FOR MANY high school footballers, the transition from high school to college may mean the end of their football careers. The level of competition may be too high to play at the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) level, the demands of academics too stringent, or other commitments may arise for one to pursue. But passions have a way of calling you back and may present themselves in ways one would not expect. This is what the Ateneo Futsal Club has become for both past footballers and those who have discovered their interest in the sport only during their college lives.

Team Composition

The Ateneo Futsal Club became an avenue for former high school footballers to keep playing the sport while still having enough time to do other activities. “[The] players wanted something more relaxed and something that [can give] them more time, but something just as fun, and so they chose futsal.” says co-captain Martin Alabanza, a junior majoring in philosophy.

Co-captain Dan De Jesus, a communication technology management senior, played football for Ateneo at the UAAP Juniors level, but switched to futsal in the second semester of freshman year after being cut from Ateneo Men’s Football Team (AMFT) tryouts. Alabanza, on the other hand, was a member of the AMFT as a freshman, but opted to leave the team in the following year to focus on his academics.

Most of the team’s players have competed against each other in high school. However, according to Alabanza, they are “all good friends the court.”

“As for all of us being in a new sport, we do our best to learn and give each other constructive criticism as the objective is really to improve,” he adds.

From Football to Futsal

“People believe futsal and football are identical, but when you play, it’s different,” says De Jesus.

Compared to football, futsal is played on a much smaller cement or wooden space and therefore requires more close control and faster decision-making. Futsal moves at a more frantic pace as the ball can zoom around the court within seconds. A single pass will guarantee a similar reaction from the enemy immediately, which calls for quick decision-making in the sport.

Players are also able to move around more fluidly and take on different roles as there are no set positions in futsal, save for the goalkeeper. “Everyone can always get touches on the ball on almost every play, and it’s a lot more dynamic in my opinion, and I enjoyed that,” says Alabanza.

Tournament Experience

The club’s competitive squad was able to test their skills in the Subaru Intercollegiate Futsal Tournament, which was held in University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) and ran from September 3, 2016 to October 15, 2016.

In their first experience of competitive futsal as a team, the Ateneo side realized they were underdogs because of a key difference between them and their adversaries. “They are really good because they trained for futsal. They’re not football players who are playing indoors, they’re futsal players,” says Alabanza in praise of his opponents from Philippine Women’s University (PWU), Enderun Colleges, and UA&P.

Despite this, the team was able to reach the semifinal round, but fell to UA&P, 2-6. The team finished in fourth after being romped by PWU, 2-10, in the battle for third, as many Ateneo veterans were unavailable for the match due to schedule conflicts.

A Work in Progress

Looking back at this experience, Alabanza says the team was able to perform above his expectations. “There’s a massive improvement from our first game to our last game, and I think that’s important because the whole point of the club is to introduce football players and new people to futsal, and not indoor football, but futsal itself,” he says.

It is a different sport, but the passion and dedication of these footballers remain. De Jesus emphasizes the work the team is currently putting in to become more competitive. “It took time for us to gel and until now we’re still working on the cohesion of the team. It’s still going to be a work-in-progress, but recently we understanding of how we play at the same time.”

At the end of the day, all that athletes long for is an avenue to play the game that they love and this is what footballers have found in Ateneo Futsal. As Alabanza puts it: “We’re all taking comfort in the idea that we’re all learning at around the same pace a relatively new aspect of the sport that we all love.”