Indoor vs. Outdoor Soccer


Lifestyle / Thursday, September 6th, 2018

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. From developing countries to the English Premiere league, this sport transcends culture, language, religion, and status. Most people play this sport on a field outside. However, some people play the game in an indoor setting. While outdoor full field soccer is by far more popular, indoor is popular and enjoyable. Indoor and outdoor soccer are both enjoyable if you have a love for the game, but if you’ve played, you know they offer different soccer experiences.

One major noticeable difference is the speed of the game. Indoor soccer fields are significantly shorter than outdoor fields and allow a smaller number of players of the field. Indoor soccer fields are walled in, and players use the wall to their advantage. There are no out of bounds like outdoor soccer, but the ball is not allowed to go above a certain wall height and field length. There are no throw-ins with indoor soccer, it’s much more fluid and not as many stops occur.

In some parts of the world, it is uncomfortable to play soccer outside in the freezing temperature. Indoor soccer is a good way to get touches on the ball without getting the terrible feeling of a ball to the face in below freezing weather. Soccer in the freezing weather is not particularly enjoyable. That goes extreme heat as well. Attire for indoor and outdoor are similar with a slight shoe different. Both games require shin guards, socks, and shoes. In outdoor you typically wear cleats to get some traction on the turf or grass. With indoors, you wear shoes with a rubber bottom, that won’t hurt the indoor field. You do see people playing without shin guards occasionally, but I wouldn’t risk the potential shin bleeding or bruising.

There are no off sides in indoor. This is hard to adjust to if you have been an outdoor soccer player your whole life. Your striker can hang out by the goalie, and there won’t be a whistle blown to stop the player.  However, with no off sides, it’s always risky to leave your defense and midfield one person down. You’ll have to sprint back quickly to help your team. Both indoor and outdoor require short sprints, but because indoor is so much more compact, if you’re not used to short bursts of speed, you will fatigue easily. If you play midfield outdoor, and then play midfield indoor, your lungs will have to adjust to the number of sprints. You will often substitute players far more often in indoor than outdoor because of the short bursts.

Both games are physical, as soccer as a contact sport. With indoor, your touch on the ball needs to be precise. There is little room for error, and you can’t just boot the ball to the other end of the field. I mean you, can, but it doesn’t accomplish as much as it would with a full outdoor field. Learning how to pass on an indoor field take some practice, a little goes a long way. The same goes with learning how the ball with bounce on an indoor field.

Indoor vs. Outdoor Soccer

No matter which turf teams play their matches on, the game fundamentally remains the same. Just remember, keying in on field characteristics and specifics will make your game most advantageous.

 

 

 

 

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