Don't know what Futsal is, neither did I till recently. It's indoor 5 x 5 Soccer played on a basketball size court, the ball is different than outdoor soccer ball. I have been told it's good for ball skills development. She's in the Olympic Developmnet Pool for the N.E. Region, so she's a pretty good player. Hey a Nat'l Championship in tiddly winks is good! This is awesome! #prouduncle Of course she's only a 8th grader so a long way to go, but she has good speed, plays good defense and will probably be 5'9" or so when she finishes growing. 8)
#11 is my niece. Did any of you guys know what futsal was? As I said I'd never heard of it, but I'm hardly up on anything soccer related. The team is named after a soccer player of international repute named Messi who I'd never heard of...there for the team name Lil Messi's, apparently he got his start playing futsal in Argentina.
My son used to play indoor soccer. Was just the same (fewer players, hockey size rink with boards)...but used regular soccer ball. I enjoyed it more than outdoor soccer.
I have 3 granddaughters and two grandsons playing soccer. The oldest granddaughter was in an indoor tournament similar to how you described Futsal, but it wasn't exactly the same and they used regular soccer balls. They reduced the indoor field size to 1/3 regular size. It did require a completely different style of play, which as you said above required sharper ball skills because of the quickness of the game on a much smaller field of play.
I have 2 older nieces who played the indoor style that Stu and Sid described, and in fact there was a facilty in their area just for that, had boards that you could play the ball off and all. Hip checking an opponent into the boards was legal, and the ball was a regular soccer ball. Astro turf surface.