Though their fall season is over, some soccer players keep on moving, playing indoors at Tri-County Soccer and Sports Complex during the winter months.
Indoor soccer is open to players of all ages, and there are many games that go on daily. This complex features a smaller-sized playing field, where the athletes play on carpet instead of grass. One difference between indoor and outdoor is the level of excitement. Spectators sit close to the players, which allows them to get more into the game.
Junior Andrew Baker enjoys watching indoor games because of the intensity.
“[They] can use the walls to kick the ball off of and the area is so much smaller. [This] makes the game [faster] paced and has a lot of possession changes,” Baker said.
Of the two teams that have FHS players, Sophomore Vinny Rose is a member of the younger team. Rose enjoys playing indoor soccer because it is a “good change” from outdoor.
“There [are] only five people in a small area, so it’s always really cool and we are always doing something. Even the defenders have a chance to score,” Rose said.
Including the goalie, there are six people on the court per team. Last year, Rose played with different athletes. This year, those athletes moved on to play on the junior and senior team.
Juniors Collin Gilarno and Brandon Petroff also stay active during the winter months by playing this sport. There are only two seniors on their team this year, having lost a few potential senior players in the past year.
Occasionally, the teams swap players. Rose has been called in to play on the older team before due to lack of attendees. Many of these players go on to play Freedom Area Soccer Teams (F.A.S.T.) in the spring and summer, where the teams typically remain the same.
Indoor soccer is fun for a lot of people, even if they don’t play soccer. The athletes don’t have weekly practices; they simply show up for the games on their schedules. The games are approximately an hour long. Players get a short break, with halftime only lasting about five minutes. The games typically end around midnight.
Although the athletes don’t practice or spend much time as a team besides playing in games, they make plenty of memories. Gilarno’s favorite memory is “when we kicked the ball so hard it shattered the glass. They had to stop the whole game to clean it all up.”
Indoor games last until the beginning of March, so there is plenty of time to experience a unique and fast-paced event in the soccer realm.