The 13 September was the final day of the U-23 Japan women’s national squad training camp in Yamagata, which started on 9 September.
After holding two practice sessions everyday - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, the players had a practice game on the last day.
The five players of Nihon University Yamagata Senior High School Football Club joined the 17 players, excluding Yoshimi Natsuki (Nojima Stella Kanagawa), who left the camp for the match of the ‘plenus Challenge League’. They started with a warm-up exercise, and went on to an eleven-on-eleven practice game with 30-minute halves, which ended 0-0.
After the training, the players were advised in unison by the coach Takakura, the coach Okamoto and the goalkeeping coach Kawashima that ‘everyday practice is vital to improve their already well-honed skills’ and that ‘having a good habit is essential’.
They all attended a football-day event after lunch, which was hosted by Yamagata Football Association and included watching the Nadeshiko Japan WORLD MATCH, which was played that day.
They enjoyed themselves, playing mini games, with other participants, who were different ages, genders or had different football skills.
The players watched the Nadeshiko Japan’s match against the Ghana women’s national team in the stadium from 19:00 before they called it a day.
The next event for them will be La Manga Cup in February 2015.

Comments

TAKAKURA Asako,Head Coach
The players in the U-23 Japan women’s national squad are the ones who have to aim at becoming the next members of Nadeshiko Japan. I think it was a good opportunity for the players to hold a training camp with Nadeshiko Japan, as they could learn some tips.
Although there is much more to be done, we have really skilled players and held a good training camp. They need to improve not only their skills, but also their mental strength, in order to become regular members of Nadeshiko Japan. I hope they will try even harder in their respective club team, benefiting from the experience of this camp, and that some of them will be selected as members for the World Cup in Canada next year.

SHIBATA Hanae（Urawa Reds Ladies）
It was a really good experience to play games against the Ghana women’s national team and Nadeshiko Japan. I found it very difficult to communicate enough during the match with those players, who usually played in different teams. If we had been playing in the same team, I wouldn’t have mentioned some small things, but I actually had to. As I couldn’t do so in the game, we sometimes couldn’t play co-ordinately.
In the game I realised that the difference between Nadeshiko Japan and the U-23 was the standard of passing. Nadeshiko players tend to pass the ball around much quicker, each holding it for a shorter time. Also they had high enough skills to prevent the ball being stolen.
We need to improve our speed and the ability of judging the situation, which the head coach Takakura also mentioned. It was really good that we realised we have to do the basic training even more than before.

HIRAO Chika（JFA ACademy Fukushima）
We had a chance to hold a training session together with Nadeshiko Japan, where I discovered the things I had to work on in order to improve. I’d like to follow their good example, checking the detail of the positioning and adjusting accordingly.
In the match against Nadeshiko Japan, they kept checking our positioning. If there was anything not right, they soon realised and attacked through those gaps. I wouldn’t have noticed the importance of positioning in normal practice sessions.
I also learned how important kicking accuracy is, down to the centimetre, in order to be able to play internationally.

Schedule

※The schedule may be changed depending on condition of the team or the weather.