Football Club of Kyusyu International University and Kitakyusyu Football Association held the JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square in Kitakyusyu city, Fukuoka on 8 February. It was a cold day with some snow and chilly wind, but kids joined in this event and kept moving around on the pitch much more than they do usually.

The event began from the game “Freeze tag”, a kid’s game which has some players chase the other kids to “freeze” them. The kids beat the team of coaches to freeze all of them eventually, saving the “frozen” kids in the game.

In the next game called “Ball feeling”, various training exercises were performed to recognize the distance between the ball and yourself were included in the game, and that helped the kids to get more familiar with the ball. The kids started the game, expecting it to be easy, but they actually struggled. While the kids found the game difficult, student coaches who have just got their “Official Kids' Leaders” certificate encouraged the kids with some advice such as “Just follow coaches!” and “bend your knees”. This small encouraged the kids and they enjoyed what they could manage to do over the course of the game.

The training exercises were planned for the kids to enjoy most of all, and they certainly got a sense of confidence after the activities. In the mini matches which were held after those warming-up exercises, the kids communicated better with louder voice, thinking more about what to do in the games. That positive attitude brought more goals in the end.

Organiser Comment

KINOSHITA Atsuko, Organiser
There are now more players that know about this “JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square” through their football teams or schools, even for those who already enjoy football. We have some boy players who are brothers of girl players and they just enjoy the event together. We want to do more PR in our area, but many of local elementary schools and kindergartens don’t take our PR leaflets. We are thinking about trying to get more cooperation from public institutions such as local Boards of Education to get more participants like smaller kids or kids who don’t know football yet. We also want to satisfy the kids who already know football by offering various levels of classes when we have more participants in the future. It would be nice if the kids feel “I want to go and cheer the coaches’ football matches”; it would be nice if our student coaches can be “star people” for the kids who joined the event today.

Participants Comments

Ms. YAMASHITA Saki
I am very happy to learn many things and get many goals which I usually can’t do. Please teach me a lot more in the future.

Ms. YAMASHITA Toshihiko
My kids enjoy the JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square every time. Both my son and daughter look forward to this event every few months and I appreciate the coaches for leading the kids with a great of sense of humor. Particularly, my daughter used to be too shy to express herself very well, but since she joined this event I think she can do it more in a positive way. I really appreciate the coaches for teaching her with humor and gentleness. I want the JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square organisers to keep holding such a nice event which makes my daughter smile so much.

JFA Nadeshiko Hiroba

"JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square" is the "place" and "time" for women to start, enjoy, and continue football in their daily lives. We welcome both children and adults. Organisers for this event at your place are welcome.

More information(Japanese version only)