The 2019 edition of the Class S Coach Training Course started on Friday 5 April.

The course will be held for nine months where the 16 participants, who were selected from a try-out session held last December, will be going through various curriculums including practical training, game analysis, coaching theory, and management.

This year, in order to provide a productive learning experience for the participants, the course took an early start to fit in five modules within the full schedule.

Module 1 Short-course (1)

Dates: Fri. 5 – Wed. 10 April
Venue: Kashima Heights Sports Plaza, Ibaraki

Starting on Monday 15, the intensive course will be held in Tokyo.
We will continue to deliver the participants’ reports in a relay format throughout the year.

Comments

Mr. KUZUNO Masahiro, Representative of Participants
The 2019 Class S Coach Training Course has begun. We were gathered at Kashima Heights on Friday 5 April, where everybody seemed a bit nervous while going through the orientation. We then observed a match between Kashima Antlers and Nagoya Grampus in the evening. Prior to the match we divided ourselves into two groups, Kashima Antlers side and Nagoya Grampus side, to conduct a group analysis of the match. As part of the activity, each group came up with plans for the next match and held training sessions based on that plan. On the second day of the course, we participated in an outdoor activity (A.S.E.) in the morning at Shirahama Youth Nature House. In a natural environment, each group went through activities that involved discussions and problem solving to complete the assigned tasks. It was very tiring, but there was a sense of accomplishment when we solved our tasks and it gave us a wonderful experience to learn a useful method to build teams in the future.

The instructors, including professor WATANABE, were all very unique individuals, and their friendly gestures allowed the participants to enter the activities without being too nervous. From the third day, practical coaching sessions were the main focus of the course. With the help of the players of Ryutsu Keizai University, we divided ourselves into two groups, the Kashima Antlers side and the Nagoya Grampus side, to conduct a coaching session. Within the groups, we were each assigned as either the head coach, assistant coach, goalkeeper coach, and conditioning coach to instruct the players and hold discussions. On the final day, a scrimmage that simulated the match between Kashima Antlers and Nagoya Grampus was held to go over the results of the coaching sessions. The enthusiasm of the participants and the players created an intense atmosphere just like a real match.

From this course, we were able to specify and reinforce our knowledge on the important aspects of team building, such as how to analyse and adjust the team from one match to another through training sessions specifically constructed to address certain issues, ways to analyse game changing moments and plays, the importance of the coachs' leadership, and the need for each staffs to understand and execute their roles in order to support the coach. We are each assigned with a role to support the course to run smoothly over the year, such as the chairman, representative, and people in charge of the group discipline, car pool, banquets, etc. As a team, we will continue to strive to improve ourselves over this course.

Mr. TAKASAKI Yasushi
The 2019 Class S Coach Training Course has started on Friday 5 April. This year’s short-course was held at Kashima Heights. Knowing that there was going to be lots to learn from this course, I was nervous and excited at the same time. The orientation started with the words of Technical Director SEKIZUKA, where he got us thinking of our roles to support the future of the Japanese football community. Instructor SUZUKI followed with a lecture on game analysis and the participants were given the time to hold a discussion on the assignment we were given ahead of time, which was the match between Kashima and Nagoya. During the discussion, the participants were divided into two groups, each representing the Kashima side and Nagoya side, and the groups gave a presentation on their analysis of the recent three matches. We then observed the match between the two sides to come up with more tasks to work on.

On the following day, we made our ways to Shirahama Youth Nature House in the morning to conduct “A.S.E.” During this activity, we were divided into two groups, started by introducing each other, and solved many tasks as a group. In our discussions, we set our goal first and shared our thoughts to achieve that goal. The attitude shown by the participants to solve these tasks has allowed me to gain a wider perspective and taught me the importance of embracing different ideas. By the time we solved our final task, there was a sense of unity among the group. I am very thankful of the instructors, including professor Watanabe, and the postgraduate students from University of Tsukuba for their support.

We returned to Kashima Heights in the afternoon to continue on our game analysis from the previous day and gave a presentation on the topic. We spent the entire night constructing the training menu for the following day. In the morning of Sunday 7, we had ourselves divided into groups of Kashima side and Nagoya side to conduct a practical training session. During this session, we were each given a role of either the head coach, assistant coach, goalkeeper coach, and conditioning coach to go over the team tasks. A productive training session and discussion was held, where every participant was actively involved and learned many new things. The practical training session went on for three days, and during that time, we spent the evening to reflect on the sessions and construct the training plan for the following day. It felt like the enthusiasm shown by each group got increasingly heated each day.

In our final day, we conducted a scrimmage between the simulated Kashima side and Nagoya side. The two sides played the match with the adjustments applied through the training sessions. We all monitored the match closely to see how our trainings have affected the outcome. After observing the intense battle between the two teams, I feel like we saw a definite improvement. We concluded the short-course by reflecting on the activities and preparing for the intensive course that will take place next week. Through the course, the participants were able to gradually break the ice and by the final day, we were holding heated discussions with great enthusiasm. This six days have allowed me to realise the importance of sharing the values and opinions with other people. I believe that we can get to know each other even more in the intensive course starting on Monday 15. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude towards the Ryutsu Keizai University football club for all their support. Thank you very much.

Next time we will deliver the report from Mr. KURANUKI Kazuki (Coach of Tokushima Vortis Youth).