Rural Indiana is basketball country. It can be tough to rustle up enough players for a full soccer match. But 5-v-5 futsal — played on a basketball court — is a perfect way to grow the sport.
In the city of Indianapolis, meanwhile, there is rarely room for soccer pitches. But there are plenty of places to put a futsal field.
Those are two great reasons why the Indiana Soccer Association applied for — and received — a U.S. Soccer “Innovate to Grow” grant. The state association’s in-school futsal initiative, Futsal for All, is one of 27 awarded by the national governing body, out of $3 million earmarked for programs that will increase education resources for youth coaches and referees, remove financial barriers of entry for participants in marginalized communities, increase participation for girls and women, and/or provide resources for an array of disabled service organizations.
The Indiana program checks many of those boxes. Futsal for All aims to provide “affordable, sustainable and scalable access” to the game via small-sided futsal. The key is to utilize physical education classes.