INTERVIEW

The Keepers of Tradition
Kashima Youth Coach and Chief Goalkeeper Coach Tomoya Ichikawa

Antlers was founded in 1991, two years before the launch of the J-League in 1993. As J-League clubs were required to establish youth systems to develop players, the Antlers Academy was founded. More than 30 years have passed since then—what kind of traditions have been passed down?
Tomoya Ichikawa, a youth coach and chief goalkeeper coach who played for Kashima Youth as a player and now guides the next generation, reflects on his life with Antlers and looks ahead to the club's future.

Practicing While Moving from Ground to Ground

―It has been 25 years since Coach Ichikawa became an academy coach in 1998.

"Has it really been that long since I took office? If you include the time I spent as a youth player, I've been involved with the academy for nearly 30 years."

―That was 30 years ago, but could you tell us what inspired you to join the academy as a player?

"The Antlers Academy was founded when I was in my third year of junior high school. The J-League was set to launch when I graduated, and each club was required to establish an academy system. At the time, I had no idea that Antlers was going to establish an academy. I happened to see a flyer inserted in a newspaper that was delivered to my home, and that's how I learned that the Antlers Academy was being founded. I loved football and wanted to continue playing after graduating from junior high school, so I talked with my seniors and classmates at the time. I wanted to play for a higher-level team where I could aim to become a professional player, so I decided to try out for the youth team."

―What was the youth team tryout like at that time?

"How many people participated in the tryouts back then... I think there were probably over 100 participants. There were at least 10 out of the goalkeepers who participated. From among them, three goalkeepers, including myself, ultimately passed the tryouts."

―Were many of the players who participated in the tryouts at that time local acquaintances?

"Most of the children who came to try out lived in the Kashima area at the time, but a few came from far away. For example, some came by bus from Tokyo. However, we didn't have a youth team dormitory like we do now, so the about 20 players who passed the tryouts all rode their bicycles or used public transportation to get to practice on their own."

―Are there any particularly memorable experiences from your time with the youth team?

"I myself spent two years with the youth team until my second year of high school. This is because in my third year of high school, I was already allowed to participate in top-team training. So, although my time with the youth team was short, only two years, I always remember how much Kunichi Shiimoto, who was the manager at the time (now chief scout), ran. Every Tuesday, our training focused on physical exercises, and we would race around the ground 10 times together, but Mr. Shiimoto was always the fastest. That is my most memorable thing from my youth team days (laughs)."

―What was the training environment like at that time?

"Today, we can train in wonderful facilities like the clubhouse and academy house, but back then, we only had the opportunity to train on the clubhouse ground occasionally. We mainly moved between two locations: a multipurpose ground near the clubhouse and a ground on the Sumitomo Metals (now Sumitomo Chemicals) premises. We worked hard in that environment when we were high school students."

―What kind of teammates were you surrounded by at that time?

"Since it was a football team, you would naturally think it was a group of people who had played football up to junior high school, wouldn't you? But that wasn't actually the case, and there were people who had no experience or had devoted themselves to other sports until junior high school. Some people even called their positions 'second' or 'third' (laughs). At that time, football wasn't as popular as it is today, and baseball was probably more popular. As a result of players with excellent athletic abilities passing the tryouts, there were several players in the youth team who started playing football seriously from high school."

―Given the historical background of football not being that popular in Japan at the time, why was Coach Ichikawa so enthusiastic from the beginning?

"I was influenced by the manga 'Captain Tsubasa' and had been crazy about football since I was in elementary school. I read Captain Tsubasa and admired soccer players. There were Wakabayashi and Wakashimazu as goalkeepers, and I learned that there were star players in every position in football, including goal scorers and playmakers, so I always read the manga thinking, 'That's so cool~'"

Being the first to be promoted to the top team was happy, but also very anxiety-inducing

―Could you look back on your memories of participating in top-team training from your third year of high school?

"Yes, I was the only high school student participating in top-team training at the time, but that was also because four out of the five goalkeepers on the top team at the time were out due to injuries or poor health, so the timing coincided. However, that was the opportunity, and I was fortunate that I was able to play for the top team during my third year of high school."

