Enrico Meirelles has been confirmed to lead the Capital Futsal Men’s team into the 2019 Futsal SuperLeague. Taking over the reins from Callum Holmes after three years in charge, Enrico has been a long-standing member of the team, including assisting Holmes in recent years.

Excited by the challenge of stepping back to the sidelines, Meirelles has high aspirations for the season ahead.

“I was helping the Head Coach in the past but now I can put in my own philosophy of how I want it to work, so it’s quite nice and I definitely think we have the ability in the group for this to be a good year for us.”

Meirelles has been a true corner stone for setting up a strong foundation in the Capital region and says the dividends are evident when looking at the players in and around the preseason training groups.

“We have a lot of the younger boys coming through which is nice because it makes the squads more competitive and shows the depth of the region.”

“Bringing those guys through is just really important, those who started when they were 12,14 are now moving to the next level and they already know how we want to play, and some who have started even younger have now been playing for 10 years in the Capital Futsal set up, how cool is that.”

“We also have a lot of players returning, almost everyone who played last year is putting their hand up again this year, so I think this year will be a great year with the mix of players that we have.”

The Men’s Futsal SuperLeague is set to take place from the end of September to the end of November with four series held across the country.  With a decent amount of time between each series, Meirelles. hopes to refine his teams’ style of play and have them ready to hit the courts in a good position for the final National Series here in Wellington.

“The first series is just two games and then we will still have time before we play again, so it’s quite nice the way the national league is set out. You can play against one team and then have a good amount of time to prepare for the next teams.”

“The press is always important to build you up and define how you are going to play. So, we are currently looking at our defensive structure before heading into how our attack will look.”

Weary of looking too far ahead, Meirelles has his sights set firmly on creating a positive environment for his players to excel.

“We will play with heart and take it step by step, we want to focus on the first game and then think about the next game after that, we don’t want to jump to thinking about the finals straight away, first we have to get our job done, week by week, training by training.”

Meirelles, has been incorporating preseason training groups, with an open trial set to take place tonight and the hope of naming an official squad in the coming weeks.

For the full schedule of the 2019 Men’s Futsal SuperLeague, please Click Here.

Article added: Monday 02 September 2019