Marcelo Mendes and Moreira Ozu held their seventh beach soccer clinic of this year at Minatomachi Kaihin Koen in Kashiwazaki, Niigata on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 August for 17 players and coaches from Hokushinetsu and Tohoku. The Japan National Team’s head coach and player provided a lecture and a practical training session.

The clinic was held unfortunately in heavy rain on both days, but all participants worked out hard despite the bad weather.
They were keen to take notes trying not to miss coach’s words, actively ask questions and discussed topics on tactics.
In a practice match held on Sunday, they seemed to be avid for continuous challenges by communicating loud, having a meeting among players and asking the coach questions.

Head Coach Comment

Marcelo MENDES, Head Coach
The participants’ skill level was high, and they looked well-organised.
Unfortunately, the two-day clinic was held in heavy rain, but they showed great concentration and performance in spite of such a bad weather.
I hope they take what they learned in the clinic back to their club and local community in order to develop beach soccer.

Participants Comments

AKASAWA Yuzuru（AQUA MORCEGO B.S）
They gave us tips on things I hadn’t paid much attention to including how to run on sand. It was also very informative to learn about tactical training.
His explanation and demonstration were very clear. I felt I need to improve my fundamental skills from now on.
I will share what I learned with my team and set aside blocks of time for fundamental trainings.

SATO Ranmaru（AQUA MORCEGO B.S）
These are basic skills, but I felt that qualities of scooping, passing and trapping, need to be improved. Everyone concentrated on the clinic and had a good level of tension during the two days.
In the lecture about defence, I was impressed at tips on how to instantly change our system depending on the opponent’s type. My team has just one formation no matter who the opponent is, so we try to have more variations taking in what I learned today. I will try hard to make my team competitive in national tournaments.

SAITO Jun（pele de laco）
The course of sessions from a lecture to a practical training let me understand easily and play without confusion. It was also good to ask questions and have answers at the moment.
In terms of offense systems, we repeated the same patterns no matter who the opponent team is, but I learned different kinds of systems in the clinic. After mastering them by practicing repeatedly, we will try to change our system depending on player’s types, the way the opponent plays and situations in a match.

MORI Shun （Aomori Stallions）
We play beach soccer in Aomori and have taken on drills in our practice on our way. I learned the importance of skills and tactics. I will take what I learned back to my team so that we will be able to have more variations on our drills.
I learned details from basic skills like how to run to tactics. And I also learned how to carry out physical training using balls. Those turned out to be a big hint for us. I hope the clinic will come to Tohoku next year.