The Japan American Football Association (JAFA) has appointed TAKAO YAMAZAKI, the current head coach at Osaka Sangyo University Junior & Senior High School, as head coach of the Japanese under-19 Junior National Team.
Yamazaki will lead Japan at the second annual 2009 Global Challenge Bowl to be played at Kawasaki Stadium near Tokyo on Saturday, March 21, 2009 (kickoff 2pm), when Japan will face Team Stars & Stripes, a visiting American all-star team.
The 45-man roster of American student-athletes will be coached by Santa Rita High School (Tucson, AZ) head coach and three-time Arizona state champion JEFF SCURRAN and is represented by high school seniors from 11 states, with some roster spots still to be announced. Texas-based Global Football will again organize the team’s visit to Japan from March 13 to 23, 2009.
Yamazaki led his Osaka team to the Christmas Bowl in 2008 and won the Japanese high school championship for the second consecutive year. He became head coach of the Fighting Angels (then known as the Golden Angels) when American football was first established at Osaka Sangyo University Junior & Senior High School and reached the national high school American football championship game within two years.
Yamazaki and the Fighting Angels won the championship game four years in succession from 1999 to 2002 and added to that success from 2006 to 2008, winning an impressive seven out of ten championship games.
“JAFA took great care to select the best possible head coach because the historic summer tournament marks football’s first IFAF world championship among high school-aged national teams,” said SHINZO YAMADA, general manager of Team Japan. “We considered coaches not only from universities but also from high schools. As a result, we asked an excellent coach who is a true leader among high school football in Japan.”
Team Japan will select the remainder of its coaching staff from Japanese college football teams and has already held its first tryout for players in Kanto and Kansai. A second player tryout is scheduled for Sunday, February 22, at Nihon University. The players selected will take part in a training camp at Ritsumeikan University from February 27 to March 4 before taking part in the second annual Global Challenge Bowl in Kawasaki.
Yamazaki will also lead Japan at the inaugural 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship to be played in Canton, Ohio from June 27 to July 5. Japan will be among an eight team, four-continent field that includes USA, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, New Zealand and either Mexico or Panama competing at Fawcett Stadium at the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.
