Youth Teams
Our Bay Area Futsal Club men's team posing with our Bay Area Futsal Club youth teams at the Santa Clara Convention Center during the US Futsal National Championships in July 2019.
It is our mission to boost futsal in our Bay Area community by providing players an opportunity to play futsal. Our main goal is to use futsal to educate players in values that will help them in their future as people and citizens.
Contact our professional coaching team at to set up youth teams.
BAY AREA FUTSAL CLUB
BAY AREA FUTSAL CLUB
COACHING STAFF
ROBERT MORINI
Youth Program Director/Co-Founder
Rob Morini is a local player and coach. He grew up playing soccer in the Bay Area. When he changed clubs, around 12 years old, The club that he just joined used futsal as a way of training in the winter. He would train locally at the YMCA where he would play 2-3 hours a week. He continued to do tournaments for futsal and would play regularly throughout the winter. He has witnessed this sport grow a lot itself and gone along with the changes. I enjoy it a lot.
The decision to make Bay Area Futsal Club came after going through experiences with past clubs that he found to be unprofessional. Playing at a very high level outdoor he found what they were telling him was professional was not what he had imagined. He wanted to grow the sport and make it something that generations to come will enjoy and also love the sport. What BAFC plan to do now will pave a pathway for the youth in our area and possibly this nation to grow a very beautiful sport.
SEPANO HASSANZADEH
Mental Performance Coach
Sepano Hassanzadeh is a Certified Personal Trainer, Master Health and Wellness Coach, and CHEK Level 1 Holistic Lifestyle Coach. Additionally, he is finishing his Masters Degree in Sport Psychology at John F. Kennedy University.
Sepano is passionate and enthusiastic when it comes to studying heath, exercise science, nutrition, and the mind. Based in San Francisco, he works with individuals on a daily basis, helping them achieve the level of health and fitness they desire in order to live their best lives. His approach to health and sport performance is a holistic one and takes into account all aspects of one’s life. He loves empowering his clients by helping them develop self-awareness through mindful practices. He believes that sport is a reflection of life and vice-versa and that any performance “problem” can be solved with the right level of awareness and planning
LEO SOARES
Assistant Coach
Leo Soares is a soccer and futsal coach. He currently holds the U.S. Soccer Federation National C License and is working towards his National B License.
Born and raised in Sāo Paulo, Brazil. Leo’s first futsal memory is when his mom got him a pair of futsal shoes when he was 6 years old. He was so exited that he used to wear them even to sleep. As most of the Brazilians, Leo grew up playing soccer and futsal wherever there was space. Sometimes at school, with some amateur futsal clubs and a lot of times at the streets of his city, until he finally decided to join a local amateur soccer club where he played for two years. From there, Leo tried out for Santos FC where he also played for 2 years from the age of 12 to 14 years old. Leo had to give up his soccer career at the yearly age but he never stopped playing and he was always participating in local futsal and soccer leagues.
His coaching journey started when he got injured playing for his futsal team. The team never had a coach before so, since Leo couldn’t play he started to come up with some exercises and drills for his team. Leo became very interested at coaching. He started to study and learn more about coaching so when he moved to U.S. in 2015 he began to pursue his coaching career more professionally, using his experience as player and coach but also taking coaching courses and participating in many seminars and clinics around the U.S. In 2018 Leo was invited by Daniel Berdejo-del-Fresno to be BAFC’s assistant coach. He could not be more thrilled with the invitation.
Leo has also created a Women’s Futsal Program to help to share and grow the love for the sport and also connect Soccer and Futsal moms with their daughters and sons through the game.
CLÀUDIA RÍO-RODRÍGUEZ
International Coach
Clàudia Río-Rodríguez is finishing her Exercise & Sport Science Degree at the University of Barcelona (Spain). She is a professional futsal player in the Spanish Women's Second Division, where she has been competing since 2017. Currently, she is playing for Fútbol Sala Ripollet, with the aim to help the club to get promotion to first division.
Clàudia has been always very active coaching since a very young age for different clubs around the Barcelona area. Currently, she coaches a boys team for Fútbol Sala Ripollet, to try to reduce the gap between the professional team and the youth teams within the club and create a perfect culture between youth and old players, at the same time that showing them a future pathway.. Also, since 2018 she is one of the coaches for the FC Barcelona Futsal Academy. The Barca Academy is FC Barcelona's very own development model aimed to children, whose main goal is educate. Their methodology is employed by the Club from the lowest categories to the first team, and is based on a creative and attacking style along with the values of humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork.
Clàudia runs virtual private training sessions through Zoom with players worldwide, as well as helping on our BAFC virtual training and international camps. She has been in the Bay Area coaching every summer since 2017.
DANIEL BERDEJO-DEL-FRESNO, PhD
Head of Performance/Co-Founder & Owner
Daniel Berdejo-del-Fresno is a multi-sports coach, sport scientist, S&C coach, researcher, writer… he holds a Degree in PE, a Degree in Exercise & Sport Science, and an International PhD in Sport Performance by University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) and Manchester Metropolitan University (UK).
Daniel futsal career started in his native Spain when he played as many kids do. Coaching wise he has been coaching at Manchester Futsal Club, Salford University Futsal Club and Sheffield FC Futsal before he became the Head of Coaching & Sport Science at the International Futsal Academy in Loughborough (UK). Between 2011 and 2016 he worked for The FA as Sport Scientist and Assistant Coach for the England National Futsal Teams (Senior, U23s and U19s). Since 2016, he lives in California where he is the Head of Performance for Bay Area Futsal Club. Recently, he was the assistant coach/sport scientist for the Libya Futsal National Team in the last Total Africa Futsal Cup of Nations (Layounne, 2020).
His passion for sharing his futsal knowledge has boosted him to travel around the world delivering coaching courses, seminars, clinics and camps. Also, he has written 2 futsal books that can be found on the website freely.
