Gisborne footballers gearing up for NZ Youth Futsal Championships

Gisborne's Jay Houthuijzen has made the Hawke’s Bay Futsal/Central Football Under-15 boys' team to compete at the New Zealand Youth Futsal Championships in Wellington. Photo / Yoko Houthuijzen

Six players from Gisborne have been selected to play in the New Zealand Youth Futsal Championships in Wellington next month.

All are members of Rebels Futsal Gisborne, a new futsal club already offering training sessions for teenage girls and planning to offer leagues and training for junior and youth players next year.

The players for next month’s tournament will be in a Hawke’s Bay Futsal/Central Football partnership team. Plans are in place for Rebels Futsal to be a playing partner in 2025.

Five of the six will play in the girls’ Under-15 grade. They are Gisborne Girls’ High School student Elliott Smith, Gisborne Intermediate students Madison Smith, Rylee Barker and Cleo Brenchley, and Ilminster Intermediate’s Betsy Findlay.

Gisborne Thistle and Gisborne Boys’ High player Jay Houthuijzen will play in the boys’ U15 grade.

Gisborne Intermediate Girls’ are the reigning Super 11 Intermediate futsal champions, having won the title last year and retained it this year. Elliott Smith was a member of the 2023 team.

Findlay was in the Ilminster Intermediate squad who achieved top-15 finishes (out of more than 30 teams) at the Aims Games in the past two years, along with solid displays in the Super 11s.

Houthuijzen narrowly missed out on the U15 team last year, mainly because the core training sessions and warm-up games were held in Palmerston North.

Two other Gisborne Rebels players – Henry Morris and Phoebe Smith – have been picked for the Hawke’s Bay Futsal U11s to compete in the Palmerston North Marist club tournament in two weeks. They are too young to play in the national youth futsal championships.

• Futsal is a football-based sport played on a hardcourt surface, smaller than a football pitch and mainly indoors. Teams have five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited substitutions are allowed. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, it is played on a surface marked by lines; walls or boards are not used for rebounding. Futsal uses a smaller, harder, lower-bounce ball than association football. The surface, ball and rules favour ball control and passing in small spaces.
• The national youth futsal champs will be held from December 7 to 10 at the Akau Tangi Sports Centre in Kilbirnie, Wellington. Teams will contest boys’ and girls’ Under-15, U17 and U19 grades. The U15 courts will be 30m by 16m. The U17 and U19 courts will be 40m by 20m.
• Dara Mulrooney was the futsal trailblazer for Gisborne. She played for Central Football’s Under-19 girls’ team in the national youth futsal championships last year. This year, she is a member of Auckland’s Western Springs women’s national league football squad.