Kauai Youth Soccer Assn. President Kevin Devitt Feels Growing Commitment to Futsal
By Tim Sheldon
KAUAI, Hawaii (1-20-10) – Kevin Devitt has been a part of the Kauai Youth Soccer Assn. for 15 years, first as a soccer parent and more recently as president. He's seen nothing but steady growth in the organization and now sees that growth taking him more and more into Futsal.
"A lot of my 14-year-old boys are going down to the Kiahuna Swim & Tennis
Club on a regular basis," he said, "and they've made leaps and
bounds improvement. It's unbelievable."
Devitt has taken many of his youth players from Garden City FC and other clubs in the Youth Association, ranging in age from eight to 17, to the Kiahuna Club for training. Devitt coaches the Garden Island teams in partnership with Karl Ubongen.
(Photo: Kauai team shows off the trophy it earned by winning the U15 Dana Cup B final last summer in Denmark. The team continued on to Sweden to play in the Gothia Cup.)
"Hopefully, we'll be able to start a Futsal league. I think after this spring season, when the coaches see the improvement in the players that are playing Futsal on a regular basis, they'll want to have a league. The improvement is unbelievable. You can really see the difference. They're a lot more confident with the ball. They're able to get themselves out of touchy situations on a big field real easy."
Devitt met Kiahuna Club co-owner Jorge Bordt on the outdoor practice field two years ago and started with the Futsal at the Kiahuna Club about a year ago.
"I got a call from Jorge, and he came over and talked with me about what he was planning to do with Futsal. We became friends over that and it's been kind of building ever since."
The friendship extended to Sweden this past summer when Devitt took teams to Sweden and Denmark to play in the Gothia and Dana Cups. In Sweden, Devitt was surprised to see Bordt walk up and say hello..
"We had a bunch of boys who had played Futsal, and they were glad to see him," Devitt said, "and he was glad to see how much they've improved playing. We had five players on the team with Futsal experience."
"We made it into the second round of the Gothia Cup before running into some strong European teams," Devitt said, "and our U16 Boys actually won the Dana Cup.B title. The Futsal kids were very comfortable playing."
Devitt said he's seen a big improvement in his players' offensive skills as a result of playing Futsal.
"Everyone here in Kauai plays one-dimensional soccer, going one way or the other, but what I notice with the kids who have trained in Futsal is that when one player rotates up, someone else rotates back. When they get around the goal and in tight places, they don't panic. They move around, make the short passes under pressure and get the shot off. The big thing around the goal is their ability to play one touch."
As Futsal continues to develop in Kauai, teams will be visiting the Kiahuna Club from elsewhere in the world, and Devitt will be supplying teams for mini-tournaments. "
"I'm all for that if any teams came over here. They could contact me or Jorge, and we'd more than happy to have them come down here and play. It would be a lot of fun for the kids here, because a lot of the kids here don't get to travel too much. It would be a great experience for them to play some of the international teams."
Devitt hopes to be able to bring players to the Kiahuna Club more often as Futsal programs develop in Kauai..
"I hope that in the future I can get down there and help Jorge a lot more than what I'm doing now. I hope to see Futsal grow and become a great compliment for soccer in all aspects of the game in the community, club leagues and high school leagues.
Devitt likes the Futsal training at the Kiahuna Club because it "offers a controlled environment where we don't have to worry about negative influences that you might have at public parks where it's not supervised."
Another favorable aspect of Futsal that Devitt has noticed is that "pretty much anybody can play it. I have a couple of boys on my team who are not too big physically and have a hard time on a 100-yard field. But the same kid, we get him in Futsal and he's a goal-scoring machine. He's feeling good about himself and contributing."
For this same reason, Devitt feels that Futsal is good for girls' teams.
"It's good for the girls teams, especially. I started coaching girls, and started coaching boys about three years ago. And coached girls in high school. Girls do well in Futsal when they go down to Kiahuna and play, because they're not trying to overpower the ball. Futsal really suits them. They can play with the boys in Futsal, because the size of the court is a great equalizer.They come down and train with Jorge. When I bring my club teams down there he'll work with them for an hour or so, and then we just kick back after that and let them play for an hour or so."
Devitt has found that Futsal practice is very good for identifying and correcting errors that occur on the larger soccer field.
"I'll go down there and tell Jorge this is what we did in our last game. So and so wasn't doing this right, and we go down and correct it on the Futsal court. It forces the mistakes they're making to happen a lot more, and they're able to correct them and get some positive feedback right away. We can tie it in and it works. With Jorge down there, it's like going to a professor about this stuff. And Osvaldo Garcia, too. He's been here a couple of times, and we've had a chance to talk to him and listen to his analogies, and it was very interesting. He's pretty cool."
Devitt has seen Brazilians playing the game, and they've set a great example.
"Actually we've met up with the Brazilians several times on tours, and that's what these kids play. They go outside on the cement, get a ball and play. The American kids might do a lot of slide tackling and get beat up.The Brazilian kids are out there having a great time."
In Sweden, the Kauai team's hotel actually had a Futsal court outside, and Devitt observed that "the European kids seemed to have a hard time playing it, but the South American kids were tearing it up. It was very entertaining."
Devitt said one of the biggest selling points for him on Futsal was the reaction of his daughter, Arlene, when she played it.
"She's 27 and after she got out of college (Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa) she didn't play soccer any more. I brought her down to play Futsal one weekend. She was grumbling and complaining. But when she got down there she played for three hours. She loved it, and when she has time she goes back. Futsal is fast-paced and is played with finesse. People aren't trying to hurt each other. My daughter was turned off in college because it was all hammer and run."
Devitt sees Futsal as the sport of the future in Kauai, and sees himself spending much more time with the sport at the Kiahuna Club.
"I haven't seen any kids down there who haven't liked it. I think eventually I'll be spending a lot of my time down there. If it really took off, I might even consider giving up my high school coaching position. If I could reach more kids down there, I might just do it."