Last week, Senda Athletics was given the opportunity to interview Guga Alencar, a former Brazilian futsal professional, NCAA Division 1 Player, and current head coach of JB Futsal Academy. While some professional athletes relish on their achievements and become apathetic about improving, Guga could not be further on the opposite end of the spectrum. When asked about why he coaches youth futsal Coach Guga explains, “I really believe in the importance of it for the development of players. It helped me tremendously when I was young and just starting to play. It helped me, among many things, with my confidence as a player.” These sentiments echo many soccer players in America who make the transition from youth futsal to soccer in later stages of their lives.

At Senda, we have a specific goal in mind: to pursue social change through our work as a social enterprise. We disrupt the youth futsal industry by offering the best-in-class futsal products while simultaneously embracing Fair Trade regulations. Coach Guga’s philosophy towards his youth futsal academy has an equally important objective.

“At Joga Bonito Futsal Academy, we are a player-centered academy. We believe that players should be able to find solutions of their own. We give them the tools and scenarios; we ask them to find the solutions.”