2004 Fall River Diocesan School League - Session 2


Session 2 Playoffs

The Playoffs for the 2nd Session of Futsal for the Catholic Youth
Interscholastic Futsal League were played this past Saturday
06/19/2004 at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River,
Massachusetts.

Team Spain took home the Division 1 Championship Honors after
winning in over time against Team France with a final score of 3-1.
Team Spain also ended up the regular season of play with a first
place standing and undefeated (6-0-2). Team France put them to the
test though in this Division 1 Finals tying the score at 1-1 in
regulation time but then fell short to the normally overwhelming
offensive strengths of Team Spain, loosing in overtime.

Team Portugal was crowned Division 2 Champions with their convincing
6-2 finals victory over Team Italy. Team Italy who played out their
regular season in 4th place in Division 2 made it to the finals only
after upsetting 1st place Team Brazil 2-1 in a very exciting first
round match of this single elimination competition.

This past Saturday's games ended what was a history making first
year of Futbol Sala games played by the Fall River Catholic Diocesan
Elementary School children. It was nothing short of a spectacular
season for these children who came from various Catholic Diocese
Elementary Schools in Fall River to participate in this healthy and
fun activity. "This league puts an entirely new face on Catholic
Youth Programs for the diocesan grade schools" says Coach Bill. "We
offered this program at the request of the elementary school
principals to enhance the catholic school education experience here
in our city and the children responded BIG TIME!" Starting with 26
players in November of 2003 our league registered 150 players
throughout the two sessions of play. All games were held on
Saturdays and were played at Bishop Connolly High School's Lafrance
Gymnasium. The players, their friends and families were treated to
a festive kickoff jamboree in January, an olympic-style event and a
teacher's cup challenge in April, and a grand finale playoff this
past Saturday.

Fall River's Mayor Ed Lambert provided his support for the program
speaking to the children, stating, "We certainly think that this is
great to have so many of our young people involved in such a
wholesome activity that keeps them healthy. We really appreciate
the organization of this league and believe that this is a sport
that is really going to take off, very much so, here in our city."

One of our league's outstanding futsal players, Justin Cousineau,
will be attending Bishop Connolly High School as a freshman next
year and he is anxious to have the opportunity to play soccer for
Coach Bill Sampaio, who is not only the volunteer / director of this
program but also the head soccer coach for Bishop Connolly High
School. Justin will also have the opportunity to participate in the
school's "first ever" club futsal games planned for the high school
students next year.

Coach Bill Sampaio recently returned from Brazil where he, amongst
other things, began the ground work for a new scholar / athlete
exchange program for brazilian students to come to Fall River to
stay with a host family, attend Bishop Connolly High School and play
Futsal and Soccer.


http://www.kinnane.com/cyffutsal_home.htm