Caption
Top Row left to right:
Coach Jason Miller (MA), Martin Konstantinov (DC - age 15), Duncan Mergen (NJ - age 16), Adrian Konstantinov (DC - age 15), Chris Pinkham (NH - age 15), Robert Barrese (NJ - age 16) and Coach Tom Bellen (NH).
Bottom Row left to right:
Chukwuma Onyejose (RI - age 14), Skylah Dias (MA - age 14), Jacob Castro (MA - Goalie / age 14), Kayke Alves (NH - age 15), Jarrett Davis (NH - age 15) and Chukwudi Onyejose (RI - age 14).
The wave of excitement and enthusiasm that engulfed the United States during the World Cup recently played in Brazil increased awareness and interest in the sport of soccer among casual fans. But, for those who have loved the game all along it was simply another reason to keep striving to reach the highest level. And for the countless thousands of youngsters who play the most popular sport on earth, in the United States that level is making the U.S. national team.
Well, for a couple of boys from Swansea that goal is within reach. Skylah Dias and Jacob Castro, who play for the U-14 Massachusetts State champion GPS Massachusetts Crusaders Elite Team, were selected to participate in the US Youth Futsal National Festival that was held recently in Olathe, Kansas, which was actually a try-out for the U.S. National Futsal team.
It has been a long road for these two youngsters. It all started when they were chosen for the US Region 1 Futsal Select team at a grueling try-out, held in Boston, back in October of 2013. Dias and Castro spent five exhausting days at the try-out, which consisted of three workout sessions per day, basically a daily testing battle as only the best survived to move on to the following day.
The candidates came from all of the states affiliated with Region 1 --all six New England states, Delaware, Eastern New York, Western New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia, D.C., as well as Florida and even some who had travelled from the Bahamas.
All of the training sessions and tryouts were directed by Keith Tozer, U.S. Futsal National Team head coach, the organization’s first technical director as the sport has only caught in recent years.
Tozer is an indoor soccer legend and was the first player drafted in the inaugural season of the Major Indoor Soccer League, back in 1978. When he concluded his playing career, Tozer moved to coaching and eventually led his teams to more than 700 wins.
As a result, he was hired in 1996 to coach the U.S. Futsal National Team and has led the U.S. to two CONCACAF Futsal Championship gold medals (1996, 2004) and a seventh-place finish in the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup in China Taipei.
Futsal was first invented in Brazil. It stands short for “futebol de salão”, or indoor soccer, but it is vastly different from the indoor soccer that many local youngsters play as they develop their careers. Futsal is played on a hard court surface and no walls or boards are used. The game is played with a smaller ball with less bounce and it focus on improvisation, creativity and technique, as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.
Great Brazilian soccer legends, such as Pele, Zico and Socrates, credit Futsal with developing their skills.
“Futsal is another added tool for youth coaches in our country to help speed up the learning process for the outdoor game,” Tozer told ussoccer.com when discussing the sport. “Now that U.S. Soccer is mandating that futsal will be a component with youth development, I think it’s going to be tremendous for our players. It’s just logical. Small-sided games have been something that everybody has preached around the world; getting more touches on the ball, being able to think quicker and react quicker, and being able to answer the soccer equation not through a kick but through technique. I think futsal is going to be another great benefit for us.”
After the five day try-out, Dias, a midfielder, and Castro, a goal keeper, had to just sit and wait to find out if they made the team. Finally, in November, they received an e-mail informing them that they had been selected and therefore would be invited to go to the National Team try-outs, in Olathe.
“When I got the email that I made the team I was so happy, especially when I found out that I was the only US Region 1 U16 Futsal goalie, it was more than exciting,” Castro recalled.
Although U-14 players, the two youngsters from Swansea were actually selected to try-out for the U-16 team, the only two players from Massachusetts to make the U-16 Boys Region 1 Futsal Team.
“U.S. National and Region 1 Coaches put us through very intense training sessions,” Dias recalled. “But it was an honor to be selected for the team because there were so many great players from so many states trying to get selected for a position.”
“There were players from so many states and even as far as Florida and the Bahamas. It was so cool to see that,” Castro remembered. “I knew I had to perform at my best as I was one of the youngest goalies as well”.
Nearly 60 players attended the try-out in Kansas in this age division, but Jacob Castro was the only keeper on the team, so he had numerous chances to shine.
“Playing at the National level is a dream come true for many kids and I had that opportunity,” Castro said. “Having the experience of playing at a high level on many occasions with my club team already prepared me so well, so I didn’t get nervous. I was one of the youngest goalies at the Nationals in the U-16 Bracket and we won 3 games and lost one. So I performed very well and hope I make this team. To know you made a U.S. National Team and will travel all over the World representing your Country is amazing.”
Skylah Dias was not as fortunate as he sustained a knee injury during his team’s 1-0 victory over Global Premier Soccer, from New Hampshire, in the Region 1 Soccer Championships, held last month at the campus of the University of Rhode Island (URI).
That injury prevented Dias from participating in the try-outs, although he made the trip to Olathe.
“When I attended the U.S. National Futsal Festival and National Tryout in Kansas I was excited and yet it was disappointing for me,” Dias said with a hint of sadness. “I was excited, honored and thankful that I was on the team and being looked at to possibly make the US Youth National Futsal Team, but was so disappointed that I was injured and could not train, play or tryout at all. To have played Futsal and Soccer since I was 6 years old and to have had this opportunity slip away did bother me a lot”.
But he is not letting the disappointment affect his attitude.
“I know that I will work hard all year to get this invitation once again next year for the U16 Boys National Team as I am only 14 years old,” Dias added. “But all in all it was the best opportunity I have ever had. Sitting there knowing this is a huge opportunity to know there were players that week in Kansas that will be on a US National Team traveling the World playing for your country at such a young age, how incredible is that, this was exciting to me.”
The two youngsters have been team mates for a number of years, as they started playing when they began to attend the St. Stanislaus Catholic School in Fall River and have been together with the GPS Massachusetts Crusaders Elite Team.
But, that streak is also about to end because in September Dias will be attending Joseph Case High School in Swansea, but Castro will be going to Bishop Connolly in Fall River.
So, now they must wait again. Skylah Dias knows that he will not make the team, but Jacob Castro understandably has high hopes. Regardless of what might happen, they both realize that playing futsal is crucial to their development as players.
Tozer has made that very clear. When asked to list some of his goals for futsal in the U.S. in the next 5-10 years, he responded that “one is being able to develop more technical players and more tactical players through the game of futsal to help our ultimate goal of winning the World Championship. One of my roles as the National Team coach is to hopefully push our country in the right direction in that development.”
For 2015, there will be five US Youth FUTSAL I.D. camps scheduled for Akron, Boston, Dallas, Kansas City and San Diego, as well as the US Youth Futsal Festival and US Youth Futsal Summit. Locally, the 2015 U.S. Youth Futsal East Region I.D. Camp will take place October 24-26 at Mansfield SportsPlex.
Dias and Castro will be there, hoping to continue their climb in the player rankings for this region.
“The experience that I had over the last year has been incredible,” Dias said. “It was great to know that Jacob and I were the only players selected from Massachusetts never mind being from the same Club Team and Town and only being 14 years old on a U16 team.”
http://ojornal.com/portuguese-brazilian-news/2014/08/skylah-dias-and-jacob-castro-from-swansea-were-invited-to-try-out-for-the-u-s-national-team/#axzz39LgulFd2
