Meet Jake Barnes, Coach at Our Dedicated Indoor Futsal Arena at Ordsall Leisure Centre.

How did you first get into playing, Jake?

So I got into futsal literally just by chance and just playing a little five a side at Christmas with my mate. Then turns out my actual future coach was there as well and he was like, yeah, you’ve got good feet. Why don’t you come and try futsal? So literally just started from there, really, and then they ended up going down to Manchester Futsal, training with the under 16s and then ended up progressing up throughout to the men’s team and now obviously the first team as well.

What do you love about Futsal?

Think there’s a few things that I really like about it. One, in terms of the game itself, it’s so technical. I can see how much it’s boosted my actual game. My skills are so much better, my dribbling course control, my actual confidence on the ball and also the actual social aspect. All the lads on my team I get on with really well.

What’s the difference between football and futsal?

In futsal, you’re going to see plenty of goals. It’s rare that a score-line has less than probably four goals in it, so, in my opinion it’s a lot more exciting. Your skills are a lot more intricate and exciting too, because it’s in such a small court.

For me, I’d rather choose futsal than football because as a player that likes being on the ball. You see a lot more of the ball in futsal. If you’re in a traditional 11-a-side football game, sometimes you can go 15, 20 minutes without even having a touch. So one, you get to have all those additional touches and two, you get loads of chances of scoring as well. For me, it’s a no brainer.

What’s your favourite skill?

So my favourite skill, if you ask a lot of my teammates, that’s going to be a step over. I think it’s really effective, they’re quick, and it looks. Yeah, it just looks really good and it’s great for getting you out of difficult situations.

Tell us about your upcoming Euros selection?

So I’ve been selected for the England squad for the upcoming Euros. We’ve been drawn against Bosnia, Switzerland and Spain coming up, playing over a three or four month window.

So first of all, we’ve got Bosnia away and then Switzerland home in December.*

*For full details on how Team England got on, visit HERE

Tell us about the Junior Coaching available at the Arena?

So down here at Ordsall, we do junior coaching sessions, so these run from 5 till 7 on a Monday, ranging from under 8 to under 14s. It’d be great to obviously see more people, more kids at these sessions really taking part in the game. Futsal is such an up and coming, growing sport and as you can see from my journey, there’s such a great pathway for actually trying to represent your country.

Good luck Jake!

We’re offering a free trial on Junior coaching sessions at Ordsall leisure centre. Contact ordsallleisurecentre@scll.co.uk for more details.