Were we playing football or were we cage fighting? Throwing, punching, pushing and running into each other.

Our OSC football team was invited to participate in a tournament by the Colombo International School (CIS). I had been there one other time two years ago when the tournament had just started but there weren’t as many schools as there was this time. We hadn’t ever played as a team on a football pitch like the one at Futsal and we hadn’t played against an opposite team but it was a good challenge.

The cage. Photo by Ms Flemming

Playing on a futsal pitch was very different from the pitch that we practice on at home. We were playing indoors with a cage surrounding us on a turf ground. You are only allowed 5 players on the pitch from your own team. There are no lines, you play off the walls so the ball can’t go out. Each of the games is 7 minutes long and it makes the game go much quicker and makes it so much scarier.

All of the other teams had A, B, and C teams while we only had one.  Our team were all very young and a little inexperienced but they still put on a fight and we cheered each other on. It was a really great opportunity for us to see the potential of the younger players. We were all definitely getting thrown around during the games but we had to learn to be tough.

Playing in the cage. Photo: Mrs Flemming

We played 4 games, we tied in the first game and in the second we lost. We had to go into penalties which we won and it took us to the semi-finals. We won our semi-finals but lost 1-0 in our final to Moir.

I got to work on my football skills such as learning to react quickly because the ball can never go out of the cage and learning to be rough against the opposition.

Under 19 futsal team. Photo: Ms Flemming

While trying to play the game and getting caught up in the excitement I withstood many injuries. One consisted of getting kicked in the head and in the other was headbutting the same girl. One could call it revenge but I would just call it being incredibly disorientated through the whole tournament.

However, the team did really well and we managed to score second place. I think this was a good start to the rest of the SAISA season.

Winning Second place. Photo: Ms Flemming