―What were you thinking when you participated in top-team training at that time?

"Until then, I had never experienced the professional level, and there weren't many opportunities to see professional matches up close like there are now, so at first, I didn't know how high the professional level was. However, since I was going to the top team, I had a strong desire to show that I had some kind of reason to be there."

―How was it when you actually participated in top-team training?

"As expected, the play speed and power of the professionals were amazing, and the development of the matches was so fast that my eyes couldn't keep up. The speed of the shots I was hit with was also incredibly fast, and I couldn't stop shots that I had been able to stop in the youth team until then. It was completely different from the sense of speed I had imagined, and it was shocking."

―Did you receive any influence from the professional goalkeepers?

"At that time, Chiba (Osamu) and Furukawa (Masaaki) were playing in matches, but not only their performance in matches, but also seeing their stoic attitude toward training made me painfully aware of how much I lacked. There were many things I could learn from actually feeling 'This is what a player who succeeds as a professional is like' and from observing them."

―After three years of high school, you became the first professional player produced by the academy. How did you feel at that time?

"Of course, I was purely happy. However, since I had actually participated in training from my third year of high school and experienced the quality and level of play, I remember that while I was happy, I was also very anxious. There were parts where I wondered if I could really make it as a professional and if I could actually perform when I played in matches."

―Were there any changes after actually becoming a professional player?

"When I was in high school, I think there were times when the players around me were considerate of me during practice. For example, when I was guarding the goal during shooting practice, the ones shooting weren't always shooting with 100 percent power. But once I became a professional, that kind of holding back completely disappeared, and there were many seniors who instructed me harshly toward myself, so I realized anew that I had jumped into the professional world. It didn't matter how old you were anymore, a professional was a professional. I felt that they were looking at me not as a high school student or a youth player, but as a professional player. In that environment, I thought I was still naive, and I remember that my anxiety about 'Can I really make it in the professional world' grew larger at that time."

―After being a professional player for three years, you immediately became an academy coach.

"I didn't get involved in matches at the top team, so I couldn't leave any results. After it was decided that I would leave Antlers, I had thoughts about whether it was right to continue as a professional player, but I also explored transferring to another team, but in the end, I retired from active play and became a coach."

―Why did you decide to become a coach when you were still in your early twenties?

"First of all, even when I participated in other teams' practices, I painfully felt that I lacked strength in my own way. Even if I found a team where I could play, I thought it would be difficult to continue as a professional player for a long time after that. When I was thinking that, a coach I had been interacting with since I was around elementary school age told me, 'Maybe Ichikawa is better suited to be a coach?' Those words also gave me encouragement, and I decided to pursue the path of a coach."

―What kind of things did you keep in mind when you started coaching?

"To give back to the children what I had cultivated as a professional player, I thought that instead of saying something in words, it would be quicker to actually play with the players myself, so I focused on conveying things to the players while playing first. This was because I had received advice from the coaching staff around me saying, 'While you can still move, why not move with them and have the children absorb various things?'"

―Since becoming an academy coach, you not only coach the youth team, but also the top team and junior youth team. Could you look back on your coaching experience for each age group?

"The younger the age, the more I made them thoroughly practice the basics in training. I think repetition of the basics is important. In that environment, while carefully discerning the effects on things other than play, such as the emotional ups and downs, personality, and mental aspects depending on the players' ages, I focused on facing each player individually. Sometimes you have to instruct harshly. However, when they are around high school age, many players can think and act to some extent on their own, so I think I have been able to face those age groups' players more deeply with football."

I want goalkeepers to think of guarding the goal first

―Are there any common characteristics among the players Coach Ichikawa has been involved with who became professionals?

