Before you take your sweetheart out on a date on Valentine’s Day, support the Hillsdale Soccer Club at their eighth annual futsal tournament. The event serves as a fundraiser for the town’s soccer club and is an opportunity for players to have a competitive experience in the winter.
“Technically it’s a fundraiser, but I see it as an opportunity to play,” said Amy Fast, the director of the Hillsdale Soccer Club. “It’s important for players to get touches on a ball during the winter.”
This tournament is not your average soccer tournament. It’s technically a “futsal” tournament.
Futsal is the only form of indoor soccer that FIFA recognizes. Futsal is a 3 v. 3 game instead of the traditional soccer game which is 11 v. 11. There’s no goalkeeper and the ball is slightly smaller with a low bounce and a higher density, which is better for indoor play.
During the course of the day, each team will play at least three games. There is a potential for more play, but that depends on the bracket. There will be four games going on at the same time inside the Biermann Center.
The tournament consists of multiple youth divisions, along with a high school, college and an adult division with multiple teams in each division. The high school division is the largest, which is usually not the case, according to Fast.
“It’s going to be really competitive. The best players in the area will be there,” Fast said.
The college division will be filled by players from both Hillsdale’s men’s and women’s club soccer teams. Along with playing, the men’s team will be providing referees and concession workers for the tournament.
“It presented an opportunity for the club soccer teams to get involved so while they’re [Hillsdale Soccer Club] sponsoring the event, we’re running concessions as a fundraiser for us and selling T-shirts. We’ll have someone on-site running the machine to make the T-shirts. It should be pretty fun,” said senior president of the men’s soccer club, Michael Koziara.
“There’s a good relationship between the teams,” Fast said. “It’s a bigger operation this year. We need more help.”
This is mostly due to the location of this year’s tournament.
“This is the first time that the tournament will be held on campus,” Fast said. “It’s in Biermann and it’s a pretty big deal.”
The tournament had outgrown its old location, Hillsdale High School. The size of the Biermann Center will allow more games to be played at the same time.
Hillsdale’s men’s and women’s soccer clubs each have three teams registered to play.
“We’re trying to develop a stronger soccer community in Hillsdale,” Yashko said. “We have a pretty solid relationship with the Hillsdale soccer club. They support us and we support them.”
The tournament serves not just to foster a soccer community in Hillsdale but the surrounding areas as well. Teams are registered from Jackson, Coldwater, and Tecumseh as well.
Hillsdale’s tournament is one of five indoor tournaments to be held in the state this winter. Fast said she is excited to be able to use the Biermann Center this year and hopes to be able to continue to use it for the tournament in the future.
“Of all five, this is the biggest and in the premier facility,” Fast said.
