| | |  Americas & Beyond | March 2009 
Pro Beach Soccer Tour: Beach Soccer on the Rise
 BeachSoccer.com
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| | Top Ten Goals - for more info, photos and video, visit the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup website at BeachSoccer.com | |
Related: FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 Qualifier CONCACAF Puerto Vallarta - April 29 thru May 3
Beach soccer develops and expands with every passing year. 2008 confirmed that Beach Soccer’s success is set to continue far beyond the cliché sceneries. The fourth ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the first to be held away from its birthplace on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach and the unqualified success of the ten-day event on Marseille’s Prado beach has served notice of the fact that the sport is entering a new era.
Also the line-up of teams participating in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifiers has made abundantly clear that the discipline is developing at hi-speed. Last year the European Qualifying tournament in Benidorm, showcased 24 (eight more than in 2007) glory-seeking nations, converting the Benidorm showdown into the largest in the history of the sport. Improbable countries as Georgia, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia or Andorra participated and took their first steps on the International Beach Soccer scene.
In South America (the second most advanced Beach Soccer continent), Ecuador joined the seven powerhouses that hunted continental glory in Buenos Aires last year, into this year’s race towards the world’s premier showpiece, and 16 Asian nations are candidate to take part in the Asian qualifying event.
Besides expanding as a sport, the football modality has also caught the eye of eleven-a-side football coaches and physical trainers. The fast, hot version of the world’s most popular sport is one of the most unconventional and demanding ways of playing soccer originated as an economic way of training and playing used by casual participants.
More recently, trainers and coaches have defined Beach Soccer as a useful tool that could be applied to training programs in all levels of participation, including the professional clubs. A great developer of strength and physical conditioning, beach soccer is also a great developer of basic coordination skills as: balance, time-space, and foot-eye relationships.
Whether it’s used as a hobby or as a training tool; Beach Soccer is probably the cheapest way of playing the sport that requires the minimum or no equipment at all.
Everybody can play the game. Beach soccer is so simple. All you need is a set of posts, a ball and a coach and one can be taught the game … you do not even need boots because it is played barefoot. Beach Soccer is the perfect game for development and taking kids of the street.
Dubai 2009 will no doubt serve as another platform for the sports development. Having left its home on the Atlantic, Beach Soccer has now left its mark on the Mediterranean and is set to make a similar impression on the Gulf to then conquer the world in no time.
 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009
Follow this year's competition from around thed world on the road leading up to the final championship matches in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this November 16th-22nd, the host country for the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. |
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