Painesville’s New Futsal Courts Grand Opening

The Painesville Recreation Department is proud to announce the grand opening of their new futsal courts on Thursday, July 1 at 5:30 p.m. in Painesville’s Kiwanis Recreation Park. The free event will feature giveaways, game demonstrations and special guest, Otto Orf, former Cleveland Crunch goalkeeper and current U.S. Futsal National Team assistant coach. The new Painesville courts will be the first public futsal courts in Lake County.
 
The international game of futsal, also known as street soccer, is played on a hard surface rather than a full length grass soccer field. The idea and process of installing the new futsal courts was started when the Painesville Recreation Department was contacted by Orf in 2019. Orf is founder of the HandsOnSports Foundation, whose goal is to assist various recreation departments and community organizations in bringing futsal play spaces to area youth. This is done by partnering with communities to locate aged-out or un-used tennis courts, rehabilitating them to new usable futsal spaces.
 
The City’s Parks Division worked with contractors to transform the cracked and underutilized tennis courts located in the back area of Recreation Park into the new futsal courts. The new coating has a non-slip texture with a unique low abrasive feature which makes playing on the surface easier on players.

“We are very excited to share this new amenity in Rec Park with our residents and visitors,” said Michelle LaPuma, Director of Public Lands. “Community feedback has told us that soccer is one of the top recreational activities that our residents are interested in. When Otto presented the rehab futsal court opportunity to us, we knew it was a perfect fit for this community.”