Three years ago Black’s dream of a career in goalkeeping appeared to be both literally and figuratively out of reach when he was released from Charlton Athletic’s academy for simply being too short, however the ever-growing sport of futsal has breathed new life into these hopes.
Making the move from Chelsea Futsal Club to Genesis in the Summer, Black’s futsal career started at the nation’s biggest club, London Helvecia, where he made the bench aged just 16.
Since then he has managed to establish himself as one of the best young ‘keepers in 
the country, starting regularly for his club and battling his way to become first choice for the England u19 side.
Into the deep end
After years of honing his skills as a traditional 11-a-side goalkeeper, Black speaks of the trials and tribulations of jumping into a new sport.
“It was difficult for me at the start. Even now I find it challenging because I just keep on learning, but it’s quite difficult at the start.
“Everything’s so much quicker than football, and as a goalkeeper you need to learn a whole range of different techniques and it’s crazy”, claimed James, who credits his tough start to futsal-life for his early success.
“I think it was was especially difficult for me at the level I started at, I was completely new to the sport but playing for the best side in the country. What a way to start,” he laughed, “thrown in with the big boys.”
Black also met one of the biggest influences in his career so far whilst at the Leyton-based club:
“A big positive of playing there was that I got to work with Jonny Simm. He’s the first choice there, and one of the England international goalkeepers and training alongside him was absolutely massive.
He was brilliant, he took the time to take me through the techniques and I learned so much from him. I still look up to him today, and I know he’s at the end of the phone if I need him.”
Constantly improving
Outlining some of the main differences when guarding the net in futsal, Black spoke about a simplistic practicality that he doesn’t believe exists in football.
“In futsal the main focus is to make the save, whereas in football you tend to get keepers who want to make the save while looking pretty. There isn’t time for that in futsal. The ultimate aim is to get in the way; face, head, knee, arms anything:
“There’s a bigger focus on flexibility when it comes to training for futsal, and that’s due to 
the nature of some some of the saves we have to make. The split save and forward-kick are just two examples. There’s a much bigger emphasis on reflexes when it comes to futsal.”
As well as having to master new shot-stopping techniques to, the 18 year old also has to deal with the mental challenges that come with ditching 11-a-side football for its younger, indoor cousin.
“It can be difficult to not only learn the techniques, but to also remember to use them. Even now the ball will be going low sometimes and I’ll still be diving rather than going into a split-save. Yes, I made the save but it’s not the ideal save to make in futsal because it takes longer for your body to get down.
“I am getting there, but it’s a slow process and I’m still learning. You’re reacting to shots in the natural way. It’s the way that I’ve been doing for years so it does take time to completely adjust to a new way of playing.”
Heightened Involvement
When questioned about which sport he prefers, Black didn’t have to think too long before deciding on futsal citing the heightened involvement of goalkeepers in the sport as the main reason why:
“The sheer amount of action I get in futsal means that I can never go to sleep or get lost in a match. In football you can have 90 minutes of idleness when you’re not involved in a game and that just wouldn’t happen in futsal. Even when you’re beating teams quite comfortably you’ll still be required to make saves.”
Speaking more broadly about the sport, Black acknowledged the difficulties that English futsal faces, but appeared to be optimistic when talking about the future of futsal in this country:
“I believe it’s going in the right direction, definitely. The FA are trying to push the sport now, and their ‘fast forward with futsal’ strategy looks to be good for the sport. Kids are starting to pick up the game at a younger age, which will hopefully lead to them moving up the age groups, joining academy systems and breaking into teams. They could be the next big thing in futsal for our country.”
