Soccer Tournament

This past weekend I took part in the Western JET Soccer Tournament held on Awajishima (Island). This large event involves many JETs from the western part of Japan that come together to battle it out on the soccer pitch. There is also a tournament for eastern Japan. The winner of the two tournaments meet in Tokyo (or Saitama) to play for the title "Champion of Champions". About 350 people and 20 teams were able to come to this island, Yamaguchi-ken supplying 2 teams. We may be a small ken but we were able to bring 2 teams, how impressive! Upon arriving I realize this is a Men's tournament, which plays a large part in the result of our weekend (we had the only 2 teams with girls!).

I will start from the beginning of the story and try not to spare you any details (other than all the good gossip dirt due to possible readers of this blog). Friday night we left Yamaguchi City and headed for Tokuyama in our 4 rental vans to pick up the rest of the troupes. In total we had 32 people come from Yamaguchi-ken, 4 of the people being supporters. After a late start we were finally on the road to Awaji. We left at 8:30pm only to arrive at 2am. I had the last leg of the driving shift so needless to say, I was exhausted. We all pretty much went to bed after arriving. The next day we woke up and had a Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup, pickles and a hard boiled egg. I think I would have rather had pancakes (Rosie/Christine style). We headed down to the grounds which just happen to be the practice grounds for the 2002 England team when they were playing here in the World Cup. Yes, I played on the same pitch as David Beckham and many other soccer greats. As I mentioned above we were just about the only team with girls so our statistics are nothing to brag about. We played Kagawa first who have a new team but somehow managed to beat us pretty good. I think I was on the worse of the 2 Yamaguchi teams, minus a few all-star players: Jeremy (our marine addition), Jimmy (such a great coach!), John (our big bad goal scorer- I think we had about 2 or 3 all weekend), Dan (super keeper), and Crystal (the fearless). I tried to make friends with whoever I was defending because really, I am a joke compared the them. I would try to defend them by jumping in front of them or talking to them while they were trying to score a goal. The next team we played was Mie who had just beaten last years "Champion of Champions". Right, we had a chance! They were so serious at first, I was amazed. It actually made me mad how serious they were while playing us. I started to develop an animosity towards the team and when one of them ran me over I was really mad. A few seconds later he profusely apologized for running me down, so the hatred went away and I was actually rooting for them to win the tournament. Finally we played Osaka who is another really good team and we were all tiring out. This is when the supporters played a crucial role. We were the only team with supporters as well, so Yamaguchi definitely brought the party. They were equipped with homemade T-shirts, pompoms and music (some selections being MC Hammers "You can't touch this", "Livin on a Prayer" and ironically " We are the Champions". Whenever the other team would score a goal they would scream louder and louder for us, it pumped us up so much. I was truly happy these girls made the journey.

After the games we headed back to our ryokan (hotel) for the evenings festivities. We grabbed a beer and a shower and went to dinner. Japanese usual cuisine, sashimi, egg custard soup, tempura, soup, rice etc. Afterwards we did a little pregaming and played a drinking game. Gotta love the kind of games that reveal all about people you are just beginning to know. Then off to the bar we went. There was drinking, and dancing and many other things going on. I was happy to see a familiar face from my Chicago orientation and flight to Japan. Many stories, many inappropriate stories, so if you feel you are entitled to know, please email me.

Ok, so Sunday, our final day of footballing. There were definitely a few very hungover people running around on the field (this girl included). I can't remember who we played but I defended an aussie named Andrew and I talked his ear off the whole game. Then the minute I got off the field I found myself some shade and took a nap. Our other team was lucky enough to win their final match! They would have moved on in the tournament but we were raring to get home so we ate our curry rice and left. We stopped at an onsen (spa) before we went home so that was quite refreshing. We left at about 2pm and I arrived at my house at 10pm, so it was a long day, to say the least. If you would like to read the news article written about us (yes the losingest team and Fukuoka the winningest team, are the only two teams featured) here is the website: http://http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/specials/0410/1018alt.html