TEGURAMORI Hiroshi, the national training centre coach, visited Ishinomaki, Miyagi and Soma, Fukushima for coaching the training centre and watching “Friend Cup for Reconstruction of Great East Japan Earthquake.”

It has been four years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and there isn’t sufficient environment for those who enjoy football. Under such conditions, local football coaches work on JFA’s Training Centre Programme with strong will to boost local reconstruction after the earthquake through sustainable opportunities for kids to enjoy sports.

On 7 February, local football team coaches joined in an annual training event in Ishinomaki District, Miyagi. Under the theme of “Sports Development in Japan”, I had a chance to give a lecture about the history of Japan’s football and our approach to win the FIFA World Cup which is Japan’s aim.

On the next day, I visited coastal area of Iwate and north part of Miyagi. First one was supporting Training Centre activities of U-12 in the Ishinomaki District. For the first 60 minutes, I had simulation training for the coaches to promote mutual understanding to lead the training, and then I worked directly with the local U-12 players. Coaches worked very actively for the sessions such as passing & controlling the ball, and improving ball possession with “3 vs 2+2” and “4 vs 4+2” forms. Finally, they had 8 vs 8-practice match and the players showed energetic play with very good level of concentration.

On 23 February, I visited the training sessions of Soma U-18 Training Centre, which was held at Fukushima Football Center/Soma City Koyo Football Field. They were particularly concentrated on “ball possession”. The training kept going with an attention to how they relate themselves better in passing and controlling the ball, and to making good decisions while keeping good ball possession. The session time just went very quickly and I appreciate the players there for keeping a very positive attitude toward the session.

On 25th, I had another chance to see the Training Centre activities for U-11 and U-12 held at Kashima Elementary School, Iwaki in Iwate. I had a chance to lead the session there with Mr. YAAZAKI Shigeo, Tohoku Youth Director of JFA. Firstly, we divided the player into small teams of 5 people to have a 4 on 1 passing training. Then we had several sessions including “6 vs 6 + 4 towards the goal”, “1 vs 1”, “3 vs 3”, “improving the ball possession in 4 vs 2” and “improving play intensities”. We hope that we can stimulate kids as players for the future.

From 28 February to 1 March, I visited Kesennuma, Miyagi to watch “Friend Cup for Reconstruction of Great East Japan Earthquake”. This event has 30 years of history which is hosted by parents of local Shishiori Football Club. Since they could not have this Friend Cup in the year of the earthquake, this was 29th event for the local people. Three football pitches in Kesennuma Elementary School and Niizuki Junior High School were prepared for 18 local football teams from Miyagi and Iwate Prefecture.

On first day, 18 teams were divided into three leagues for the preliminary round, and then on the second day the final tournament was held to select the top team. In the very cheerful evening- function, the people from some areas with heavy snow at this time of a year said “it is very nice to play on a pitch in the middle of winter.”

Mr. SUGAWARA Yoichi, representative of Shishiori FC said “It has been four years since the earthquake, and during this difficult time we have received a lot of support from many people. We appreciate it very much. We could not hold this event in the year of the earthquake, but I’m proud to tell people that we could hold it again from 2012 thanks to the support of the parents of our team. We know that it will take time for the reconstruction of our area, but we believe that this event can be a help to encourage ourselves to keep working for our local area. We always want to keep sense of appreciation for the support that we have taken.” Mr. YONEKURA, head coach of FC Otani leads the team by having training at a temporary car park since their training ground was affected by the earthquake and he says “This event is very precious for those who cannot play satisfactorily due to any reasons such as heavy snow. We always hope for the active reconstruction of our local area.”

To me, those two days at this event was such a good opportunity for me to see how local kids and coaches work hard to encourage themselves when in a challenging situation.