| James Kon |
U14 Brunei national youth football team and Projek Ikan Pusu (PIP) U12 players are receiving trainings from coaches with Renofa Yamaguchi FC, a second division Japanese professional football team.
The training sessions at the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam’s (NFABD) artificial turf are made possible thanks to Japan Foundation Asia Center and the Japan Professional Football League.
Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Motohiko Kato visited the training ground yesterday to encourage the young footballers and to observe the sport exchange programme between Brunei Darussalam and Japan.
The Japanese Ambassador said, ” Football is a very popular sport in Asia including Japan. The Japanese national team is currently doing well in the World Cup and Japan would like to share our experience as well as expertise with Brunei.
“The relationship between Brunei Darussalam and Japan is very important and as the Ambassador of Japan to Brunei, I attach great importance on youth exchange programme especially in sports because the future of the relationship of both countries lies on the shoulders of the young people.”
He also said with the JENESYS Programme (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths), Japan invited young participants in the field of football, rugby and judo to the country while Japanese young badminton players were recently in Brunei for friendly games. Brunei also established its judo national federation and a Japanese judo instructor is currently visiting Brunei.
The Japanese Ambassador added, “We are trying to do everything we can to promote the many sports in Brunei especially football because it is very popular among Bruneians. I feel that there is still rooms to promote football among the young people.”
With the long-term commitment of Coach Takao Fujiwara who has been in NFABD since 2015 together with short-term programmes like visiting coaches, local young footballers are motivated to become professional players.
Through the many initiatives, he said, “I hope that the young footballers can achieve their dream to become professional footballers.”
Toshifumi Takahashi and Taru Otaki are the coaches from Renofa Yamaguichi FC currently in Brunei to train the children until tomorrow.
It is expected that through the three-day sessions, the youth teams would be exposed to new ideas and form innovative ways of thinking about the game to help their development as players.
In addition, it is also hoped that Brunei youths and coaches can interact with Japanese coaches and vice versa to build mutual understanding for further development of friendship between Brunei and Japan.