"The players who became professionals gave me the impression that many of them had personalities that had changed in a good way. Whether they were cheerful by nature or didn't take it negatively at all when teased by those around them, I think all the players who became professionals had those kinds of things in common. In other words, they had distinctive personalities. The first player I coached who became a professional was Yagi (Naoki), but he was also very cheerful and had a character that was very loved by those around him. He also had the advantage of being tall, but his excellent movement was also one of his characteristics, so he was selected for the age-group Japan national team."

―In addition to Yagi, recently, goalkeepers like Yuya Oki and Daiki Yamada (now at Okayama) have been produced from the academy.

"I think it is precisely because they have athletic abilities as players, skills as goalkeepers, and furthermore, the distinctive personalities that were mentioned as a topic today that they were able to become professional players. At the academy, we have always thoroughly repeated training for improving basic goalkeeper techniques, so I think that is also the reason. Also, the coaching staff of the Antlers Academy always pours passion into it and values patiently watching the players' growth, so that attitude may also be one of the factors in producing professional players."

―I feel that modern goalkeepers are required to have many skills, such as footwork, but basic techniques are important.

"Goalkeepers have the role of guarding the goal as a basic premise. On top of that, I think that repeating and repeating training to improve basic techniques is necessary, especially from the lower categories. After all, I don't want goalkeepers to easily concede goals, and they must also have a commitment to not conceding goals. If you concede one goal from a single shot hit by the opponent and lose the match, there is probably no greater regret for a goalkeeper. That is precisely why I want them to value their daily training to stop that one shot, and always have a commitment to that one ball flying toward them. Even if they have a high level of footwork, it is completely backward for a goalkeeper if that commitment is even slightly lacking. As long as they are working hard in the goalkeeper position, I want them to think of guarding the goal first."

―Do you feel the changes in the academy over these 30 years?

"First of all, compared to the founding period when I was a player, high-quality players are coming from all over the country. I can feel that promising players are also coming from this local area, and the organization is becoming one where they can focus more on football. In that environment, there have been more players from the local area, like GK coach Jun Sokeguchi, who can succeed as professionals."

On the other hand, what kind of traditions do you think should not be changed as we move forward into the next 30 years and beyond?

"After all, this club has a Giko Club Advisor, and the Giko Spirit of dedication, sincerity, and respect is rooted here. That tradition is absolute, so it will probably not change in the future. Also, I don't think the academy will change it either. The best thing is to value the foundation we have cultivated so far, and on top of that, to have more players with a strong 'Antlers love' who will become professionals in the future, succeed, and support this club. Football is evolving more and more every day, and the skills required of goalkeepers are also increasing. It will probably be necessary to deal well with such changes in the times, but like the traditions of this club, the things that should not be changed will absolutely not be changed. If you compare it to a tree, even if the branches and leaves branch out more and more, the trunk in the middle must absolutely not waver. I think we coaching staff must value that trunk part of the club and continue to protect it from now on."

―From this year, the youth team has become a system where goalkeepers are coached by two people, including GK coach Sokeguchi.

"By having multiple coaches look at the players, I feel that there are more things to notice. When I was a player myself, there were many times when others pointed out things like 'You have this kind of habit,' so for players, if there are more people looking at them, there will be more perspectives and points to be pointed out, and it will lead to more growth. I think it is a system that has many benefits for players."

―What kind of goalkeepers do you want to produce in the future?

"While the qualities as a player are important, I want to develop players with the personality to become the main characters of this Kashima Antlers and support the club for a long time. Of course, there are probably many players who have the dream of succeeding in the Japan national team or in overseas clubs. Even so, I hope that first, players who have a strong love for Antlers will be produced from the school, then junior, then junior youth, then youth, and finally to the top team. That is also our eternal theme."

―Finally, could you also tell us your thoughts for the children who want to join the Antlers Academy and are working hard in practice?

"I think all the children who are working hard in practice are working hard because they love football. So, I want them to always have that passion and work hard in training every day. Also, elementary school, junior high school, and high school students have their studies, so I want them to work hard without neglecting those things, and on top of that, work with a passion for Antlers. I hope they will work hard, without wavering, toward the dreams and goals they have set for themselves. If football is something they can be crazy about, that is also very happy for me."