Image via Wikipedia
Recreation Domination: Staunton Parks & Recreation Athletics VLOG
With eight season sessions completed in the history of Futsal (indoor soccer) in the Staunton Recreation Department, one thing has remained a constant, South American players domination of the sport. The Charrua FC just completed an undefeated season in the fall Futsal league for their third title. Before Charrua, it was the Waynesboro Storm and South American Muscle teams that took Futsal titles on multiple occasions. All of these teams are mostly if not entirely comprised of Latino players.
Our Futsal league is growing with every session and the level of competition is rising with it. The Latino players are raising everyone’s game with a faster and more physical style than the American players usually play. When talking to most of the South American players, they have been playing soccer since they were four or five years old and that was the only sport for them so their skills are more refined and tested. With soccer’s growing popularity in the US that gap will be closing in years to come as football, basketball, and baseball are losing some of their stronghold in youth sports to soccer. As of now, South Americans still have a strong hold on the sport in World Cup play and on local levels as well. But watch out as there are a lot of high school aged teams playing in our league that are getting better every season and are on the rise.
I think it is great that we have such a variance of representation in our league as we have players from Europe, Africa, South America as well as the US players. The Latino players really involve family on game nights as a lot of children and relatives come to support the teams and it is instilled in them at such young ages. This family support is evidenced in the championship photo of Charrua. The following video is just a look into some of the players heritage and experience with the game. The next session of Futsal is starting soon, so come sign up a team or just come watch the games on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Gypsy Hill Gym. Please stay tuned for more blogs and videos from our “Recreation Domination” series that showcases our various sports and offerings in our department.
This Staunton Parks and Recreation blog post was written by vlogger James Corbett, Athletics Specialist for the Staunton Parks and Recreation Department. On Fridays we hope to post a vlog or video blog about our current recreation sport leagues. This new vlog series will be called “Recreation Domination”.
Feel free to post comments regarding the leagues or any comments about the department in general. We love feedback and will use the input to make what we offer even better. Thank you in advance for proposing suggestions. “Let’s Make Staunton Great!”.
Related Articles
- You: National Futsal Championship from 25th (nation.com.pk)
- Futsal Camp for girls ages 8-11 in Redmond December 27-29 (examiner.com)
Queen City Blog 
That league was a complete waiste. We didn’t even get our uniforms until the last 4 games. As for the South Americans…..they weren’t that good. Thats what you get with american refs and foreign players. Refs here don’t blow the whistle when players try to take your legs off, just when they need to give their buddies team an advantage.
Dear Jim,
First of all, thank you for taking the time to comment about the blog post. We hate to hear of any experience in any of our programs that does not meet participant’s expectations. We will alert the athletic specialist about the comment and hopefully he will be able to rectify the problems that you have expressed. In the meantime, you can contact my directly @ jonesjl@ci.staunton.vs.us to discuss your concerns more in-depth. The athletic leagues fall under my responsibilities as Superintendent of Recreation. I speak for myself and our Director of Parks and Recreation when I say that we want our athletic leagues to be great, so any suggestions you might have to correct some of the issues you have exposed would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully, Jennifer Jones