A NUMBER of Suffolk schools are preparing to represent the county at the next qualifying rounds of the national FA Youth Futsal competitions.

Over 130 schools participated in this year’s competitions, with eagerly contested categories for boys and girls covering the U11, U13 and U15 age bandings.

Action is pictured above from the Girls' Under-15 final between Ipswich Academy (purple shirts) and Thomas Gainsborough of Great Cornard (blue shirts) at Westbourne School.

With County Finals now completed, Suffolk will see the following schools doing battle on their behalf alongside other county winners in the national FA Youth Futsal competitions sponsored by Pokemon:

At Nottingham on March 10th

• U11 Boys: St Mary’s, Ipswich
• U11 Girls: Horringer Court, Bury St Edmunds
• U13 Boys: Northgate, Ipswich
• U13 Girls: Benjamin Britten, Lowestoft 

At Kent March 18th

• U15 Boys: Claydon
• U15 Girls: Westbourne Academy, Ipswich
  

Suffolk FA Senior Football Development Officer Darren Scoulding, who worked with Schools Games Organisers to organise these events, said: “Our schools’ Futsal offering continues to grow, with more and more schools embracing this popular format.

“Bealings Primary School caught the imagination of the county last year with their well-publicised journey from school playground to the National Final at St George’s Park and I believe that this has helped in the number of schools and, really importantly, smaller schools that have taken part.

“The U15 section is a new experience for us this year and over 30 teams entered this age-group this season.”

He added: “All of the winning schools go with the best wishes of Suffolk FA and who knows we may be journeying to Burton-on-Trent to watch them in the finals later in the year!”