Lessons Learnt From Futsal Experience

Having played futsal twice, first with my department colleagues two weeks ago, second time with my church friends just yesterday night, I deduced that I have so much to learn and improve on. In fact, I barely know anything about playing futsal, much less about the tactical formations and even the proper way of playing futsal. More on that later.

I started my childhood with cycling at the playing field near my old house back in Setapak KL. As I grew older, I started picking up badminton and basketball. But in none of these sports I was truly good at. Most of the time I learnt by observing others, and by observing alone was insufficient to hone the skills of playing one sport. Along the way, there were few people kind enough to point out my mistakes and taught me the correct ways of playing these particular sports. But still, practice makes perfect and there was no instant where I got so committed at playing one sport that I get very good at it.

While I play mediocre badminton and basketball, some even with wrong and unrefined techniques, I only managed to pick up futsal recently. In reality, those who have just met you will never know how good or how amateur you are, until they put their trust in you and pass you the ball. Just to be broken the trust... and they might never pass you the ball anymore. How?! They passed me the ball with the expectation that I will be able to keep the ball and perhaps bring the ball forward towards goal, the least I can do is to pass the ball back to another teammate.

One thing I have to point out though, is I was truly blessed and fortunate that my teammates were really patient with me. Having missed so many chances of passing the ball accurately and keeping the ball with some even led to opponents scoring goals because of my mistake, or even when defending, lack of following through the opponent and pressing the opponent hard, they were still extremely patient. But after the game, the lesson started! Some of them started giving me advices and pointed out to me the right way of playing futsal.

Even my RUNNING TECHNIQUE WAS WRONG!

Ha! Now I finally understood why I always get blister whenever I wear my futsal shoes, because unlike running shoes, futsal/football shoes are not supposed to be comfortable! Futsal players run with toes and not the whole feet, by so doing able to control and navigate the ball, more agile than running the marathon way. So that's the key! Run with toes.

While it is not always pleasant to listen when others give me advices, it taught me something far more valuable. In life, when people of better experiences and skills try to approach you and teach you the proper way to do something, you are faced with two choices: to listen, or to ignore. Of course it is entirely up to you if you want to adopt the advices given. It is never easy to receive the feedback given graciously, but it is certainly a quality that worth developing.

As far as I know, even to provide a feedback requires courage! The truth is, not everyone would bother to correct you, and for one to actually come out with constructive feedback, he/she has to first muster enough courage. Imagine this, after losing a game or two due to silly mistakes this guy kept committing, would you be bother enough to go up to him and correct him patiently, with nice tone? Even at the workplace, when your colleague did some foolish mistakes, will you be kind enough to correct him and let him know? While you may answer "Maybe", very few will say "Yes I will" instantly.

That's why I truly appreciate people who come out and inform me my weaknesses and mistakes, in hope of raising my awareness and me making subsequent corrections and refinements. Thank you guys! Now that I know I am weak at playing futsal, I shall practice more and more! I have been developing my stamina strength, but apparently it is still not enough, considering I get exhausted very quickly playing futsal. Of course I am still not used to playing competitive futsal, but time shall come where I will get fairly comfortable with it. So much to learn and correct, let's keep an open mind to it! We shall see.

Signing off.