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The Soccer-Tennis Colombia project has been trying to promote the sport in the country for years.
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players have been in the soccer-tennis process in Medellin since 2021.
In one of the soccer fields of the Belén sports unit it is Matthew Restrepo putting together a mesh that looks like tennis. She does it carefully. First, he took six metal tubes out of a black briefcase, which he threw on the ground.then he began to join them one by one: he put the base and the uprights on the sides.
When the structure was assembled, he took out a net and tied it to the holes at the top of the tubes. with green wires. He tempered her and began kicking over her, as if she were trying to dunk a ball from the other side. He did this to find out if the mesh had the height meter required by the Football Tenis Association in their competencies.
This organization, known as FTA Tourwas created in Santiago de Chile in 2014 and to date fulfills the function of governing body of the soccer-tennis. It is also responsible for organizing the world sports championship, which this year will take place between November 24 and 27 in the Chilean capital.
Mateo is 25 years old and lives in Laureles with his mom and sister. He keeps his hair short and his thick beard gives him the appearance of being older.is about 1.65 meters tall and belongs to the Colombia selection of this sport. The national team holds fourth place in the world championship in the men’s branch, while it is world champion in the women’s category. The last time the event was held was in October 2018.
What is soccer-tennis?
“This sport has many things of football. For example, it is played with a similar ball, the parts of the body that are used are the same, kicks such as Chilean kicks, volleys are thrown and the head is used to nail the ball to the other side of the net and try to score a point ” Matthew assured.
Soccer-tennis was born in Buenos Aires in the 90s as a street practice. Over time, it was consolidated in the Argentine capital and in the early years of 2000 it became popular in South Americathanks to the tv show Soccer for Allwhich transmitted the chain Fox Sports. It is a South American alternative sport.
This practice has a European ancestor: the futnet, an activity that, according to the portal futnetspain, had its origin in Prague, capital of former Czechoslovakiawhen in 1922 the players of the team Slavia Prague they put a tennis net on the court and began passing the ball over it as a warm-up exercise. In the following two decades it spread to nearby countries as a winter sport.until in the 1960s it became a common practice throughout Europe.
Futnet is played in the same way as soccer-tennis: You have to pass the ball over the net with your feet as many times as possible and attack hard so that the opponent cannot respond. Each time that happens a point is scored.
The difference between both sports is that the European is played on a field 18 meters long by 9 meters wide. and it is usually done in a covered coliseum, while the South American is practiced on a stage of 7 meters long by 4 wide, which makes it more dynamic and entertaining.
“The good thing about this sport is that the points last very little. At maximum level they can be given every 30 or 45 seconds. A confrontation is defined in 15 or 20 minutes. That makes it very exciting for the people who are watching it. Here it can happen that Chileans are seen 4 or 5 times in the games, because it is one of the most used attack moves. It is a very entertaining practice for people”, he noted. José Oviedo, captain of the men’s national team and vice president of Soccer-Tennis Colombiaa foundation and company that has been promoting the practice of sport in the country since 2017.
It is one of the new sports that has the greatest projection in Colombia, since playing it is easy and there is no age limit for people to start practicing it.
From Colombia to the world
When the plays start, Mateo is always in the middle of the court. His body is outlined to receive the ball with his right leg and to be able to put a good pass to his duo so that he nails the ball in the rival’s field. This ability led him to be part of the team that represented Colombia in the first futnet world cup in which the country participated in 2018.
“A Rumania I went as a passer. A good serve ensures almost 60% of a well-executed attack,” she commented. The best delegations in the world participated in that tournament and the compatriots were ninth.
Restrepo was also in the first international football-tennis tournament in which Colombia was champion. It was played in Manta, Ecuadorin November 2020. The country also occupied the first four places in the male and female branch in the Copa América that was held in Quito in May 2021.
How is Medellin?
After the triumphs achieved abroad in recent years, Mateo is trying to position this discipline in the city from September 2021. The process has not been easy because when they started training in the sports unit of San Cristóbalapproached the Inder to see if they could give him a permanent place, but the answer was negative.
“They told me no because this sport is not recognized, since it has no leagues or clubs. That is why we have had to change the training venues ”, he assured. Now they do it in the sports unit in Belén, because there are some teqball, a variant of this sports activity and in that space they can put together the mesh.
When they are busy they go to the synthetic soccer fields and put together the mesh. The idea is that the group of players grows to be able to represent Medellin in national competitions in the future.
