Japan Futsal / Football Tour
September 2015
PROPOSAL
In August of 2014 I had the pleasure of
meeting Mr. Rinichi Mikami, Director of
Go Zamurai Soccer Academy and Mr. Hiro
Ikeda, U-14 Coach at Mitsubishi Yowa SC,
Tokyo. Mr. Ikeda had travelled to Brisbane
from Japan to take a look at our local
football structure while here visiting
friends.
Australian born Rinichi, who is a senior
player in the Brisbane Premier League,
graduated from the Mitsubishi Yowa SC U18 program before moving back to
Australia. He is actively involved with the
Japanese community in Brisbane and runs a junior coaching program for both Japanese and local players.
Rinichi has close contacts with players and coaches at Mitsubishi
Yowa SC along with professional futsal clubs in Tokyo. Rinichi and I
discussed my ambition of taking a group of players from Arana United
Futsal Club on a cultural tour to Japan and this led to in-depth
conversations about how we could make this happen. Rinichi has
previously taken Brisbane based players to Japan to attend coaching
clinics and to experience their unique football culture. We’ve since
had further meetings and have begun making solid plans for a trip to
Tokyo during the September school holidays, 2015. The plan is to
take 12 boys, aged 14-16yrs, to Tokyo to visit professional futsal and
football clubs to participate in coaching clinics, play friendly games
against local junior teams and to watch professional games. I will be
the tour manager and Rinichi will coordinate activities with the
futsal/football clubs while utilising his local knowledge to act
as interpreter and tour guide. The plan is to make this an
annual event for our junior players and to establish
relationships with ‘sister’ clubs in Japan for future mutual
exchange of players.
The tour will be divided up into four components:
(i) Attending a futsal coaching clinic with a professional club;
(ii) Observing training sessions at a professional football club;
(iii) Playing friendly futsal and football games against local
junior teams; and
(iv) Sight-seeing around Tokyo.
Futsal Coaching Clinics and Friendly Games
The proposal is to attend a futsal coaching clinic at either
Fuchu Athletics or Firefox Fuchu Futsal Clubs (Tokyo) to
receive skills and tactical training from professional coaches.
This will also be an opportunity to meet the senior players
from these clubs and to begin building relationships with club
members. We will also play friendly games with local junior
teams.
F-League Games
Futsal as a professional sport is a lot more developed in Japan
compared to Australia. The national F-League is made up of
12 professional clubs from around Japan who compete in the
national league from June to February. Games are played at
large indoor stadiums in front of huge and very vocal crowds.
Our proposed schedule includes attending F-League games in
Tokyo.
Football training sessions and games
Mitsubishi Yowa SC U-18s is a professional sports
organisation catering for a number of sports
including football, tennis, swimming and fencing.
All coaches work full time coaching and educating
Olympic athletes within their own sports complex.
Mitsubishi Yowa recently became J-League
National Youth Football Champions (Adidas Cup)
beating seven J-League youth clubs along the way.
From speaking with Mr. Hiro Ikeda there is strong
interest in forming a relationship with our club
and for our players to have the opportunity to
observe their training sessions and participate in
friendly games with similar level and age teams.
The club is located in close proximity to Fire Fox
Fuchu and Fuchu Athletics Futsal Clubs and a visit
with Mitsubishi Yowa SC would work in nicely with
our proposed schedule.
Sight-seeing in Tokyo
Sufficient time will be factored in to spend time
sight-seeing around Tokyo. This may include
modern and traditional sites within Tokyo city as
well as day trips to attractions outside of Tokyo.
Draft Schedule
 Departing flight Monday 21st September 2015
(first week of school holidays)
 Six days in Tokyo between 22nd and 27th
 Attend futsal coaching clinic and friendly
games, attend football training sessions and
friendly games, attend F-League futsal matches
and sight-seeing (specifics yet to be confirmed)
 Return flight Monday 28th September 2015
Budget
Our objective is to make this trip achievable for most
families by making the budget as affordable as
possible. The budget per player will cover costs only,
profits are not being skimmed. Arana United Futsal
Club will subsidise some of the additional expenses
to help keep costs as low as possible. Costs need to
cover 12 players and two adult supervisors.
*FLIGHTS: A travel agent has provided an early
estimate. QANTAS will be offering direct flights from
Brisbane to Tokyo. Very early estimates indicate that
a return fare will be in the proximity of $1350 per
person (group rate plus travel insurance). There will
be additional costs of obtaining a passport for those
who need one.
*ACCOMMODATION: We are exploring various
accommodation options, either hotel room or
dormitory style.
*MINI BUS: Costs for hiring a mini-bus are being
explored. Includes tour guide and interpreter.
*MEALS: Depending on whether breakfasts are
provided at accommodation and lunches provided by
futsal / football clubs, daily meal budget to be
confirmed.
*SIGHT SEEING COSTS: To be confirmed.
*COACHING CLINICS / F-LEAGUE TICKETS: To be
confirmed.
*TRAVEL SHIRT / PLAYING UNIFORM: $70.
Based on a per-day approximate budget the total
cost per player is expected to be around $3000
(*estimate only subject to confirmation of specific
costs).
Fundraising / Sponsorship
We would be asking that some of the parents form a
fund raising committee to coordinate fund raising
events and attempts to obtain corporate
sponsorship. All funds raised will reduce costs for
parents.
Rationale for tour
The purpose of this tour is to provide a once-in-alife-time opportunity for our junior players to
experience the rich sights, sounds and colourful
culture that Japan has to offer, to meet the local
people and to broaden their futsal and football
knowledge. This is a great opportunity to take
advantage of the contacts we have established
with futsal and football clubs based in Tokyo. By
building these relationships we will be assured of
being well looked after by our hosts and
establishing a long-term partnership.
Most
importantly, the boys will have the time of their
lives.
The purpose of this proposal is to get an indication from parents as to who may be genuinely interested in
allowing their son to participate in this international tour. No commitment is required at this stage. This
proposal is purely to gauge the level of interest. Please reply by email if you are interested in taking up this
opportunity. The tour is open to any male player from Arana United Futsal Club aged 14-16yrs however
spots are limited.
Regards,
Barry McErlean (President)
Arana United Futsal Club
Ph. 0428235870 Email: [email protected]