Client case
J.League
Double Pass signed a partnership with the Japanese professional football league (J. League), including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League. The J1 League is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football.
The project was launched in August 2015 at the JFA house in Tokyo. We worked on maximising their player potential, via 3 different services: assessments, education and co-creation. 40 J League 1 and 2 Academies were assessed between October 2015 and December 2016. A post assessment talk in order to clarify and share thoughts about the report and recommendations, was the closing of this cycle.
After 2 representatives of each Academy were educated about the Double Pass talent development frame. Club visits by Double Pass consultants provided the Academies to learn by doing and implement the educated frame work. 1 clear example is the creation of an own Academy football philosophy. In April 2017 14 J league 3 club joined the project, by being assessed and educated.
Altogether Double Pass assessed 54 clubs and the JFA Academy. Each club received a report and came to the JFA House in Tokyo for a post assessment talk. Participants of the post assessment talks: club and academy staff, J.League representatives, Double Pass team (project manager and assessors).
54 Academies, represented by each 2 Academy representative joined the Master Class Academy Management. 40 Academies were visited for six days by 2 Double Pass consultants, ensuring that culture is at the forefront of delivery combined with the Double Pass framework, guarantees that the Japanese football will deliver in its quest for optimising youth player potential in football.
The Master Class J2 & J3 clubs (3/2018 – 12/2018)
After a kick-off of the Master Class Academy Management in March 2018, al Academy Directors of the J2 and J3 league clubs gathered for a second time in Osaka in June 2018. The topics shared during this event were the development of curriculum linked to performance, all connected to the previous first cycle: the Double Pass Football Model. One of many highlights of the Master Class was the interactive session on delivery, which triggered all participants to be highly engaged, communicating and confident to share their ideas amongst each other, all with the aim to raise the level of the Japanese Football. As it has always been a tradition, the Master Class concluded with its famous ‘Kampai’ event where all participants met for dinner network and celebrate in traditional Japanese style, an event enjoyed by all and a real eye opener into the beauty of the Japanese culture.
In September 2018, we organised the third and final workshop of the Master Class Academy Management program for the same few J1 clubs and all J2 and J3 clubs, 35 in total. Besides the difficulties in traveling into the country due to the typhoon, the workshop, which was all about Individual development, was challenging and instructive. The eagerness to evolve and to become 1 of the world leading football nations, inspired the J. League and their clubs to optimize their talent development. The workshop was followed by a demo session on the pitch, which brought the theory alive and demonstrated how to integrate individual development accents within a team training session.
Consulting services in Japan
After a very successful and inspiring first Master Class in Japan, our cooperation with the J.League reached a next level. Currently, all J1-clubs receive individual club consulting in which our team of European consultants together with Yuki and Naomi, visit each club for two consecutive days. Based on the outcome of the earlier performed audit, tailor-made solutions are offered to the clubs’ representatives (e.g. Academy Director, Head of Coaching, Technical Director,…) taking into account the culture and identity of each club.
Besides having interactive discussions with various staff members of the Academy, on-field training sessions with players of the clubs are scheduled as well. Our consultants inspire the clubs by demonstrating the Double Pass philosophy on how to organise and perform game-related training sessions with appropriate age-based coaching. In total, each club will receive three visits by the end of the year.