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A
merican Sports Centers provides space for
various leagues around town. The leagues
are not affiliated with the facility; they simply
play there.
ASC is a court facility; it has no turf fields.
One sport that has remained a constant
there–although the leagues have changed–
is futsal.
"We don't offer leagues–we're a wholesaler,"
says ASC President Mike Gallups. We've
had, over the 11 years we've been here,
probably five or six different futsal leagues
go in and out."
The futsal leagues at ASC play year-round and
attract mostly Hispanic players, some of whom
may have grown up playing futsal in countries
where it is an integral part of the culture.
A Google search on futsal, along with the
name of your favorite professional soccer
player, will likely yield stories of how he played
futsal as a kid, grew up playing it on basketball
courts or in the street. After all, futsal
requires no turf. It is relatively cheap and
easy to play. These stories form the grounds
for an argument on futsal as an effective way
for soccer players to train. After all, Lionel
Messi played it as a kid in Argentina, as did
Christiano Ronaldo in Portugal.
The men who play futsal at ASC, however,
Story photos courtesy of Zone 57 Digital Media
