In the National U15 Basketball Championship (Jr. Winter Cup, 4th to 8th, Musashino Forest General Sports Plaza, Tokyo), Niigata Prefecture teams will play TOYANO GOLDEN G・O・A・T (first time) for the boys and Niigata Seishin Maijuu (first time) for the girls. This will be his second time in two tournaments).
In the first round on the 4th, TOYANO played against adorare (Wakayama) and Niigata Seishin Maijuu played against KD PIRANHANS (Gunma). Their goal is to win the national championship. First, get through the first round and use the momentum to aim for the top.
[TOYANO GOLDEN G・O・A・T]Captain Kaito Sato (3rd year at Toyanono Junior High School) expressed his confidence. “His goal is to win the national championship. Even after winning the prefectural tournament, everyone has been practicing hard and his voice is stronger than ever.” All five members are 180 cm tall and have plenty of exercise. “I think this is a team that opponents won’t like,” said coach Kotaro Yonemoto (42, Toriya Nonaka teacher), speaking of the team’s quality of finishing.
In the practice match just before, they played against Hokuetsu High School. They played five half games in two days against the BOMBERS, who played in overtime in the November prefectural tournament final. He was conscious of attacking and defending the ball against high school players, and received feedback from his rivals who competed for the national team.
A club team formed in the fall of 2022. Athletes will gather from 10 schools across Niigata Prefecture. The training base is Toriyanonaka in Niigata City. All members, including members from far-flung places such as Nagaoka and Shibata, participate in almost every practice four or five days a week. Many of them know each other, including colleagues who participated in the prefectural selection in mini-basketball, and they have a strong bond based on mutual recognition of their abilities. “We will win by playing our basketball,” said captain Sato. He is enthusiastic about his first appearance on the national stage.
[Niigata Seishin Maid]I checked the detailed movements of offense and defense until just before the tournament. One of the co-captains, Marin Koike (3rd year), said, “We’ve been conscious of the obvious things like speaking out during practice.”
They had a practice match against Fukushima Koriyama Junior High School, which placed third in last year’s National Junior High School, and Iwate’s Morioka Shirayuri Gakuen Junior High School, which ranked in the top eight. He improved his switching speed between offense and defense and his rebounding skills. Another co-captain, Sakuyaka Kobayashi (3rd year), says, “I will use my body to get rebounds.”
Coach Kazufumi Sakamoto (43) said, “The level of individual ability is higher than it was two tournaments ago,” and feels the team’s strength is greater than the last time they participated. Last summer, he lost in the semi-finals of the All-Chu Hokushinetsu Preliminary Tournament and missed out on participating in the All-Chuu Hokushinetsu Preliminary. The team used the frustration as a springboard to improve their play, which led to them competing in the national team this winter.
Last time, we lost the first match. Koike, who was on the bench, said the key point was, “Both players on the bench and on the court should raise their voices and get excited.” Kobayashi was strong and said, “Obviously my goal is to win.”
2024-01-03 11:58:17
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