Indoor • Technical • Year-round
Dedicated futsal sessions that sharpen decision-making, close control, and speed of play. Open to SSA players and externals.
Futsal U11s–U14s
The Martin High School, Anstey and Brockington College, Enderby • Tuesdays
A futsal court is a fraction of the size of an 11-a-side pitch and there are five players a side on it. Nobody gets to stand on a wing for twenty minutes waiting for the ball to arrive — every player is involved for the whole of the session.
The ball is smaller and weighted so it barely bounces, and there are touchlines rather than walls to bail you out of a corner. A player who wants to get comfortable receiving under pressure gets an hour and a quarter of exactly that.
Space closes quicker indoors, so the decision has to be made before the ball arrives rather than after. That is the habit futsal builds, and it is the part that shows up again on a full pitch on a Saturday.
You do not have to be a Star Soccer Academy player to come. Plenty of the boys here play their Saturday football for another club entirely and use Tuesday nights to sharpen up — that is what it is for.
Futsal is the technical engine room of the modern game.
Five a side on a court the size of a basketball court, with a ball that stays on the floor. The arithmetic does the work: fewer players and less ground to cover means the ball comes to your child far more often than it does in an 11-a-side game, and it is time on the ball that changes a player.
The futsal ball is smaller and weighted to kill its bounce, so it has to be controlled on the floor rather than allowed to run. Played to touchlines rather than off walls, there is nowhere to hide a poor first touch — which is precisely why a season of it improves one.
Indoors, the pressure arrives before the ball does. Players learn to look before they receive and to know where the pass is going while it is still travelling. That habit is the thing coaches notice first when a futsal player goes back out onto grass.
Sessions are built around the things the game demands rather than around a scoreline: sole-of-the-foot control, receiving on the half-turn, and using the weaker foot because there is no time to shift the ball onto the stronger one. It is a coaching programme in its own right, not a winter fill-in.
Founder & Head Coach, Star Soccer Academy
“I don't want to produce players who all play the same way. I want to give them the technical ability, confidence and understanding to make their own decisions when the game puts a problem in front of them.”
Boys in the U11s–U14s age range — born 1 Sept 2012 – 31 Aug 2016 — whether they train with Star Soccer Academy or with another club entirely. You do not need to be with us already, and futsal is not something you have to be invited to. If your child sits near an age boundary, send us the date of birth and we will tell you which session they belong in.
Tuesdays, weekly. Come to one full session free and decide afterwards.
Where
The Martin High School, Anstey and Brockington College, Enderby
When
Tuesdays, 6:00pm – 7:15pm or 7:15pm – 8:30pm
Format
5v5 indoors, 1 hour 15 minutes
Open To
SSA & external players
