The Enforcers, a 12-and-under girls soccer team with the Kansas Soccer Academy, are taking on all-comers and making a name for themselves in the local soccer community this year.

The KSA wants its teams to grow throughout the calendar year, so the Enforcers do not only play traditional outdoor soccer, but they also compete in futsal leagues during the winter months to hone their skills.

Futsal is a variation of soccer played indoors – usually on basketball courts – with a smaller, heavier ball and rules similar to traditional outdoor soccer. The main differences between futsal and soccer are the ball, the field of play, and in futsal each team has five players on the court.

Second-year Enforcers coach Patrick Watkins said futsal had helped the team improve during the winter months.

“Any time they’re touching a soccer ball in the off-season it helps them stay focused,” he said.

Assistant coach Shelley Bock said the Enforcers were the first Lawrence-based girls’ team to compete in an out-of-town futsal tournament. They played in the Super F Champions Cup Feb. 17-18 in Overland Park, and took second place in the second (lower) division for U-12 girls.

“It’s pretty neat that the kids and the parents are both ambitious enough to go out and find these tournaments and play against some of the top teams in the region,” Watkins said.

The coach was also impressed with the team’s performance at the Super F.

“They showed up ready to play for every game,” Watkins said of the team’s performance that weekend. “As the games went on they learned a little bit more about what it means to be on a futsal field and how it’s a little different than outdoor and they really started to click together.”

Due to the lack of like-aged futsal competition in town, the Enforcers competed in the 14-and-under coed Lawrence Futsal league in December. They finished in fourth place during the league’s first session and did so playing against older teams, some of which were all-boys’ teams. (The Enforcers did have one boy on their roster along with eight girls.)

The Enforcers defeated the boys team that eventually won the league and had three separate one-goal losses to boys-only teams in the U-14 Lawrence Futsal league.

Watkins was not surprised by the Enforcers’ success. “Girls and boys are both pretty competitive at this age,” he said. “You don’t really need to separate them out and if you did, I think the girls would still have the upper hand.”

The team is currently nearing the close of the Lawrence Futsal league’s second session – league finals are March 10 – and hopes its indoor experience will translate into victories against tough competition when it resumes outdoor play in the spring.

“What was really nice is that we got almost all the girls from the outdoor team to play in the indoor session,” Watkins said. “The more they play together, the more a team cohesion kind of thing goes on – they get more used to their teammates.”

During traditional soccer season the Enforcers played in the Heartland Soccer Association league in Overland Park. The Heartland league, which consists of a number of divisions and teams from the greater Kansas City area, has spring and fall leagues.

The upstart Enforcers joined the league in the fall of 2005, moved up from division three to division two and are currently a member of the second highest division for their age group.

Their coach said the girls’ intelligence, skills and athleticism will take them a long way when the spring season starts in March.

“I’d say they’re a little bit stronger than most of the girls their age,” Watkins said. “I think that’s one of their biggest advantages; they’re just more athletic.”