If you are a fan of North American
soccer, you probably hate it when October rolls around and the Major League
Soccer season is finished. However, at this point the NFL and NBA seasons are
firing up, which tends to take your mind off the problem. However, if you
actually play the game, winter is a pretty desolate time, since there is little
or no outdoor soccer activity – especially in northern states, where there is
snow on the ground. You can feel all your training slipping away from you, and
just know it is going to be a tough job to get back in form next year.
Therefore, this comes as one of the biggest
benefits of indoor soccer. It’s a perfect place to keep your ball skills honed
to perfection – or as close to perfection as they ever are. No longer do you
have to relearn half of what you know in the spring – instead, you can be
pretty close to match shape after a couple of weeks. Of course, indoor soccer
isn’t the same as playing outdoors, but in the absence of the real thing, it’s
a pretty good substitute.
Actually, indoor soccer is a good place
for people to learn about the game in general. Playing indoors can be a more
casual and less intimidating affair than getting out on the field, and so it
tends to attract more casual participants who then often evolve into
full-fledged players. The same applies to kids – indoor soccer is a good
introduction, and the timing lines up well with the school year. In fact, it
would be interesting to know how many kids that ended up playing pro soccer
started out playing indoors.
The other nice thing about indoor
soccer is that it makes reuse of existing sports facilities. There are essentially
two variants of this. The first is when the game is played on a larger arena
which is about the same size as an ice hockey rink – and often is an ice hockey
rink covered with artificial turf. The other variant is when it is played on a
basketball court, although this can be a bit difficult to do on a traditional
hardwood surface. On the other hand, a high-performance polymer surface works
well both as a basketball court and as an indoor soccer venue.
If you are interested in playing indoor
soccer, then here are a few things that you should know. First of all, a normal
indoor soccer game has 6 players per side, as opposed to 11 in outdoor soccer.
Second, the game isn’t played over two 45-minute halves – instead, amateurs
play two 25-minute halves, and the pros play four 15-minute quarters. Third,
you’re allowed to bounce the ball off the boards around the arena – this isn’t
out of bounds. Last, there is no offside rule, although in some games it is
illegal to loft the ball from one penalty area to another. If you understood
all that, then you know enough about indoor soccer to give it a go ahead – so
why don’t you?
