So this weekend was the weekend of the All Japan ALT Football Tournament in Nagano. Unfortunately they called it "Soccer" but I still knew what they were on about. My prefecture sent down a girls and a boys team, both under the name of Fukushima Akebekos. Fukushima is the name of my prefecture, and Akebekos means Red Bulls. According to prefectual legend, there was a period where food was very sparse in the area and farming was very tough. Apparently when many of the other cows and bulls died, there was one Red Bull that survived and helped bring prosperity back to the region. So the Red Bull or Akabeko has become the symbol of the prefecture, and represents health and prosperity. It is also a traditional gift to give someone who has a baby, to wish good luck and a happy and full life! So it seemed like a very appropriate name to christen our team with!
What our team lacked in quality we certainly made up for in quantity and enthusiasm of participants. About 50 ALTs went down in total and the coach ride down turned out to be the start of the enjoyment! After work on Friday I set off for my nearest city Aizuwakamtsu (About 2 hours from my apartment) Wakamatsu was the last and closest pick up point that I could board the team coach. It was a long ride down to Nagano, about 4 hours, and many of the other JETs had already been on the coach for an hour or 2, but being the resourceful JETs that we are we made the most of it. It was quite a rowdy ride, we had all stocked up with a bit of alcohol to pass the time, although this also had the consequence of people needing regular toilet breaks which made the journey even longer. Still it was a good way for a bit of team bonding as we had only managed to get one practice in before the event and less than half of us were able to make that.
So we turned up to the Ryokan (Japanese Style Hotel) at about 2 in the morning. We all checked in and went to our rooms for some much needed rest. In these more traditional Japanese hotels the rooms are usually pretty big and empty, with tatami mats on the floor. You generally share with quite a few people and just sleep on futons that you prepare yourself. The next morning we got up about 8ish, had breakfast in a big communal dinning area, where there were many other teams. I bumped into a few people that I had met at my pre-departure orientation in Edinburgh. And there was definitely a bit of inter-prefecture rivalry going on!
We headed out to some of the best pitches I've ever played on. Perfectly flat and grass like carpets and they were also set in the picturesque mountains with some amazing views all around. We started the tournament reasonably well. I started the first game in my usual midfield general role. Although the standard wasn't the highest, as very few of the teams had been able to arrange much training, there were a few signs that our team could play quite well together given a bit of time! Unfortunately though, with the number of people that we had bought down, we found it difficult to get everyone a decent amount of playing time. This meant there were a lot of changes (It was rolling substitutes) and it was tough for the team to really gel with the lack of consistency. Still we drew our first game 0-0 with supposedly one of the better teams. It went down to penalties and after a bit of nail biting we emerged victorious 4-3, thanks to some level headed penalties and some spectacular saves by our giant keeper (About 6ft 6) and Fujet President Morty. Unfortunately I had come off shortly before the end of the game so wasn't able to take a penalty, but probably best given the outcome! We won the next game 2 - 0 in a physical encounter, and we were looking to go from strength to strength. However the in the 3rd game of the day we came up against a strong team (one of the few that actually played together regularly) We let an early sloppy goal in from a corner, that really should have been cleared. But the team didn't get down and we drew level thanks to a 30 yard rocket from our very own Micro-Aussie Anu. Unfortunately despite some desperate defending from the team and a heroic last ditch tackle from my good self, the pressure eventually paid dividends for our opponents and they scored the winner with just a few minutes left. We later found out that this team made it to the final, so it was not really a bad effort from us! Despite this bit of disappointment at the end, we finished the day with 1 draw (win on penalties) 1 win and 1 loss. This meant we progressed to the next stage of the tournament, which was to be the next day.
Me making an athletic sprint for the ball
The Team Spirit of The Akebekos
Some of the Female Akebekos
Before the next day of the tournament, there was some serious partying to be done. All the teams got together in the hotel, and there were a couple of DJ's spinning till the early hours. The Fukushima Akebekos started the night with some good ol' drinking games, and it was pretty messy from then on in! Needless to say I was pretty bladdered by the end of the night but good fun was had by all!
Some of us Fujets enjoying the party!
Me and Emily gining it the Peace Fingers
Brent, Me Meredith and Emily all looking a little worse for wear!
We had to get up at 8 again the next morning, I had only gone to sleep a few hours before with a belly full of alcohol, so I missed breakfast and was not exactly feeling too pretty. We headed out for our second round game, quite confident that we would get the better of a team that only just had the numbers for a full team.
We decided to make sure everyone got a fair amount of playing time so we started with everyone who had played the least up until that point. It was the first game I hadn't started but to be honest I was not in the greatest shape to be much use anyway. It turned out we were a little over confident and despite bringing on some of our stronger players in the second half we lost in a scrappy game 1-0 and went crashing out of the competition! I could put it down to me not playing in the final game but I had spent the whole time sleeping on the sidelines so I'm not sure I would've really been any help! It was definitely a disappointment not have got a bit further but in the end it was perhaps a blessing in disguise as it meant we were able to leave a bit earlier and get home at a reasonable time.
We had a free curry outside in the beautiful scenery before setting off about 2:00pm. There was a bit of a problem with the coach on the way back and I didn't end up getting home till nearly 10:00pm. It had been a very long and tiring weekend, but it was great fun. I'm definitely going to go on the next football tournament and hopefully we can have a little more success on the pitch, but just as much fun off it!
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