In the Clinton Elementary School gymnasium one recent afternoon, children dribbled balls and scored goals — but they weren't playing soccer. These kids were in a frenzy about futsal, a sport that's just starting to come into its own in the United States.

It’s similar to soccer, but there are important differences, as the students were happy to explain.

“You use a soccer ball on a basketball court,” said Samantha Philip, a second-grader at the Clintonville school.

“Playing goalie, you can kick it up and score,” boasted Owen Parish, a first-grader and budding goleiro (Portuguese for goalie).

And 9-year-old Natalie Lundine offered a little of her own analysis: “You have to have more skill on the ball. It’s a faster game, and you have to react quickly.”

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These youngsters were learning futsal from Natalie’s father, Mark Lundine, economic development administrator for the City of Columbus and an avid soccer player, during after-school sessions this winter.

If these kids practice hard, who knows, maybe they could play professionally for their hometown team.

That’s right, Columbus has a professional futsal team, and its final home game this season will be April 6 at Upper Arlington High School.

Dante Garcia and his father, Ignacio Garcia, both natives of Peru, founded Columbus Futsal in 2006, mostly to organize street soccer pick-up games. The organization didn’t become affiliated with U.S. Youth Futsal or compete in professional leagues until 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Since then, the sport has taken off in central Ohio, said Malissa Galiffo Garcia, Dante’s wife and co-owner of Columbus Futsal, which includes a professional club, recreation leagues and a youth academy, totaling more than 1,000 youth and adult players.

Just last month, futsal debuted at the Arnold Sports Festival. Sporting Columbus, the youth partner of Columbus Crew SC, now uses the sport as a way to better develop soccer players. Several central Ohioans have played on the U.S. Youth Futsal national team.

Originating in Uruguay in 1930, futsal was developed as a five-a-side game to be played on a basketball court — either indoors or outdoors — by youngsters, explained Galiffo Garcia.

“Then Brazil monopolized it, and that’s why they’ve been able to produce such great soccer players: They all grew up playing futsal,” she said. “It’s the speed of hockey, the tactics of basketball and the skills of soccer all rolled into one.”

The game is broken into two 20-minutes halves, and each team fields five players: a fixo (a defensive player), two alas (wingers), a pivo (an offensive player similar to a point guard in basketball) and a goalkeeper, with unlimited substitutions.

A smaller ball is used in futsal than in soccer, and it has no bounce. The ball is kicked into play when it goes out of bounds instead of thrown. And there’s more scoring, with a shot on goal every 60 seconds or so in professional games and as many as 20 combined goals, Galiffo Garcia said.

As many as 400 spectators — South Americans living in the area, players and parents from the futsal academy, curious sports fans — turn out for Columbus Futsal Club’s home games, generally held in the Upper Arlington High School gym. Currently, it’s playing in the National Futsal Premier League, comprised of seven Midwestern teams, including ones from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Indianapolis.

“We’re filling the gym for every home game,” said Galiffo Garcia, who lives in the University District. “There’s a group from Dayton who drives here for every game.”

Lundine, a Clintonville resident, had never heard of futsal until three years ago when his son, Owen, was asked to play in one of the club’s leagues.

“As soon as I saw it, I thought, ‘This is amazing for kids — it’s the best thing they could possibly do to develop their skills,’” said Lundine, who also coaches several youth soccer teams at Whetstone Community Center in Clintonville. “When Owen went out (for soccer) in the spring, his coaches were like, ‘What did he do in the winter?’”

For Geoff Starks, boys director of coaching for Sporting Columbus, futsal has served as a “fantastic program” to develop soccer players, especially in the winter months. Many of his squads play in Columbus Futsal leagues.

“Because it uses a smaller ball, it helps players work on first touches, dribbling, passing, shooting,” Starks said. “And because the space is smaller, I’m also noticing, the players have learned to be a little more aggressive.”

While area residents may be starting to fall in love with the sport, it’s long been part of the rich soccer traditions of South American and European powerhouses.

Alex Talasca, 29, grew up playing it in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. When he moved to Columbus four years ago, the Brazilian was surprised to learn Dante Garcia was starting a team.

“I used to play a lot in Brazil — four times a week,” said Talasca, who lives on the Northwest Side and runs a cleaning business. “I had been here six months, and it was driving me crazy not playing.

“Here people get together for barbecues; there, they get together to play futsal.”

Talasca has been the team’s goleiro and one of its captains since the professional team began playing. He’s one of 12 Brazilians with the Columbus Futsal Club. The rest of the squad is made up of local collegiate soccer players and those who have come up through the organization’s academy.

Columbus Futsal popped up during a Google search four years ago when Audrey Gibson-Zweifel was looking for ways to improve as a soccer goalie. She said she could never have imagined the impact the sport would have on her.

Now 15, the Hilliard Davidson High School freshman has played for the youth national squad the past two years. It’s allowed her to travel to Canada, Portugal and around the United States.

“Because there are less people on the court, it moves really fast and you get a lot of action and can make a lot of saves,” Gibson-Zweifel said. “It’s really fun.”

award@dispatch.com

@AllisonAWard