A Portland nonprofit is building futsal courts at Clark County elementary schools to encourage students to play hard during recess.
Operation Pitch Invasion installed a court at Hough Elementary School in 2023 and added courts at Hazel Dell and Eleanor Roosevelt elementary schools this year. Tukes Valley Elementary School’s court will be completed soon.
A futsal court is similar to a soccer field, but it’s smaller and on a blacktop surface and uses a heavier ball, with a few different rules.
“I think it just helps to have options,” Hazel Dell Elementary School Principal Lisa Reed said. “You’ve got play structures, but a lot of our older kids, in particular, don’t want to swing. They want to play an organized game of some sort.”
At Hazel Dell Elementary School, 10 fifth-graders geared up with neon green and bright red vests to play on the larger futsal court Wednesday afternoon. The school’s Parent-Teacher Association raised about $8,000 last year and received donations from the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Washington, Operation Pitch Invasion’s Clark County Futsal Fund and Vancouver West Soccer Club for two courts that, combined, cost $17,000. The courts are open to the public and Boys & Girls Club after school hours.
The futsal court is already making a difference at Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary, according to the school’s associate principal, Jennifer Campos.
“Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School recently unveiled a new futsal court during the 2023-2024 school year, much to the excitement of its soccer-loving students,” Campos wrote in an email. “The addition has not only provided an additional dedicated space for playing soccer, but also led to a noticeable drop in playground behavior issues.”
Vancouver resident Jordan Taylor joined Operation Pitch Invasion’s board last year and helped bring futsal courts to Clark County. The organization plans to build 10 Project Blacktop courts in Southwest Washington by 2030, turning unused patches of asphalt into futsal fields.
Taylor said soccer fields are muddy most of the year.
“You put the futsal courts in because you can play in the rain,” he said. “All you need is tennis shoes.”
Operation Pitch Invasion began installing futsal courts at parks and schools about a decade ago through Project Blacktop.
The organization partnered with the Portland Parks Foundation and Portland Parks and Recreation in 2014 as part of its annual Parke Diem event, converting an unused piece of blacktop in Colonel Summers Park in the Buckman neighborhood into a futsal court.
Then, in 2016, three Portland schools had their unused blacktop turned into a futsal court with freshly patched and seal-coated asphalt, long-life court lines and full-size goals.
“It is a slightly different sport. But it’s really good for developing soccer skills, especially for good dribbling and stuff like that,” Taylor said. “There’s just a lot more precision involved with it.”
