. Sydney Tigers LOF

Ian Skeoch has been recently appointed Head Coach for Sydney Benfica’s women’s squad. In an exciting step forward, Benfica secured the services of this year Football NSW Lightning Women’s coach. Ian is accredited with a Futsal Level Two license and has a vast knowledge of our fantastic sport.

Ian, for the first time in Football NSW history, took a NSW Lightning side all the way to the final, going down narrowly 1-0 to Thunder in this year’s FFA Nationals.

Ian mastered his trade under the watchful eye of Dural’s Rob Varela. Over the past few years he has been Penrith’s reserve grade coach and has also coached youth league at North West Sydney Koalas.

Ian Skeoch, Ross Anderson, Jessica Abi-Sassine and Olympia Avramidis will look at guiding Benfica’s female teams in what is sure to be a most challenging season in the 2009/10 FNSW Futsal Premier League season.

Adopting a style of play exhibited throughout the club over the previous years will without doubt entertain and thrill all.

The club will enter the competition as outsiders, as no Super League club has survived after the first year.

Will this trend continue? Only time will tell.