Jorge Bordt Returns to Futsal with Promotion in Hawaii
KAUAI, Hawaii (2-27-09) – Jorge Bordt, who served as the U.S. Minisoccer Federation’s Vice President for Marketing in the 1980s, is returning to Futsal with plans to promote the sport in Hawaii.
 |
 |
Bordt, a tennis professional, is teaming with fellow tennis pro Tom Edlefsen to own and operate the Kiahuna Swim and Tennis Club here, and it will feature two Futsal courts.
Bordt is wasting no time promoting Futsal at the club. He’s bringing in Boys & Girls Club teams from Nevada and Northern and Southern California to play local Hawaiian clubs in a tournament during the third week of July. He'll be working with Jim Richards, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas, to bring in teams for the tournament.
He's also working on a plan to bring in the National Futsal Teams of Argentina, Thailand, China and Japan next year for an invitational tournament in a stadium set up at the Swim and Tennis Club.
(Photos: Jorge Bordt, top, and Tom Edlefsen, bottom.)
Bordt was a tennis pro at the San Francisco Tennis Club and a player for the Minisoccer Federation's first national team during the 1980s, and he also took charge of marketing as he and Minisoccer Federation President Osvaldo Garcia worked to promote the sport locally and nationally.
Working on a shoestring, Bordt and Garcia were able to achieve several marketing and promotional goals, including bringing in Levi-Strauss to sponsor a Futsal clinic in Kansas City, and joining forces with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to promote the sport at 1,100 clubs throughout the U.S.
They managed to gain publicity for the sport in publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, USA Today and Washington Post.
After a few short years, Bordt and Garcia stepped away from active involvement when the Minisoccer Federation became the U.S. Futsal Federation and they ran into difficulties with a new and uncooperative power structure.
The political environment in the Futsal world has recently changed for the better, however, and Bordt sees an opportunity to renew his efforts to promote the sport.
"We have 3,000 soccer players on the island of Kauai," he said. "It's not as hard a sell as it used to be."
-------------------