Starting from 4 September, JFA Elite Programme Women's U-13 headed into the final day just as if it passed in a moment. The morning session held in rain finished with a 4-on-4 game-style training with goalkeepers between two teams after the players worked on a 4-on-4 with a neutral player and goalkeepers.

While the game was in play, coach YODOKAWA Tomoharu and assistant coach NISHIMURA Yosuke asked questions aloud like "Why did you put the ball on that spot?" or "What did you try to do next when you did it?" The training was intense. On a small-sided pitch with the small number of players, the game saw offence and defence shift repeatedly. Each player deliberately controlled the ball and positioned the right spot. The four-day camp apparently helped the players grow individually.

"You all 23 players here might no longer train together once again, but it's important to take advantage of what you learned here after you go back to your team. Even if you have got to be able to do something here, you can't change yourself if you can't do it after going home," said their ciach Yodokawa. The young girls learned a lot of things and headed home with a determination to show off how they grow at the next meeting.

Assistant Coach Comment

NISHIMURA Yosuke, Assistant Coach (JFA National Training Centre Coach)
During the four days, the 23-girl squad put their all on various situations on and off the pitch in order to realise the promise of the Elite's activity – “Observe, feel and act” and “be aggressive without being afraid of making mistakes.”

Since the first day, the players had engaged in training and games, keeping three themes in mind: "To keep getting involved in offence and defence," "To acquire skills usable in real matches," and "To keep positioning well." On the final day, there were many moments where they predicted the next play by themselves, played a game according to situations and changed the play successfully. That's the growth I found.

Still, they make fundamental mistakes, and their playing quality and defensive risk management are their assignment. I hope they will improve what they learned to get better and the difference between them and the world football they felt through the four-day activity by repeating "trial and error" seriously in their daily life and training with the team.

In this training camp, a lot of people gave us supports, including staff of our accommodation, Academy Imabari's staff and FC Imabari organisation. I would like to express my deep appreciation for allowing our players and staff to live fulfilling days.

Players' Comments

TAKARA Kotone (In transfer talk)
Through this Elite Programme, I was able to experience and learn lots of different things. I have some things that I'm impressed at. The first is stories from former U-16s, 17s and 18s Japan coach YOSHITAKE and former Japanese international OBE. Mr. Yoshitake gave us two impressive messages like football is "sustained by the level of humanities" and "Skill can't be developed without stamina, tactics and mental strength."

Ms. Obe had three notable phrases, "to have your strong points, to react and to be a player who can communicate with anyone." I was able to notice what I lacked.

The second memorable thing was training itself. I played football with high-level players and tried to play my game so that I could improve a lot of things such as speed of decision making, positioning and timing to get through to space behind defenders. I will take advantage of them in my daily training as well and keep up my work.

KAWAI Nonoko (Urawa Reds Ladies Jr. Youth)
I've learned a couple of things in this camp. First, "It's important to have your strong point that is superior to anybody's," said by Obe. I was impressed particularly by the words that because each of you has unique strength, it's important to polish what you are good at further to be able to say confidently that you are second to none.

The second was Mr. Yoshitake's story. He told us humanity was very important to be a good football player. To make use of his advice in my daily life, I will try to care about people around me and, if something happens, I will try to notice that. And I will think and act by myself. And then, I will tell my teammates about what I learned in the Elite Programme.

ITO Juri (FC Granrio Suzuka)
I learned three points during the four-day training. The first is to be accurate in your first ball control. That's because your teammates' and opponents' move vary depending on where you put the ball with your first control.

The second is how to step your foot on the pitch when shooting. When shooting, you need to be careful to place your face right above the ball. If you bend yourself backward, you can't take a good shot. The third one is the angle of controlling the ball. It's not good if the angle of ball-controlling is bad when shooting. Even after going back to my team, I will keep that in mind and work on training.

Schedule