Soccer update

Both Ruby and Felix have now played their first ever soccer matches on Japanese soil so it seemed like a good time for a soccer update.
The first thing to explain is that there is no soccer season as such, at least not at this age level. The clubs train all year round, and once or twice a month a match will be organised, often in the form of a Cup or Gala Day in the form of a round robin of several matches with a winner and trophies.
Felix and Ruby are both at the local club Mihara UFC. This is a rather friendly low-key affair where the emphasis is on the kids enjoying themselves. Consequently they don’t take themselves too seriously, and while I sometimes wish they did more technical stuff with the kids, the fact that Felix’s team won both their matches on the weekend suggests that they must be doing something right, even if it isn’t that serious.
JUNIOR SOCCER FACT: after practice you have to thank the coach with a bow, and then turn and face the other way and bow to the pitch as well. Isn’t that lovely.
ANOTHER FACT: They hardly ever pass to one another. The coaches tell me that at this age the emphasis is very much on developing silky foot skills. Teaching them to pass the ball and to think as a team comes later. At times this can be really frustrating for those of us watching from the sidelines, but I have to admit that some of the U11 and U12 kids in Ruby’s team have The Most Amazing Foot Skills. I remember I spent most of my time as coach of Felix’s team last year trying to convince the boys to pass the ball to one another, but perhaps it would have been better to just admit defeat and concentrate on silky foot skills like the Japanese do.

Anyway here’s some photos from Felix’s matches on the weekend.

Lining up after the match to bow to the opposing team:

Hanging around between matches:

As you can see, the pitch is just a massive sandy area. Many sporting pitches in Japan are like this, as are all school grounds. Perhaps Australia could take a leaf out of Japan’s book and do away with water-hungry grass pitches altogether; it would certainly be cheaper.

Meanwhile only a handful of Ruby’s compatriots at Mihara UFC stayed on after the graduation ceremony in March, because junior high school is much more demanding and most don’t have the time to fit in soccer practice as well. As a result, there is no Wednesday night training session as such; instead they take part in a full-on scratch match involving all the local soccer fanatics. The teams are a mixed bag of players, including some of the coaches (in their 40s and 50s but still really agile); a few young men in their 20s or early 30s who look like they might have been professionals at one stage; and the youth players. They all just turn up, half of them put on bibs and away they go. It’s a fast and frenetic pace and the foot skills from some of them are quite incredible to watch. Ruby was naturally apprehensive at first, but during her first hit-out last week she held her own admirably down the left flank and even got a few handy crosses into the box. She was reasonably pleased with her effort afterward, and I think the scratch matches will be a fantastic experience, because there’s no room for being timid and pathetic when you’re playing against adults.

Meanwhile, Ruby is also in another all-girl team that’s affiliated with the J-League team Hiroshima Sanfrecce. This is a more serious outfit (certainly in terms of the uniform costs) though tragically the training ground is located an hour away and requires a train and bus ride, so we can’t make all the training sessions. Sanfrecce organise regular weekend matches where all the girls pile onto the special Sanfrecce purple bus and are whisked off to the game then delivered back in the afternoon.

Like Felix’s team, the players don’t have set positions as such, mainly because the coaches never know who’s going to turn up on the day. It’s quite a different approach to what we’re used to in Australia; however it seems to work. Perhaps the team structure will begin to form as the year wears on.

Here’s what Ruby’s team looks like:

They’re all a bit wet and bedraggled because it was raining that day.

Stay tuned for match reports will full details, including video footage if I can manage it.