The term "Kashima-ru" (to do the Kashima way) has been a subject of debate among supporters in the past.

The Antlers are masters of the game. Is it time-wasting in the final minutes? Should they focus purely on winning? A 1-0 victory is the aesthetic. Victory-at-all-costs. While those ideas certainly exist, Academy Manager Shuto Suzuki says he feels a sense of dissonance with them.

"I was fortunate enough to be with the Antlers as a player during a good era. To me, the 'Antlers style' is epitomized by the era when we won three consecutive titles. That team was undoubtedly incredible; they could do anything, and I believe they were the best. Back then, we held onto the ball constantly and dominated the matches. Even when opponents formed a block in their own half to solidify their defense, the feeling was that we would eventually score anyway—whether from a set-piece or a counter-attack. But nowadays, when we play a rigid style of soccer and win, people sometimes call that the 'Antlers style.' Personally, I feel that’s a bit different."

One of the Antlers' golden eras, from 2007 to 2009, saw the team achieve the first-ever three-peat in league history. Suzuki was with the team as a player from 2008 to 2011, and he experienced their high technical level and tactical intelligence in daily training. Looking back on those days adds weight to his words.

"Guys like Moto-san (Masashi Motoyama), Taku-san (Takuya Nozawa), Mitsuo-san (Ogasawara), Koji-san (Nakata), Iba-san (Toru Araiba), and Atsuto (Uchida) would just keep the ball and dominate the game. And we kept winning because of it. If you use that as the standard, doesn't it feel like what they call the 'style' now is a bit different? I think those who have been watching the Antlers for a long time would feel that way even more strongly."

 

The "Style" Shown by the Youth Team

Over the past few years, there is a comment that staff from other teams have started making at youth match venues.

"That’s very Antlers-like." This comment resonated with him.

"I imagine everyone has their own idea of what the 'Antlers style' is, but I take that (being told so at match venues) as a positive. It’s because our current youth team plays soccer with the intention of retaining possession. We haven't strayed from the roots. Some of our current academy players have the impression that 'Antlers soccer' means defending while retreating and that winning 1-0 is the true style, but I constantly refute that. I keep telling them, 'That’s not it.'"

Suzuki sensed a gap between the image of the Antlers held by the academy players and the image the club aims for. Bridging that gap is one of Suzuki's roles, and his coaching philosophy is based on that.

"Recently, it has become an era of tactics and physicality. However, what we in the academy want to demonstrate is whether a player can receive the ball even with an opponent on their back and still turn to face forward, or whether they can shake off their defender while under pressure. That is ultimately the most important thing for a professional. Mitsuo-san had the image of a defensive midfielder who could control the game and excelled at winning the ball back, but he could also just naturally shake off his opponents. The ability to shake them off using high technique is the prerequisite; from there, options like passing come into play. First, we aim to level up the individual. I want to produce top-tier players like that from the academy."

As a fundamental premise, the "style" cannot exist without absolute technical ability. Based on that, the goal is to overwhelm opponents in matches.

"It will still take time to reach that goal, but I believe we are making very steady progress."

Suzuki is steadily and surely instilling his own firsthand experience into the academy.