FUTSAL SPOTLIGHT FOR GOALIES: Mark Litton, Expert GK Trainer on Futsal – The Road to Success
Futsal is perhaps the greatest tool for becoming a great soccer player. Messi has been often quoted as saying, “As a boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club. Futsal really helped me become who I am today.” Here is Part II of our exclusive interview with highly respected Futsal goalkeeper coach Mark Litton.
Mark Litton is the current goalkeeper coach for the U.S. Futsal National team and has taken part in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 CONCACAF tournaments as well as the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil. Working side-by-side with U.S. Futsal National Team Head Coach Keith Tozer, Litton trains elite goalkeepers.
Related Coverage: MARK LITTON’S GOALIE TALK: SOCCER VS FUTSAL
Litton is an avid trainer of the next generation of Futsal goalies, often citing the huge differences between being in front of the soccer goal on grass and in front of the net on a Futsal court. As Futsal becomes more popular than ever, we thought we would explore the differences and learn from an expert.
Here is SoccerToday’s exclusive interview with Mark Litton on Futsal:
Diane Scavuzzo: How fast is Futsal growing in America?
Mark Litton: It’s amazing how fast the sport of Futsal has grown in the last five years. There are youth futsal leagues popping up all over the country. The soccer community in our country is finally catching on to the importance that futsal plays in the development of our soccer players in this country.
Youth futsal is the main reason Brazil and Spain are the two most successful soccer nations in the world. The soccer leaders in those two countries figured out years ago that incorporating futsal into their youth development programs would help create better soccer players, and this has led to success at all levels.
Diane Scavuzzo: What does it take to be successful as a goalkeeper?
Mark Litton: One of the most needed components of goalkeeping is having good communication skills, whether it’s outdoor soccer or Futsal.
Good communication is the ability to direct your team in front of you. Being a leader. Making good decisions and choices.
Good communication comes from having confidence in your own abilities.
To be able to communicate well, a goalie has to believe in him or herself. The goalie has to believe the information he or she is giving to the team is accurate, correct, and at the right time. That is crucial to the success of the team.
To be a successful goalkeeper, you must have confidence in yourself.
Keep in mind: I may be a great technical goalkeeper, but if I lack the confidence in myself, I won’t have the ability to be confident in others. At that point, my communication tapers off. I don’t give the right directions, or process the right information. To be able to make my team feel confident in my abilities, I must first be confident in myself. Make sense?
If you lack confidence, then you will struggle in the role of leader — because like a quarterback in football, it’s a natural position for a good communicator – it is a leadership role.
Diane Scavuzzo: What inspires you to coach goalkeepers?
Mark Litton: I started my coaching career as an outdoor collegiate goalkeeper coach. I was hired to coach the goalkeepers on the US Futsal National Team and then spent some time coaching the US Youth Futsal goalkeepers. I gravitated towards futsal because it took me to the highest level of coaching in the USA.
There is no greater honor than coaching for one of your national teams.
What continues to inspire me are all the young goalkeepers — seeing how much they improve and the positive impact they make on their teams — using the knowledge and tools I’ve shared with them.
There is no greater satisfaction than to see the direct impact you’ve made on a young athlete, that contributes not only to their individual success, but also the overall success of their team.
This is what inspires me, and drives me to always continue to try and better myself, so I can be the best futsal goalkeeper coach in the United States. Futsal is growing around the world and I want to see our country develop the best Futsal players we can to finally be able to compete on the same level with the rest of the world.
Diane Scavuzzo: Are there enough futsal coaches who can help players develop? If a soccer coach is interested in learning how to coach Futsal GKs, what should they do?
Mark Litton: Overall, the pool of talented futsal coaches is small. But through the US Youth Futsal Coaching Education and Certification program, coaches are starting to learn and develop. USYF has a great educational program for coaches. As for Futsal goalkeeper coaches working with youth players today — there are very few who I feel coach the position properly. We need to train more trainers.
Diane Scavuzzo: What is wrong with youth development in the USA? How can Futsal training help?
Mark Litton: What this country lacks right now are natural goal scorers. We don’t have a Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or a Neymar. Those are the great goal scorers for their respective countries and teams. Who fulfills this role in the USA? Landon Donovan may be the greatest home grown player the USA has produced but does he compare to Messi or Ronaldo?
What is the one thing that all these great players have in common? Ronaldo — for example — spent a large part of his youth development playing futsal. So did many other great professional soccer players around the world.
Futsal will create our next generation of goal scorers. Just wait and see.
Futsal will teach the creativity and the necessary tools to be a prolific goal scorer.
Diane Scavuzzo: If you could change one thing in youth soccer what would it be?
Mark Litton: I would make it mandatory that youth teams spend time playing futsal. Proper Futsal. Not just outdoor soccer on a a basketball court. But without having a coach with the proper knowledge of the game of Futsal, the development will just not be there.
Today, continuing our coaching education program is the priority, along with more youth players discovering the joys of playing futsal — this together will help our young soccer players develop and create a better future for our country.
Diane Scavuzzo: What is your favorite soccer team?
Mark Litton: I am a huge fan of the MLS and its growing success. I watch as many MLS games as I can. I root for specific goalkeepers more than teams! Outside of the USA, I am a diehard Manchester United fan and have been one for as long as I can remember.
Eduardo “Choco” Macias, Boris Pardo, and Ott Orf
Diane Scavuzzo: What country has the best model for player development?
Mark Litton: Spain is the best model for player development. Years ago, they started the movement for “Total Football Development”. Spain integrated Futsal into their youth development, and it became a permanent part of their overall development.
And, shortly after doing so, their teams began gaining ground on the rest of the world. Eventually, Spain won a FIFA World Cup and proved to the world that Brazil doesn’t necessarily generate the best players in the world. With the proper development of futsal in the United States, we too can reach higher levels of success on the world stage. Just as Spain and Brazil have done. It is possible.
A Wisconsin Soccer Association Hall of Fame inductee in the spring of 2015, Litton has helped thousands of Futsal goalkeepers understand the challenges in front of the net. A former professional goalie, Litton was the goalkeeper with the Milwaukee Wave from 1989 through 1994. Named NAIA All-American as a goalkeeper in 1988, Litton holds a USSF national “B” coaching license, a USSF national goalkeeping coaching license, an NSCAA National Goalkeeping Level III coaching diploma and is also certified as a Personal Fitness Trainer and Sports Nutritionist.
