The JFA held Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League Championship's Refresh Workshop on Saturday 17 December at Saitama Stadium. Just as last year's learning session of this kind, referees provided a lecture after the championship match for over 100 coaches, and it turned out to be a productive time for them.

Instructor's Comment

MATSUDA Hiroshi, JFA Regional Youth Director
The workshop took place after the attendees watched the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Championship, inviting actual referees and the assessor OKADA Masayoshi, who's got a lot of experience at the international level. The objective was "for coaches and referees together to nurture players with toughness." So the workshop had active discussions, involving actual plays that took place in the match, under the theme of how coaches and referees can deepen mutual understanding and cooperate with each other. In terms of "use of hands", an attendee asked about the difference between a good way to use hands and use of hands that leads to a foul. The referee side provided valuable suggestions for the field side. From the referee’s perspective, using hands is basically not allowed under the football rule and it is suggested to play without relying on hands. There were also a lot of other questions including the standard of judgement during a match, and they looked into each one of them with actual match footage.

In addition to that, they learned that one single event looks differently to referees’ eyes on the pitch and to attendees’ eyes in the stands. At the same time, they had a chance to listen to the viewpoint of the chief referee and assistant referees. The attendees learned the consistency and the depth of judgements and detailed communication between the chief referee and assistant referees. All those apparently deepened the participating coaches’ understanding on referees. On the other hand, we got positive feedbacks from the referees as well. They said straightforward questions from the technical side were very valuable and they wanted to take advantage of them for their own improvement as a referee. Lastly, it was held just after the match finished and the referees who cooperated with us must have been tired. I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate them for their cooperation on this workshop. Thank you very much.

Participants' Comments

MIYAGI Yuki
With my eyes and in my bones, I experienced the perfect matchup for the championship between the two teams winning through the year-long league. And I had an opportunity to watch it with a very sophisticated point of view by the instructors who pursue the nature of football and its development. And for my future coaching, I also want to take advantage of what I learned from the instructors, like the way they talked and explained and the simplicity of the words they use.

SHIRATO Yoshihiro
We watched the match after listening to a lecture and learning technical and tactical agenda about U-18 development. So we could watch the match with better awareness. It reminded me of the factors to play a match with perspectives, which is necessary for the U-18s to prepare for the grown-up football.

SAGARA Naohiro
It was a combination of taking a lecture and watching a match, and I thought it was an ideal form for a training curriculum. And the most productive words were about how we can play and improve in this current situation, targeting the ultimate goal - playing against the world as a "Japanese international."