Anters Alumnus Recalls My Academy Days

Part 1: Kashima Antlers Academy Scout Masashi Motoyama

 

During my playing days, I aimed for titles wearing the Antlers emblem on my back. What kind of training did I do during my academy years to become a professional soccer player, and what kind of obstacles did I face? We explore the training methods, daily habits, and mindset I had at the time.

Words from a Mentor Engraved in My Heart

“Just saying these words makes me feel like I’m standing up straighter (laughs).”

It was when I was asked about words that had stayed with me during my academy days. I sat up straight and smiled.

“The riper the rice ear, the lower it bows.”

The words from my high school mentor are still engraved in Masashi Motoyama’s heart.

“There are many. There was Mr. Shiba, and others too… I received words of encouragement from many different people. Among them, the words of Mr. Teranishi (Tadanari), who came to teach me once or twice a week as a coach at Higashi Fukuoka High School, have become my motto. He was like a grandfather who always came to teach me.”

We lived in the same neighborhood, so I would ride in the passenger seat on my way home from practice. “Since he’s already a grandfather, he sometimes falls asleep while waiting at traffic lights (laughs),” I spent the hour and a half ride home watching over him. Looking back, I feel that time was very meaningful.

“He told me many things about football. I learned so much from Mr. Teranishi. One of those was, “The riper the rice ear, the lower it bows.” It means to never forget your original intention. I was allowed to play in matches in my first year of high school, and I started being selected for various teams, so I think it was a period when it was easy to get the wrong idea. When I was little, I often wondered why other people couldn’t do what I could. But that was rarely the case in high school.”

It is a phrase I continued to give in interviews and surveys during my playing days. What I value remains unchanged.

Ball Touches Repeated Until My Body Moved on Its Own

I wanted to kick the ball and play with my older brother. That is where it started, and gradually it turned into the joy of kicking the ball.

“There was a lot of repetitive training. We would put the ball between our left and right feet and touch and move it endlessly, or when dribbling, we would pass out with the outside and stop with the inside, or vice versa. On my way home from school, I would kick plastic bottle caps as balls. I just loved kicking, so I would make anything into a ball and play with everyone.”

When I was in elementary school, I always kicked the ball at the park behind my house.

“I would peek over to see if anyone was kicking a ball, and if someone was, I would ask to join in. Sometimes I would play alone, and sometimes I would play with my older brother. Also, back then, there were trash cans with large mesh openings, right? I would compete with my older brother to see how many tries it would take to throw the ball in.”

When I became a junior high school student, I started going to the Motoki Athletics Stadium in addition to the park. It was once used as the home stadium of Giravanz Kitakyushu, and now it is used as one of the training grounds.

“I was so happy to be able to play on the grass, so I started going often. Looking back now, it was more like weeds than grass (laughs). In my time, it was always dirt, so I was just happy to be able to play anywhere there was grass. I would invite about four or five friends and run there, and we would just kick the ball. We could play one-on-one, or if more people came, two-on-two, and if five or more gathered, we could pass the ball around. Also, there was a net next to the sub-ground, so we would kick the ball toward it. After school and after club activities, I always went to the park behind my house or Motoki Athletics Stadium to kick the ball.”

Yuji Miyahara, Kyohei Yamagata, Tatsunori Yamagata… The teammates I kicked the ball with at Motoki Athletics Stadium at that time later went to Higashi Fukuoka High School, achieved the high school triple crown, and continued their professional careers as J-League players.

“Kicking the ball was fun, and playing matches was just so much fun. It wasn’t that I was thinking deeply about practicing for matches or anything like that. I just wanted to be able to do what I couldn’t do, so I immersed myself in it until my body moved on its own. In the first place, I hated repetition, so rather than thinking about my play, I would do it until my body moved and played on its own. I would think about what the opponent’s weak point was, and more often than not, that would naturally come out as a physical movement. When I had that kind of feeling, I was able to play enjoyably.”

 

Confidence Brought by a Single Success

During my elementary and junior high school years, I was thin and lacked power. Looking back, “I managed to get through elementary school by working hard with all I had, but in junior high school, I struggled with the difference in physical ability.” During my playing days, I continued to create chances with sharp dribbling and quick turns against larger opponents. The academy years Masashi spent building up to that point were steady and diligent.

“When I was an elementary school student, I really didn’t have any power, so I couldn’t kick the ball far, and I couldn’t shoot unless I dribbled into the penalty area. I had never scored a long-range shot. So I thought, even if my body is small, to take the ball to the goal, I have to master dribbling, so I should practice. I was always thinking about it.”

There was a play that gave me a sense of growth. In my fifth year of elementary school, I was overwhelmed by someone who was physically stronger than me.

“There was a player one grade above me named Takuji Miyoshi who had joined Avispa from Kokumin High School. He was big and incredibly strong. When he played center back, it was almost impossible to score. Even if I kicked a high ball, he would trap a ball that would normally be headed with his chest. He always stopped it. I thought I had to somehow score. I tried to throw off his timing, and if I could get even a little bit of a gap, I would try to shoot or cross. Then one day, I suddenly made a good play against Miyoshi. I felt like I had grown so much.”

As a result of thinking it through and continuing to move, my vision suddenly opened up. I became able to do what I couldn’t do right in front of me. Overcoming one obstacle after another, I grew into someone who was selected for the age-group national team during my high school years and led Higashi Fukuoka High School to become the best in Japan.

Now, I spend my days immersed in searching for players who will carry the future of Antlers on their backs. When watching players, I have decided that “If you only watch once, they might just happen to be in good or bad form. I want to watch them many times and judge.” From my own experience, I do not think that everything will always go well.

“When I first started, I had nothing but things that didn’t go well. When I lost the ball, I would chase after it, and when I managed to win it back, I was happy, thinking, “Yes, I finally won it back.” In my first year of junior high school, I started by picking up balls. I was small, and I struggled with my physical abilities. But I remember constantly trying to beat the opponent in front of me, no matter what. Of course, sometimes I would get scolded when I failed, but I took it as them wanting me to get better and saying it because I was a child who could do it.”

Continuing is important. There are things necessary for that. This is what I want to tell the children who will carry Antlers on their backs in the future.

“I think it is important to love football. To accumulate many such experiences of success. When things go well, you should praise yourself a lot, and if you fail, you can correct it in practice. Repeat that. That is why, if you love it, I don’t think quitting will ever be an option. If you don’t love it, you can’t put in the effort, and it is definitely better to be able to continue until you can do it because you love it, rather than just having the feeling of putting in effort.”

Motoyama himself loved football so much. Without knowing his limits, he had times when he went beyond them.

“I wasn’t very good at eating. I thought I had to eat properly, but I couldn’t eat much. I often got sick, catching colds or developing pneumonia (laughs). I just loved football so much that I wanted to play, so naturally, I exercised a lot. But compared to how much I moved, I ate very little, so I was skinny and lacked power. I thought I should eat properly, but I kicked the ball even more than that.”

Looking back on my playing days, I wore Antlers’ number 10 for 14 seasons. This achievement was also built by an insatiable love for football.