Futsal World Editor
The 2011-12 season will be remembered as a year of milestones for the organization formerly known as the Super F League.
The tone was set when the league announced that it had changed its name. In late July 2011, a news release quoting Director of Development John Sciore and League Director Jon Parry announced that the nation's only national futsal organization affiliated with U.S. Soccer -- the United States Soccer Federation -- would now be referred to as United States Youth Futsal.
"The initiative has always been to develop youth futsal throughout the United States, so it is only appropriate to adopt a name that best reflects that mission and our expanding role in the process," Sciore said.
On the eve of the 2011-12 season, U.S. Youth Futsal had 35 leagues operating in more than 25 states, with 1,500 teams in such metropolitan areas as Boston, Cleveland, Kansas City, South Jersey/Philadelphia and St. Louis.
It's grown steeply since then, thanks to a concerted development push by Sciore, himself a league owner, and by Parry and Peter Vermes, the other two-thirds of U.S. Youth Futsal's leadership team.
“We started back in 1997 as the Kansas City Futsal League with five teams and here we are 14 years later having grown into the leading futsal supporter in the U.S. with a presence in 35 cities and counting,” said Parry. “Introducing US Youth Futsal as the new brand represents the rapid growth of not just our organization, but also the game of futsal in this country.”
In addition to growing from around 15,000 players to more than 20,000 by the conclusion of the season, USYF reached several milestones. For the first time, the U.S. Futsal Nationals was held at a single site -- the state-of-the-art Overland Park Convention Center and hotel complex. Six courts were trucked in and assembled in the center's meeting area, and thanks to an innovation by Otto Orf's USYF league in Ohio, games on all six courts were streamed live for anyone with Internet access.
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| Vendors greeted players and families as they entered the arena. |
There were the usual futsal balls, t-shirts and hoodies for sale, but for the first time vendors -- including Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City -- lined the assembly hall lobby with information, souvenirs and giveaways.
It was also the first occasion in which the U.S. Futsal Nationals surpassed the usual tournament atmosphere. It had become an occasion, a happening.
The night before the tournament, Spanish Futsal Coach Ivan Pico Martinez, a former professional player in Spain's elite Liga Nacional, led a clinic for coaches.
The number of teams at the tournament -- 109 -- was almost a 20-percent increase over the 91 that played in 2011.
It was icing on the cake, but five of the 19 finals held on President's Day -- a Monday, another USYF first -- were taped by Metro Sports, a Kansas City all-sports cable station and rebroadcast with both play-by-play and color commentators on Feb. 26 and broadcast again a few days later.
It was a heady year for a league that started with just five teams in 1997. With the organization's strong leadership and its ties with Sporting KC, plans are already in motion for more firsts in 2012-13. Stay tuned to our newsletter, USYF's Facebook page, Twitter messages and the league Web site, www.usyouthfutsal.com, for the latest news.
2012 U.S. Futsal Nationals -- Champions and Finalists
Division Champion Finalist
Boys U9/U10 BVSC Stars Sundowns GLF All Stars
Boys U10 GLF All Stars BVSC Nautico
Boys U11 GLF All Stars BVSC Stars Toros
Boys U!2 BVSC Stars Porto BVSC Stars Generals
Boys U13/14 Sporting KC Croatia U13 99 SportsTutor Ligers
Boys U14 Super Group Sporting KC Jrs. Italy Magical Futsal Acad.
Boys U15 Sporting KC Jrs. Portugal Sporting BVSC U15
Boys U16 Premier AVFC Premier Black DCFA BU 16 Boca Jrs.
Boys U16 Super Group BNC Revolution A U16 Sporting KC Jrs.
Boys High School Super Group U16 Sporting KC Jrs. Uruguay Sporting BVSC 95/95
Girls U8/U9 Panathinaikos U-9 Academy BVSC Stars Sun City
Girls U10 Rockers KC Select Fury
Girls U11 BVSC Stars Cosmos Lou Fusz Elam-Red
Girls U12 00 SportsTutor BVSC Stars Benfica
Girls U13 Pink Panthers DCFA GU13 Santos
Girls U14 Sporting BVSC 97/98 Samba U14 Black
Girls U15/U16 PASA FC Sporting BVSC White
Girls U16/U17 Fury KC Strikers Black
Girls High School Super Group Re-United DCFA Palmeiras Have a question, comment or story idea? Contact the editor at davidknopf48@gmail.com.
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