The policy and activities of each Prefectural Football Association are introduced for the following 12 themes:“Senior”,“Class 1”,“Class 2”,“Class 3”,“Class 4”,“Kids”,“Women”,“Futsal”,“Beach Soccer”,“Referees Committee”,“Facilities Committee (Environment Project)”, and“Technical Committee”. Please check out the local and regional activities in Japan.

We are introducing Class 2.

*The contributed article below is also posted in the June 2015 issue of JFA News in the “Regional News” section.

Class 2 activities of Nara Football Association

URANO Kazuhisa Class 2 of committee
“Creating attractive Class 2 teams”

The Class 2 situation in Nara is not positive at all. We had a good time 10 years ago when Nara Ikuei High School was strong enough to be in top 10 high school teams of Japan.

However, they have not been able to get through the first stages of All Inter-High School Championships (“Inter-high”) or All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in recent years and no teams have been able to play in the Prince Takamado Trophy U-18 Premier League. After the 2nd League system was abolished, no team has had a chance to play in Kansai Prince.

One of the reasons is increasingly the number of good Class 3 team players go out of Nara to join other Class 2 teams. In Class 3 activities, there are 3 selected teams to be strengthened: Training Centre, Club squad team, and Junior High School Physical Culture Association squad team. 

There are about 60 players in total and the fact is that 40-50 players of them go to play in the teams out of Nara. This has been more popular in recent years compared to 10 years ago. 

Reasons for this situation are: “practice environment is bad”, “coaches don’t seem to be motivated”, “less number of supporting staff”, and “lower level of coaching”. This means there is no Class 2 team with attractions. 

We take this reality seriously and keep working hard day by day to make good Class 2 teams which attract Class 3 players to stay in Nara through working closely with Class 2 coaches and other supporting staff. 
　
In working for Class 2, we have 3 major pillars: strengthening Class 3 players who stay in Nara, improving coaching skills, and sharing any football information. 

In empowering Class 2 players, we have worked on making a plan for a training camp outside of Japan for U-16 players, taking some support from the Technical Committee. Regarding improving coaching skills, we plan more opportunities of coaching skill training for coaches to learn details about football coaching in a systematic way.

For encouraging information sharing, we create opportunities for both Class 2 and Class 3 teams to play against each other or watch their play. We also make some lectures for them and that is a good chance for them to know each other well.

Please keep an eye on our future Class 2 activities of Nara.