11 July, TOKYO FOOTBALL CLUB Co.,Ltd. (F.C. Tokyo) held the JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square. 

The event is held with 3 different categories, and there were 15 children aged 6-9 joined in the first category. Under very hot conditions, they enjoyed every training menu until the end. 

At first, the players had some training to improve their body movements by jumping or avoiding training cones. They kept moving well paying attention not to bump into the other players or coaches.

After a stretching exercise using balls, they tried to have a good ball touch while moving by touching the ball carefully with their feet or inside of their feet. Some players used hands when they couldn’t control the ball well, but they gradually learned how to touch the ball better to control it.

In the dribbling exercise, they used red and blue training cones to control their movement; they had to stop at red cones and keep passing at blue cones. By looking at the cones, some players could successfully stop looking down at the ball. 

In the shooting session, they had to run on the pitch when somebody scored, but they looked fine even under the very hot weather. Finally, the players and coaches had 3 on 3 mini matches. It was impressive to see the kids were very passionate to chase the ball to score goals.  

Host’s Comment

KUJIRAI Kenta, Grassroots Coordinator
We have held this JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square twice a month in Kamisyakujii and FC Tokyo Park Fuchu.

Each time we have 3 categories and for the elementary school categories, there are nearly 20 participants. They always enjoy this event.

However, we don’t have enough participants for the over 13 years old categories. This is open to any ladies who hesitate to play football with men or even for the mums who always come with their daughters to this event. I want them to enjoy football and feel FC Tokyo much closer. 

FC Tokyo runs football schools for ladies of any age in Kamisyakujii and Otsuka Jumonji. 

We have also increased opportunities for adults to enjoy football such as futsal classes for adults in FC Tokyo Park Fuchu. In the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, Nadeshiko Japan finished in 2nd place. It was a good result and we want to include more people to boost women’s football and FC Tokyo in Japan.

It is our pleasure if we could contribute to increasing the number of football players in Japan. We are also happy if there are more people who support FC Tokyo. Please come and join in our activities. 

Participant’s Parent Comment

Ms. NAKAMACHI
Since there are few opportunities to experience women’s football, it was a precious time for my daughter. By joining in the JFA Nadeshiko Friends Square, my daughter started to join in the football school. She stopped regarding football as a “boy’s sport” and enjoys the school making good friends. If I can join with her in some way, it would be fun to play football together. It can be a good communication with my daughter. 

JFA Nadeshiko Hiroba

It is an occasion that any females, from the children to the girls, to the mothers and grandmothers, are able to casually enjoy the game of football. It is run by organizations and facilities that are approved by the JFA.

JFA Nadeshiko Hiroba (Japanese version only)