A set of training sessions for referees in charge of the JFL matches was held for three days from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 of July at J-GREEN Sakai.

Sessions included practical trainings where they actually officiated “Sakai Youth Festival” matches, which featured many teams with spots in the upcoming 26th Inter-High School Championships. Under the scorching summer heat, all participating referees worked on five matches in three days as they were tested both physically and mentally. 

Instructor Comments

MAYUZUMI Toshiyuki, Chief Referee Instructor 
This training session had two objectives:
1. Identifying whether reserve referees are capable as JFL referees
2. Confirming the development progress under this season’s slogan “Raising the level of awareness”

JFL reserve referees go through multiple training sessions this year, utilising the Denso Cup and the Marinos Cup in March, the Namizaki in May, the Sakai Cup in July and the Izumo Cup in August.
I think they showed a good overall performance, although we had high temperature of over 37 degrees everyday just like last year.

Not only from our own instructors who coached this session, we also received favourable remarks from the head coach and other people of one participating team, which will play in the Inter-High School in Yamanashi.

After discussing with the organizing committee, we also set up a luncheon meeting on the second day where coaches from participating teams and referees as well as instructors could all get together and exchange their own views on the matches and other things.
It’s always necessary at any level for people from the technical side and referees to work together, so I think it turned out to be a great opportunity for referees to have conversations with participating coaches.
I think it also was a good experience for the coaches to understand our referees.
This year, our objective has three phases: “Situations” where referees analyse each situation, “Conducts” where they make judgments and deal with each situation and “Results” where they look at the results of each action. We repeatedly analyse and reorganise our performance in these three phases so that referees will be able to truly master the knowledge and skills.
On top of that we also promote them to repeatedly plan, do, check and act on their performance, but I think the habituation level hasn’t been satisfactory. We will keep trying to change their mindset. 

SUZUKI Takeaki, Class S Instructor (Tochigi)
We took advantage of warm-up matches for the Inter-High School Championship, but we had a lot to learn as well from this training.
After the rainy season, the temperature suddenly went up and it gave us a very tough condition. But even under such circumstances, players work hard to get their playing time, don’t get scared of injuries and try everything they can to improve their team. That attitude can be shared with us referees as well. Even between matches, players move around in crisp manners and gave us refreshing greetings as they passed us by. That made me feel refreshed.
Summer has just started. This training reminded me not to be discouraged by the heat, to grow together with these players and to do well in our respective positions. 

Participant Comments

TAKATERA Nobuyuki, Class 1 Referee (Kanagawa)
The theme of this training was “Improving self-analysis” and reminding ourselves of the “Situations”, “Conducts”, “Results” and the PDCA cycle that we worked on at the previous training.
I took this training with these five assignments on my mind.
It was really tough as we had five 70-minute matches in three days. But I tried to work on every match with a challenger mindset.
We worked under this “summer condition”, so I was also careful of hydrating, cooling down and taking care of my body. Later I will organise what I could do and I couldn’t do during this training and take advantage of it for my future performance.

KUNIYOSHI Masaki, Class 1 Referee (Okinawa)
My own objective for this JFL reserve referee training was to show everything I had gained since I got certified as Class 1 half a year ago.
Two matches a day under this burning heat was really tough, but trying my all in such a tough situation helped me to realise what I am still missing.
In order to step up from this reserve category and to reach my goal of becoming the top referee in Japan, I will utilise what I learned in this training.

HARAO Eisuke, Class 1 Referee (Hokkaido)
It was 37 degrees and the thermometer on the pitch showed over 45 degrees. In such a demanding situation, I could have opportunities to work on two matches a day, five matches in three days.
Last year I also participated in this Sakai Youth Festival as part of training for the Class 1 examination. That time, I had my muscle torn in my sixth match, and couldn’t stay with the training any longer.
So this time I had done good preparation before the training and I could fulfil my assignments of five matches. This experience will boost my confidence.
This year is the year for me to keep challenging forward. This training reminded me of that.