The AFC Futsal Fitness Coaching Certificate Course Level 1 took place over six days from Tuesday 18 through Sunday 23 April at Mag's Futsal Stadium and Osaka Joytel Hotel in Osaka.

With AFC Elite Fitness Instructor Abdolhossein Parnow invited to lead the curriculum, a total of 14 participants, ranging from physical trainers to managers and assistant coaches of futsal teams, attended the course.

The following programme is one of the specialised AFC courses aimed at increasing the number of AFC certified physical trainers at the same time recommending the usage of instructed skills to improve the quality of physical training at their respective club teams. In 2017, new qualification criteria were set for physical trainers participating in the tournaments hosted by the AFC, and in response to this regulation change, the mentioned course was held for the first time in Japan and for the fourth time in Asia.

During the lectures, the participants studied the basic fundamentals of futsal fitness training using numerical data, and in the practical training classes monitoring devices were used to measure the heart rate and blood lactate levels during different exercises to assess the optimal stress level required for effective futsal training.

Interactions by the participants were also an important part of the course as they exchanged ideas and inspired one another during classes. Along with the excellent curriculum organised by the qualified instructors, coaches and trainers experienced a fruitful six-day training programme.

Comments

Abdolhossein Parnow, Chief Instructor
It is an honour to say that this specialised course held in Japan was the best in recent years. The facilities were excellent, and the participants were attentive during lectures and proactively took part in the practical lessons. It was overall a highly fruitful course for everyone. Information was widely shared and themes discussed during the open lectures were exceptional. Everyone present during the program including the instructors had a wonderful learning experience. Assistant instructor Komori throughout the course demonstrated his high level of understanding of the instructed materials and provided the necessary support for the Japanese participants. These instructional experiences will give him the necessary skills to further accelerate the development of futsal in Japan. Lastly, I would like to thank all the coaches and trainers who participated in this course, the JFA for organising this wonderful event, and the assistant instructor and all the staff for all their support.

KOMIRI Takahiro, Assistant Instructor
As we are looking to reclaim the top in Asia and set foot on the top flights in the world, we have been working hard to accelerate our project  by designating the specific fields and issues that we should tackle in the short, medium and long-term. This specialised course, the fourth in Asia after Lebanon, Vietnam and Iran was one of the first initiatives of our future planning. The six-day course was hard but productive, and the participants after learning the basics of fitness training were instructed to  design the physical training specifically for futsal players and experience those exercises themselves. Despite being a tough training course for all the attendees, it has become a wonderful learning experience for everone including myself by supporting this curriculum as an assistant instructor.

We are the first generation of highly specialised physical trainers, and along with the current participants, we are here to share the pride and joy, at the same time deepen the understanding of such training. We are further looking to improve the quality of training, exchange more information, organise a number of related activities, and increase the awareness level of this specialised skills. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the participants, instructor Parnow and everyone who supported this wonderful event. Without all your efforts, this programme would not have come true.