Following on from their first successful reunion, the 32 people charged with building and improving futsal in Tahiti are gearing up for their second meeting on March 1.
In early February the group representing the futsal committees of Tahiti and Moorea met at the FTF Technical Centre in Pirae to discuss the programme CAP 2015, which covered 2007-2014.
The group also started working on the base for the next development plan – Vision 2020 – which is expected to be completed by November 2014.
The meeting revealed that in 2013, 3, 873 members joined one of the 22 futsal committees located in the Marquises, Australes, Tuamotu, ISLV, Tahiti and Morea, overtaking volleyball as the most practiced indoor sport in the country.
The last competition the federation ran saw259 teams take part, while women’s futsal has evolved significantly with 60 teams now taking part in the league.
FTF is now looking to alter the course for the future, with greater emphasis going on youth development as the federation looks to introduce more futsal schools.
Having set the goal of having 5,000 futsal players registered by 2020, the next step is provide more spaces in the futsal schools for young players. FTF has suggested 1,500 of the projected 5,000 will be youth aged 15 and under.
Three age categories are incorporated into the plan – U-9, U-12 and U-15.
The ultimate goal of the Vision 2020 plan is to achieve the same level of international success as the national beach soccer team, the Tiki Toa, who last year finished fourth at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
The federation has introduced new tools aimed at improving the level of performance of the nation’s elite players in the Aito Arii.
With this is mind a new Top 10 league will see the ten best futsal teams from Tahiti and Moorea play off. This competition is in addition to the Top 8 tournament held annually, on June 8 this year – which brings together sides from Tahiti, Moorea, ISLV and Rapa.
To make sure the two competitions will be of the highest quality, each of the team coaches will take part in training courses led by national coach Heitapu Hunter.
What is clear from the outline of Vision 2020 is the need to train coaches, referees and managers will be key to achieving the success being aspired to.
For more on Tahiti football go to www.ftf.pf

Share