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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, October 6, 2016 | 46 Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Coaches, players love Oakville Futsal Club `Indoor' game on smaller field develops soccer players' ability to make moves quickly By Kevin Nagel Beaver sports editor Tom Milligan is among those who have a theory on how to increase Canada's ranking in soccer, the world's most popular sport. There are four ways to play the game -- from the slowest surface, sand, to the fastest, futsal flooring. In between are artificial turf and grass. "Look at a country like Brazil," said Milligan, who along with his wife Heather owns and operates the Oakville Futsal Club (OFC) on Wallace Road. "They are dominating the speed (thinking) and slowness (technical). You bring it to the middle and what happens? Everything becomes simple for them." In top photo, Tommy Muvison of the Oakville Soccer Club's under-9 ADP brings the ball up the floor during practice at Oakville Futsal Club. Above, Michele Antilope boots the ball at netminder Michael Mojsovski. | photos by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver The two largest soccer organizations in North America in terms of participation -- the Oakville Soccer Club and the Burlington Youth Soccer Club -- seem to agree with Milligan. They're the two main tenants Milligan has at his impressive facility, which houses a totally padded state-of-the-art futsal field. Futsal is a five-on-five version of soccer played on a smaller field -- indoor or out -- that forces a player to think and react quickly. A futsal ball, heavier than a regular soccer ball, has little bounce on the futsal flooring. Most players love the constant intensity it provides, forcing both the possessor of the ball and defenders to react in a flash. "(Canada) has the athletes, we have the par- ticipation, but we haven't dominated the extremities," says Milligan. "It's not just hopping on a field and practising more, (it's) getting your brain thinking different aspects of play." Not only has Milligan's facility drawn the area's two biggest clubs, but it is renting field time to an Oakville outlet of the largest private soccer club in North America, Rush Academy based in Colorado. Other groups such as Future Girls Oakville also have time booked. Milligan says running the place is "the opposite of a 9-to-5 job." The complaint Milligan hears most is that he should have five or six of the fields in operation. "We've got to think of the business assee Parents on p. 48 What are you crowdfunding for? .com fuellocal.com is an online platform to raise money through crowdfunding: an opportunity for a collection of individuals to make donations in support of a cause. Create your fundraising campaign or help fund local initiatives at fuellocal.com Start your campaign now!