18 to 19 October, Shikoku Football Association held training for Youth Referee’s Development Instructors in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture. In this training, coaches who are in charge of Youth Referee’s development and participated in the 38th Japan U-12 Football Championship which was held this past summer, transformed future perspectives about Youth Referee’s development and training approaches to Referee Instructors in Shikoku.

Totally, 14 Youth Referees and 11 Referee Instructors from 4 neighboring prefectures participated in this training.

Training sessions were held practically through the matches of 4th Chuyo Jr. League in Ehime.

After these matches, Referee Instructors had reviews with the Youth Referees, and Hiroshima Yoshikazu, JFA Top Referee Instructor, did practical training session and lecture. As an evening session, Referee Instructors had a discussion about environment for Youth Referees and future coaching perspectives.

From JFA Referee Committee Diffusion Section, Chairman Takahashi Takeyoshi and Yoshinouchi Hiroshi, member of the committee participated in this training in addition to the mentioned Top Referee Instructor Mr. Hiroshima, and they had some sessions coaching Youth Referees and had some discussion with Referee Instructors in Shikoku area.
2 days of training sessions were an effective opportunity for both Youth Referees and Referee Instructors; some of them were initially nervous but gradually started to communicate with the other participants, and Referee Instructors enjoyed exchanging ideas and experiences in local referee development.

This type of training for youth referee’s development is planned to be held throughout Japan.

Comments

HIROSHIMA Yoshikazu, JFA Top Referee Instructor
It was a very good opportunity to share what we had learned at the 38th Japan U-12 Football Championship with the other Referee Instructors in this area. I want young referees, including Youth Referees, to learn to think logically because they tend to chase an answer blindly. Also I want Referee Instructors to coach referees through “letting them think”, not just through teaching too much.

TAKAHASHI Takeyoshi,Chairman of JFA Referee Committee Promotion Section
We analyze Youth Referees’ work and consider how to train them, but I know that this does not cover everything; our approach is based on limited number of Youth Referees. I would like local Referee Instructors to consider their coaching approaches not only by Central JFA’s material, but also by what you think suits the reality in your area through working with local Youth Referees.

SEMBA Ryohei, Youth Referee (Ehime)
It was my first experience to judge Eight-man football match, but it was good that I could judge fouls in the match. However, I missed an offside call today, so I just want to be able to develop my referring skill. It was a very fruitful opportunity for me to get both practical and theoretical training from Mr. Hiroshima who has worked for the FIFA World Cup as a referee.

OTAKE Kotone, Youth Referee (Tokushima)
Before the training, I was very nervous but I could gradually enjoyed each of the training sessions. I got many suggestions from Referee Instructors who were in charge of me and I want to integrate the suggestions into my judging activities. I want to keep working hard so that I can improve my refereeing performance so I am better than the other Youth Referees who also joined in this training session.

NAKAMURA Shota, Youth Referee, Kagawa Prefecture
The matches I judged this time were of young players and we learned again that special attention to avoid injuries is important. I thought this is also applicable to senior players whom I usually work with. The practical training and lecture by Mr. Hiroshima, who is a former International Referee,was very inspiring for me because I want to be the International Referee in the future.

YAMASHITA Takahiro, Youth Referee, Kochi prefecture
Instructors taught me about several things such as basic diagonal referee system and quick positioning. It was good for me to participate in this training because I could get fresh suggestions to improve my approach to refereeing which has been same for some time. I want to pay good attention to what I have learned here when I judge in local matches in Kochi prefecture.

HAGIMORI Toshiharu, Instructor (Chief of Ehime Referee Committee)
I hope we are going to engage in referee by making the most of our instructors’ role and training ability. I would hope youth referees to foster the ability to think and ability to “feel something” as man and as referee.
I want to make analysis of youth referees and give them day-to-day advice accordingly.

MORI Seiji, Instructor (Tokushima Referee Committee Member)
It is difficult to organize training like this in single prefecture and the region-based training in Kochi is really helpful for me.
I believe this event gave youth referees a notion there are colleagues who wants to become a referee in prefectures nearby.
I felt I should give more supports to high school students in Tokushima who said “I am interested in referee”.

OHIRA Masashi, Instructor (Chairman of Kagawa Referee’s Committee)
I suppose youth referees learned a lot today for conducting one-man referee. I had a good lesson as well for conducting one-man referee. Practical training by instructor Hiroshima was very informative for me to train referees in the future.
I am going to promote high school students in Kagawa to take class 3.

IWAGAWA Yoshihiro, Instructor (Chairman of Kochi Referee Committee)
Youth referees seemed to be tired as the training scheduled was tight. But I think it was good for them because they realized how difficult to be a referee. I noticed they started to act and speak differently, for taking one day training. I am sure this training gave them good stimulus.
I realized I have to build connections between different categories for actions, not just focusing on the category I usually play.