Oak Park resident Miguel Zarate is passionate about getting the community access to a public futsal court.
Futsal? Futsal – it’s a variation on soccer, futsal is played on a small, hard court with smaller goals and a heavier ball. It’s usually played five-on-five, including the goalkeepers. Originally developed in Uruguay in 1930, FIFA estimates that more than 30 million people now play futsal worldwide – and its popularity continues to grow in the United States.
Zarate, who has lived in Oak Park for 20 years, thinks the large number of young soccer players in the community would greatly benefit from the addition of a futsal court at Longfellow Park.
More specifically, he would like to see one of the tennis courts at Longfellow get repurposed into a futsal court.
“It doesn’t take anything special to convert a tennis court into a futsal court,” Zarate said. “You basically just draw the lines and put in the goals.”
The addition of a futsal court, Zarate said, would give kids the opportunity to play pickup in a soccer-specific area, the same way kids play pickup basketball on outdoor basketball courts.
Zarate said futsal courts can also be an outlet for kids who aren’t able to afford club soccer but want to find a way to play competitive games.
“We have many open fields, and we have fields that are multi-purpose, but we don’t have any dedicated soccer fields,” Zarate said. “This would be a very small space dedicated to kids wanting to play pickup.”
While futsal can be enjoyed by people of all ages, Zarate said it’s a particularly great game for young soccer players who are trying to develop their skills.
Murray Findlay, executive director of the Chicago Edge Soccer Club, said the ball used in futsal is heavier, so it doesn’t bounce around.
“It’s easier to control on the ground for kids who are just starting,” he said. “It forces them to manipulate the ball with both feet, and with different parts of the foot.”
As Oak Park and River Forest’s year-round travel soccer club, Chicago Edge is one of the largest youth soccer programs in the Chicagoland area. Findlay has served as the club’s director since 2003.
“I’ve run the soccer program for the last 22 years, so I’ve seen soccer really grow in the community,” he said. “We’re so much bigger than we used to be.”
Chicago Edge now has 683 travel players between the ages of 7 and 18. The club also has a pre-travel program for players ages 4 to 7, as well as a summer camp program with both the park districts of Oak Park and River Forest.
Findlay said the increasing number of young players in the community would benefit from access to a designated futsal court.
“Even though there’s lots of space that kids could theoretically use to go and play pickup soccer with their buddies, those spaces are often scheduled and permitted,” he said. “I think the beauty of a futsal court is that you can just go in and play pickup.”
To bring his dream of a futsal court to fruition, Zarate said he has reached out to the Park District of Oak Park a few times, beginning in 2019. Because he has not been successful, Zarate said he would like to better understand the process of providing input.
“My hope is to bring awareness to it and hopefully get some people behind it,” Zarate said.
According to Ann Marie Buczek, director of marketing and community engagement for the Park District of Oak Park, there are no plans to add a futsal court.
Buczek said they host Master Park Plan community meetings to gather community input for new amenities based upon their capital improvement plan and park master plan review timeline.
For example, in 2023, they hosted Park master plan meetings with the community to discuss improvements at Longfellow Park. Buczek said they did not have anyone come forward and suggest futsal during these meetings, but there was overwhelming support for dedicated pickleball courts.
“We have received a grant on the conditions of the project we submitted and thus, we cannot modify the elements of this park project,” Buczek said. “Similar community meetings were recently held for Field Park and no one came forward to suggest futsal.”
Buczek said she encourages community members to keep an eye out for other park master plan community meetings, where ideas like a futsal court can be brought forth. This year, meetings are being hosted for Maple Park, Andersen Park, and Barrie Park. The meetings are advertised through the village’s newsletter and on the Park District of Oak Park website and social media pages.
“These meetings are the opportunity for community members to have conversations about what is missing and if the proposed amenity makes sense in that location,” Buczek said.