New Engalnd Futsal News - New Bedford Pitbulls win National Futsal Title

When the congregation of the Werner United Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio New Bedford Pitbulls are the 2005 National Futsal Champions

met its new pastor on Sunday, July 3rd, little did they know that they were also getting a soon-to-be-national championship coach. Of all of the his accomplishments in New England, Reverend Dogba Bass is most proud of the development of the girls soccer team that he coached for five years while he was appointed to the St. Paul's United Methodist Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Before the Reverend and his family left New England, the team wanted their beloved coach to lead them one last time. And the venue they chose was the land of make-believe, Disneyland.

The team, however, was for real. So on July 14, two weeks after moving back to Cleveland, the Reverend and his two daughters joined their New Bedford teammates for one last hurrah at the Futsal National Championships in Anaheim, California. Futsal is five-a-side indoor soccer. After three days of fast-paced grueling competition, the New Bedford Pit Bulls captured the Under-12 Girls Futsal National title by defeating Princeton United 3-1.

That win capped off a five-year march to soccer excellence and supremacy. The future of team did not always look so bright. The team actually started playing together as eight year-olds in the spring of 2000, but lost all ten of their games during that season. Reverend Bass became the coach in 2001 and the team has posted a regular season record of 44-0-3 since then.

Rev. Bass, a native of Liberia and a resident of Cleveland for ten years before moving to Massachusetts in 1984 to do doctoral work at Boston University, has the distinction of being one of a very select group of preachers with coaching credentials. He played soccer from birth, played from 1973-78 at Cuyahoga Community College and Bowling Green State University where he earned his degree in Finance. He started coaching soccer more than 10 years ago and has earned many "firsts" along the way. He was the first coach in New Bedford to introduce futsal. He was the first coach from New Bedford to take a team to the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions, the post-season finale for the best in the state's Spring Travel leagues. His record of no loses in 47 games over five years will mostly likely stand for a long time to come.

Having became a regional soccer power in their age group, the team took up futsal in the Fall of 2004 as a way of staying in shape and becoming more skilled with the ball. Because the futsal ball is heavier and smaller, the game is what the Brazilians and other European players use to polish their ball-handling techniques. Through hard work and dedication, the Pit Bulls learned the game and became good enough to beat out teams that had more experience than they. In January of 2005, they happened to enter the Massachusetts State Cup and ended up defeating a team that had national championship experience. That win put them in the Northeast Regional Tournament in February of 2005 in Pittsburgh. However, at the regionals they came up short as they face teams with much more experience and futsal savvy. But their impressive showing won them an invitational to the nationals in July, for which they had four months to prepare. Reverend Bass and the girls went to work immediately, watching tapes and reading up on the nuances of the game.

After another successful outdoor spring season, another league championship, the team made it back to the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions for the second year in a row. But for the second year in a row, the state tournament ended in disappointment, as they were knocked out by one point. Undaunted, the team turned its attention to preparation for the national futsal championship. But this time, they would have to play without their star sweeper who had broken two bones in the right foot in May. Furthermore, a week before leaving for California, another player decided to stay close to an uncle who was dying of brain cancer. The team promised to play harder to win the championship for their team-mates who could not play. On Sunday, July 17, the dream of winning a major championship became a reality for coach Bass and the New Bedford Pit Bulls. They raised the Girls Under-12 Futsal National Championship Cup before hundreds of adoring fans and proud parents.

Reach at his Cleveland office, the Reverend said: "We were a great team, winning many tournaments hands-down, but the big one kept eluding us. It was heart-breaking to get knocked out of two state semi-finals. But to win a national championship is more gratifying, and it makes all of the hard work well worth it. I am a good pastor who really cares about his flock, an average preacher and a super coach. I have developed into the coach that I am because I have the God-given ability to make complex things simple. I got involved in sports because that's one of the best ways today to reach young people, and I know that the young people are the church of tomorrow. For the rest of my life, I plan to use my coaching ability and everything else that God has blessed me with to reach others for Him and to bring Him glory and honor.