The U-15 Japan Women's National Team short-listed squad had the third day of their training camp in Osaka, which began on Saturday 1 October. 

It was the second day since the team resumed their regular training schedule. They were divided into three groups and worked with themes ‘defence’ and ‘possession’ in their two-a-day practice sessions in the morning and afternoon. At night, the players took a lecture from Nadeshiko Japan coach TAKAKURA Asako. She told them the important of competing at the international level, incorporating her own episode of the championship experience at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica.

In the third day, they continued their two-a-day practice sessions in the morning and afternoon as well. The weather went worse with occasional rain shower, nevertheless the players worked as hard as they could, focusing on ‘how they should play in the box’ and ‘how they should score from crosses’. Also, coach OBE Yumi stressed the significance of “aiming at making Nadeshiko Japan (Women’s National Team)” during a night meeting, giving them an opportunity to think over about how they should act with that goal in mind.

In the final day on the 4th, the team will play games to wrap up the training camp.

Coach's and Players' Comments

TOSHIMITSU Chiharu (JFA National Training Centre Coach/Catiolla Football Club)
With a goal to constantly perform at 100 percent level, the players experienced high pressure, required to make the quick, right decision, and had to cope with fatigue during the four training sessions within the past two days.

I think that the players were able to earn the importance of robbing the ball and, when possession of the ball, positioning and ball-handling techniques both offensively and defensively. Personally, I was able to reconfirm the significance of ‘building up (accumulation of each practice)’, timing of giving specific instructions and increasing or decreasing the work-rate. Going forward, keeping the message from coach Takakura ‘each player should believe in improving herself’ in mind, we are going to work hard to change the ‘difficult situations’ into ‘simple situations’.

NITTA Moeka (VISPO SAYAMA)
For the second day, I came in with two goals to practice—not giving up and giving my best. But I couldn’t really play as well I wished to. I was slow to make decisions after receiving the ball. Furthermore, when making passes, there were too many occasions where I gave up the ball. So, I want to improve on those.

Defence has a significant role in constructing offence, so I realized that it was important to not give up in the middle of the play, keep putting pressure and defend persistently. Also, I want to understand what I can improve watching my teammates’ plays. I want to keep my focus and work as hard as I can in the remainder of our camp.

HARADA Ena (NIPPON TV MENINA)
In our practice sessions on the second day, we worked mainly on defence. I usually play forward as a winger, so I'm not really good at defending. But working through the morning practice, I learned how to improve my defensive plays, and I was able to steal the ball from the opponents several times.

In the afternoon session, we worked on possession drills, where I also focused on the lessons learnt on defence during the morning practice. Yet I still need to improve on making quicker transition between offence and defence, so I want to keep working on it.

At night, coach Takakura of Nadeshiko Japan and U-20 Japan Women's National team gave us a lecture. It was a precious experience and I want to capitalise on the things I learned from her speech and make improvement in my personal life and football career.

OSAWA Haruka (JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA LADIES U-15)
In the morning session of the second day, we practiced considering defence as our primary theme. During the one-on-one drills, I focused on the distance between the player and the ball, and when the gap widened, I was able to put myself between the player and the ball and steal it. Furthermore, when we expanded the exercise to incorporate multiple players, I was able to do the same making minor adjustments in positioning and covering.

In the afternoon, our training session focused on possession. I watched carefully the opponents' movements and got involved more in the ‘off-ball plays’. I was able to prioritise the things that needed to be done on each play.

In the third day, we practiced with a theme of ‘how we should play in the box.’ Reflecting on what we did in the second day, I paid close attention to getting to the ball faster than the opponents both offensively and defensively, talking amongst my teammates, and taking responsibility in ‘man-marking’ my opponent. I had an excellent training session, being able to work on those topics.

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.