Twenty nine female instructors from nineteen different Member Associations (MA) of the AFC attended the JFA Women’s International Course which was held in Osaka from Tuesday 11 to Sunday 16 July. Japan Football Association (JFA) started this annual international coaching course from 2006 for the members of the AFC Affiliated Associations, and last year the following course was convened for the goalkeeper instructors. This year, the course was offered specifically for the female instructors for the first time since 2014 and for the second time in the past eleven years of course offerings. The attendees not only included the coaches from the top women’s national teams of the member associations, but also national team coaches of different youth categories, grassroots instructors and current national team players with varying experience and roles in football for their respective countries.

In the first half of the course, JFA gave presentations on their approach and philosophy of fostering player development and the mechanism of developing football instructors. The majority of the time was spent sharing the current circumstances of football in Japan with the different member associations. In the latter part, the course attendees took on a more active role and gave presentations on their situations they face in their respective countries in addition to paying various visits to the women’s football clubs in Japan. At the end of the course, the participants planned and hosted a football festival where fifty local first to fourth grade girls came and enjoyed the event.

As a part of the course, TAKAKURA Asako, coach of Japan women’s national team, also came and gave a presentation. Additional lectures were given on refereeing and medical subjects as well. Furthermore, the participants also visited the stadium where they watched the games of the Nadeshiko League and went through a six-day course that was filled with specialised lectures and out-of-class activities. Despite most attendees met each other for the first time, they engaged in an informative discussion from the first day and, at the same time, fostered friendship through various exchanges during the six-day course. At the end, all the course participants including the instructors promised that they will continue their work hard to accelerate the development of women’s football in Asia and concluded the course.

The following course is part of arts and cultural exchange programme for ASEAN-member countries, which is supported by the Japan Foundation Asia Center. The Japan Foundation Asia Center creates opportunities to exchange art and culture between Japan and other Asian countries under the slogan of ‘WA Project: Toward Interactive Asia’, co-hosting many events with other organisation including the JFA.

Instructors' Comments

KIMURA Rie, JFA National Training Centre Coach/JFA Academy Imabari
In the following course, I was in charge of practical training classes and game analysis. In the training classes, there were two main themes, ‘vision’ and ‘build-ups towards the goal’. One of the fundamentals of football is ‘vision’. Each player needs to move and pass or control the ball without losing it and advance towards the opponents’ goal. While the participants actually practised the following training on the pitch, the main points and the important ideas of the aforementioned training were explained.

In the game analysis, examples from the matches of the U-17 Women’s World Cup were used and the importance of the game analysis and the key areas to look for in the game were discussed in addition to how to explain the mentioned analysis to the players and the coaching staff. Then, the participants were divided into separate groups for analysis of different parts of the game. Even with a limited time for the given analysis, different groups engaged in intense, but informative discussions where many salient points of the game were thoroughly discussed using a variety of formats of presenting the analysed materials. In fact, it was a wonderful learning experience for myself as well.

On the last day, the players of Academy Sakai came and helped the festival that was organised by the participants for the local grade school girls. In the festival, the participants gave all they have for the children and taught them the 'joy of playing football' with smiles. Seeing the children with lively and wonderful expressions on their faces, I believe the particiapnts were able to share the 'joy of playing football' with the girls.

In this coaching course, the vision and the current issues of the women’s football were actively discussed in addition to Japan’s current approach of fostering women’s football. By taking part in this course as an instructor, I had spent a precious time exchanging ideas with other female instructors who are involved in the coaching and the development of women’s football. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participants and the staff who supported this course.

TODOROKI Natsuko, JFA National Training Centre Coach
In this course, I was responsible for giving lectures and practical training classes for the goalkeepers. I gave presentations on ‘Discovering and developing women’s goalkeepers / Goalkeeper training classes for coaches’ and ‘Class C Coaches Training Courses for goalkeepers’ and explained about the JFA’s approach of fostering women’s goalkeeper as well as their specialised training for the U-12 goalkeepers. All the participants attentively listen to my presentations and many pertinent questions were asked during the Q&A session that followed. I felt their strong interest in goalkeeping as well.

In the practical training classes, the teaching materials from the JFA’s Class C Coaches Training Courses for the goalkeepers were used. The following course was taught by participants actually experiencing the training on the pitch. The participants also actively took part in the following training and displayed many wonderful plays capitalising on the goalkeeping techniques that were discussed in the practical training classes preceding the game-format practice at the end.

Moreover, in the football festival which was held on the last day of the course, the participants planned a workshop specifically designed for goalkeepers and taught the young girls the 'joy of goalkeeping' as well. I spent a fruitful time sharing many ideas and discussing the different approaches and methodologies of teaching goalkeeping with other female instructors in Asia. I also realised many important issues on goalkeeping from this course. It was a scintillating and wonderful learning experience for myself as well. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participants and the staff who supported this course.

Participants' Comments

Ms. LINDSEY Kelly (Afghanistan)
JFA Women’s International Coaching Course was a very meaningful experience. We had discussions on football techniques and tactics and game analysis. These are all pertinent issues for becoming a good instructor. Women’s football in Asia is still in the developmental stage, and there are many areas that we need to work on. We are also trying to foster a new culture of football in Asia. In the following sport, women are becoming increasingly aware that they can become players or instructors and have a chance to be the leaders or professionals as well.

During the course, we spent a wonderful week having open discussions on and off the pitch on the issues that we currently face and various approaches to the development and the strengthening of the players. We have a long way to go, but I am confident that we can make rapid and substantial progress with support from the AFC and the JFA. I also believe that we have improved as instructors after taking this course as well. We now need to strengthen the channels of communication and help each other in tackling the issues of their respective member associations. In order for us to continue this advancement, we further need to support and encourage each other in addition to the hard work we put in. I think that each small step we take to help other member associations will foster the future development of football in Asia as well.

Ms. BENITEZ Marielle (Phillipines)
This course has been a wonderful learning experience. I was encouraged by spending time with passionate women instructors from other member associations who are working hard to accelerate the development of women’s football in Asia. I was also stimulated by observing the top-class football clubs and facilities as well as planning and preparing a festival for the local girls. Every experience during this course was memorable, and I was able to gain first-hand knowledge regarding the current status of women’s football in different countries. Furthermore, I learned why Japan can continue to succeed in women’s football and made new friends to help foster the development of women’s football in Asia as well.

Ms. BAMBA Rhoda Santos (Guam)
This course ranks in the top 1% of all the workshops I have attended in the past 20 years. All the facilities were clean and well-maintained every day. I could feel the wonderful personalities of Chairperson IMAI of JFA Women's Committee and two course instructors on the pitch as well. Furthermore, it was an honour that coach TAKAKURA of Nadeshiko Japan spent two days with us for the course. However, what impressed me the most were the participants. They were not only highly experienced, but also quite frank with one another. On the side note, the quality of food served was excellent as well.

Ms. ALIPOUR ATAABADI Yasamin (Iran)
I am grateful that I learned what Japan is doing for the development of women’s football. I further wanted to know more about other JFA programmes and their road to success in order for us to accelerate the development of women’s football in my country and, at the same time, capitalise on the knowledge acquired during the course. The passion for sport of the Japanese and especially of the people in Osaka touched my heart as well. I observed a high level of professionalism from players and in the facilities and media rooms when I had a chance to visit the stadiums and watch the Nadeshiko league games. Additionally, I was also surprised by the number of spectators. We would like to develop and start a wonderful women’s league as such in Iran in the future. I hope this coaching course will further strengthen the relationship between the JFA and the FA of Iran as well.