- I decided to apply to Seiritsu Gakuen as I want to improve my ability to play Football. My goal is to play professionally. The intensity and high level of training in Japan is something I am in need of as it is much higher than what is available in Australia. Seiritsu has a reputation as a school with a great elite program and it would be an honour to be able to train and learn there. When I visited last November, I was very impressed with the training schedule and the work ethic and intensity that is demanded of the players. I thrive in structured, high level sporting environments that push me hard, so I am very excited to start training.
- Some difficulties I will face will be knowing the language, being away from my family and friends, change of diet, different culture, the big jump in training intensity and duration and navigating transportation. Being away from home will probably be the biggest challenge. I plan to chat to my family every day via Facetime and have regular contact with them. My close family friend (Australian) and his Japanese wife are living in Tokyo with their 2 children until July 2018 so I am fortunate to have them close by and willing to help and support me in my first 5 months in Japan. The different diet could cause nutritional deficiency so I plan to take vitamins and supplements and also take a blender to be able to make green smoothies.
- I have been studying Japanese language at school via apps and am attending one on one language classes in order to learn the language to a good level before arriving in Japan. I am booked in to sit the JLPTN5 in December. I am also enrolled to continue my studies with intensive group classes in December. I am engaging in Japanese conversation with a Japanese native who lives in Melbourne once a week via skype so that I can comfortably converse in Japanese once I arrive. Understanding what my coaches and teachers are telling me is something I realise is important for me to master. I have been doing extra fitness training, running 3 kms as a warm up, to prepare for the higher expectations of fitness at Seiritsu. For the past 6 weeks on top of my NPL training sessions, I have been doing an extra training session each week with Alan Davidson’s senior men’s team to raise the intensity and skill level in my game. I have enjoyed playing against grown men! As well as playing in my U16 NPL games each week, I have also often been asked to play for the U18s, meaning I played two games back to back. I played 26 games with the U16s and approx. 21 games with the U18s this season. I also set myself a goal to earn the opportunity to train with the U20s this season. I was fortunate enough to be asked to play with the U20s for their last game of the season! It was such an honour to play 35 mins of that game.
Nutritionally, I have started consuming more rice to gradually adjust my body to the Japanese diet.