Volleyball-filled day

I went to Omura city this morning to watch the girl's volleyball game. It was held in the very large Omura Shihato centaa. The girls were playing against the Iki team.

The girls volleyball club has close to 30 members, so they had a large group (made up mostly of 1st year students, and a few 2nd year students) cheering in the bleachers.

The girls won both matches! So they've qualified for the next round of games which will being held tomorrow.

When a game finishes, the team members will go the opposite team's coach, make a half circle around them, then all bow saying 'arigato gozaimashita' (thank you-polite).

From Omura, I then went to see the boy's volleyball team. Because the game was held at Seiryo, there were lots of people cheering for them. The whole baseball team showed up in their baseball attire, the girls' volleyball team, the Kikitsu junior high school volleyball team (hoping to enter Seiryo next year), many parents, Seiryo teachers and Seiryo students. The noise was deafening!!

The schools in Japan have only one sports team per school, as oppose to having 2 or 3 teams depending on the students grade (ie grade 9-midget, grade10/11 junior, grade 12-senior). So the team will be made up of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students. There is a lot of emphasis put on learning from your elders (not that the 3rd year students are THAT old..). The older students are the models for the younger students, and really take it to heart. The younger students show a lot of respect to the older students. I think it prepares them for life in Japanese society, where the idea of 'sempai' is very strong.

The result of having teams made up of all grades is that 1st year students generally don't play in any of the games, but rather practice as hard as they can everyday after school and try to become as good as their sempais. It is very unusual to have a first year student play during the kosotai.

The boy's volleyball team didn't have many 2nd year students who joined last year, so once the 3rd year students from last year graduated, there were few members. They ended up having 2 out of the 6 players be 1st year students! There's a big difference between 15 and 18 year olds, especially for boys.

They lost the first match, but then won the second match 23-25. Throughout the 3rd game, the score was even, and Seiryo ended up winning 22-25! It was such an exciting game to watch!!

When the game ended, the team members lined up infront of the bleachers facing us, then all bowed and yelled 'arigato gozaimashita'. Then they run to the other side (where the students were all cheering) and do the same. And then the opposite side of the bleachers.

I came home and got ready for my volleyball practice.

Today was all about volleyball...!