AN AMAZING ENCOUNTER WITH SVENJA
Our PRM team in the Hiran watershed of TNBBBR conducts phenology surveys and unexpectedly encountered Svenja.
Cheerful screams were heard from a nearby field. The technicians of the BOS Foundation at Samboja Lestari were playing futsal again!
Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and usually played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão, which can be translated as “hall football” or “indoor football”. It is played between two teams, each with five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlike some other forms of football, the game is played on a hard court surface, delimited by lines. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular football. The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.
It is because of the above definition that the technicians creatively decided to convert an existing tennis court at Samboja Lestari into a futsal field. Although it is not indoor, the size is just right. The technicians began to collect used iron pipes and weld them carefully to build a goal. The goal is removable whenever there are people who want to play tennis.
The technicians usually play at night, after taking a bit of rest after work. Whenever they play futsal, they feel comforted because they can channel their childhood hobby of playing football, which they no longer have time for due to their busy work.
Energetically and sometimes running out of breath, they played while laughing enthusiastically. Laughter apparently intensified their spirit to kick and pass the ball, and eventually drive it into the opponents’ goal. Sometimes, instead of kicking the ball into a goal, they kicked it way out of field. As they were taking a short break, I took the opportunity to ask them why they loved to play futsal after work. Wouldn’t it be better to use the time to rest? They casually replied, “Futsal is our comfort game.”