Maccabi USA / Sports for Israel

Can Unknown Futsal Kick Soccer To The Sidelines?

BY: ELLEN SCHUR BROWN Editor, Family Section

The Beijing Olympics had audiences cheering for some of the world’s favorite and lesser-known sports.

If  it’s up to Clevelander Jared Bernstein, one more relatively obscure game will someday make the Olympics list: Futsal.

Futsal is a hybrid of soccer and basketball, played indoors by a team of five. The result, says Bernstein, 28, is a high-energy game that’s more skill-oriented and fast-paced than soccer.

The Beachwood High School alumnus has been fanatic about futsal and its sister-sport soccer since childhood. When Bernstein says “soccer is my life,” it is. His day job (with his father and fellow soccer fanatic Ed Bernstein) is running the Cleveland Blues Soccer Club for kids ages 4-18.

Before futsal can get to the Olympics, though, Bernstein is bringing the sport to the Maccabiah Games in Israel next July. (Maccabiah games, held every four years, are the Jewish Olympics for adult athletes. Maccabi games are held every year for young players, ages 12-16. This year’s competition was in Akron, Aug. 10-14.)

At a soccer convention a few months ago, Bernstein visited the Maccabiah USA booth. That encounter resulted in his agreeing to put together a U.S. futsal team for the 2009 Maccabiah Games to compete against established teams from 20 countries, including Israel.

Creating a futsal team is as tough as scoring a winning goal, Bernstein realizes.

“I went to a meeting for all the chairs for every sport in Maccabiah,” he explains. “I was the youngest one there. They’re all well-established with lots of money and lots of connections.”

First, Bernstein needs players. His brother (and South Euclid roommate) Aaron will play, along with Sergio Rosenhek, a native Brazilian who now teaches soccer and futsal at the Houston JCC. Two Jewish players from the U.S. men’s national futsal team also may join. He’s contacting Jewish soccer players, pro and college coaches, owners and managers of major league soccer teams and of the major indoor soccer league. With any luck, the U.S. team will be in place in time to compete in a tournament or two before the competition gets underway in Israel.

“Realistically I’m hoping to get out of the qualifying round of games,” says Bernstein of his young team. “Then we can start looking at the next Maccabiah competition in four years.”

He estimates it will cost $50,000 to field the team and send them to Israel for three weeks of touring, training and competitions. The team is also looking for private donations and corporate sponsorships.

Beachwood resident Sandy Lipman is his first angel.

“Sports were important to my late husband; he was an athlete, and he did a lot of things with the JCC. I’m a sports lady, too,” says Lipman, who played softball, basketball, tennis and golf and was a professional bowler. “If (futsal players) really want to go and participate, I’m willing to help them.”

Bernstein is already introducing futsal to the upcoming generation of soccer players. Because futsal uses a smaller ball and requires a confined space, it’s a good skill-building game for young players. Indoor play requires better ball holding skills, so when they get out on the soccer field, it’s a breeze to control the ball, he explains.

Noting how far soccer has come in U.S. popularity, he concludes, “I would love it if futsal caught on.”