On Saturday 3 October, U-15 Japan Women’s Selection squad training camp started at J-GREEN Sakai in Osaka Prefecture.

Under a clear blue sky, the 43 players, selected from the nine regions in the whole country, first went through fitness tests to see where their fundamental physical levels are. Then they moved on to training in two groups and got the feel of the field.

After dinner, they took the “Communication Skills” training where they worked on self-introduction, a Q & A game, and picture analysation as well as discussing them with their peers. Finally, as the last session of the day, they had a physical conditioning lecture to analyse their own results from the afternoon test to determine their strength, weakness and workout they need in the future.

More drills will follow for the rest of the camp to empower the players in order for them to take advantage of this camp in their everyday training after that. 

Chief Supervisors' Comment

OBE Yumi Chief Supervisor (JFA National Coaching Staff/National Training Centre Coach)
Starting in this year, we separate two national training centres to U-14 and U-15. We have a vision to develop and send the 43 players we select through regional training centres to the next bigger stage. So with this camp, we check all those players and develop them individually. 

In this first-ever session, we focus on and train under these four aspects; defence, possession, playing in front of goal and playing for cross balls. These are what we really improve in terms of this generation.

At the beginning, I said to players “We want you to actively build this four-day training camp for yourself.” I want them to create rules for themselves, study things for themselves and actively act for themselves. By doing those, I want them to be independent enough players to create favourable surroundings not only on the field but also off the field.

Players' Comments 

TOGAWA Yuki (JFA Academy Fukushima)
In this camp, I want to show my strength. My strengths are making tricky passes and playing with a big picture of the whole game. Since I learned the difference of physical strength through an international trip before, I also want to pay attention to my diet, too. Through the fitness test today, I found out my strength and weakness, and I also realised it’s important to keep those in mind every day to get better. 

SARUSAWA Momoka（MOMOKO F.C）
I have two goals in this camp for myself. One is always playing with my 100% and show what I can do well. The other is not being afraid of making mistakes and keep challenging many things to find what I am missing. That’s because if I can find what I am missing in this camp, I want to get better at those things in training after this camp. What I can do well are dashing into space behind defenders and getting the ball by predicting the next play.

I have three things I learned in the communication skill drill. One is that I am slow in making up what I want to speak out such as self-introduction. If I can improve this, I will be better at having conversations with people. The second thing is the importance of talking in concrete detail. People will understand me more if I explain in detail why I agree with the topic.

The third thing is that I learned how to analyse small things. When we analysed a picture, I found out through discussing with others that they notice what I don’t notice. That gave me a new point of view and made me able to analyse things differently. 

SASAKI Ryoka (FC Miyagi)
My goal for this camp is to play my 100% and show my strength. My strengths are dribbling the ball with my speed and rushing behind the defenders with a good timing and quickness. There are many good players here from all over the place in the country, so I will improve my strengths and get better individually. 

In the lecture on physical training, I looked in detail at what I need to do in my future based on the test result analysis. I thought I needed to get better at Yo-Yo test (speed endurance test). I will remember what I learned in the lecture, “Practice makes perfect.” and keep working hard for my future. 

Schedule