The Japan Football Association hosted a workshop for the first-class female referees for their reskilling purpose on 8 and 9 November. It was the third time that the workshop was held this year. Since the Nadeshiko League was playing, it was held separately in the east and west. On the 8th, it was held at J-GREEN Sakai while Shinyoko Football Park (Nissan Stadium’s training space) hosted it on the following day.

The workshop consists of classroom lectures and training in the fields. In the classroom lecture parts, the participants got to work: analyzing the video of the Nadeshiko League, presentations on "goalkeepers and fouls," presentations on “Willingness, roles and abilities,’’ and three-minute-long speeches by the referees.

On the field, with the theme “judging of off-sides and free-kick control," they worked on practical training. The members of the football team of Osaka Municipal Sakuranomiya High School and the members of the football club of Nihon Sport Science University helped the workshop as the players roles at the west and east sites, respect/tively. They responded well to the organizers’ requests, such as, “we want you to foul like this and do some dirty players," which were completely opposite things that they usually do. 

Instructor's comment

SEKINE Hiroyuki, Class 1 Instructor (Tokyo)
It’s been a while for me to share time with powerful first-class female members and I received energy from them. This time, I spoke about goalkeepers and fouls, and I hope it gave some references to them, in terms of diving at a player’s foot, obstructions on corner kicks and charging on competing for high balls. The goalkeeper position has its trait to desperately protect the goal by any means. It is a legal play for a goalkeeper to jump into a player’s foot with his or her head first, which is not allowed for the field players. Thus, it is relevant for the refs to control inside the penalty area, taking care of the players’ safety.

Also, because the referees position at corners of the field, they mostly have to judge on cross plays while they are at impaled positions. Inspirations, starts, angles and cooperating will be the key words. In order to draw the offensive and defensive battles before the goal, which is an attraction of the football game, we have high expectations for you all.

Referee's comments

FUJITA Michiko, Class 1 Women's Referee (Mie Prefecture)
In the video analysis at this workshop, we used videos of the Nadeshiko League, and had group discussions mainly on handling and foul tackles, sharing the judgement criteria with the participating members. In the lecture on the goalkeepers and fouls, based on our instructor’s past experience as a player, we learned the goalkeepers’ basic moves, practical demonstrations of catching high balls, the ways defenders create walls, explanations on the positions where the referee could destruct when the defenders make walls, the points for judging the fouls on the goalkeepers and other things we have to be careful. All the things were beneficial and we got to earn a lot of new knowledge.

In the practical training, with the support of the local high school players, we were provided a lot of different scenes that could happen in actual games, and reconfirmed and acknowledged what the procedures and cautionary points on controls of free kicks around the penalty area. We don’t have much time left this season, but we want to sort out what we learned here and capitalize on them for our upcoming activities.

TOKUNAGA Mitsue, Class 1 Women's Referee (Hiroshima Prefecture)
As one of the topics for the classroom lectures that we went through in the first half of the workshop, we had a lecture on the goalkeepers. The goalkeepers had been protected according to the sporting regulations. I have played as a goalkeeper myself, and I know this is a peculiar position that you have to pay attention. I got to notice that depending on what position you have played at, you have different opinions, and by understanding play tendencies at each position like this time, we have more options for our judgements, and it was a very valuable time. In the practical training afterward, I thought that even if something that you didn’t anticipate happens, you can still correspond in proper ways when you take the procedures with composition. Situations vary whether you blow your whistle beforehand or afterward. But what we are supposed to do is all set.

The Empress Cup will begin soon and then another tournament will start over the year. We discussed on judgements this time, sharing knowledge with other officials, and it gave me extra confidence. And I’ve become braced up, thinking I want to have even better preparations.