Ibaraki Robots is pleased to announce that we have launched “M-HOPE Player’s Action with K,” led by #18 Keitaro Oba, as part of the “M-HOPE” community contribution activity we work with supporting companies. With the desire to interact with small children who cannot go to games, we visited children’s homes in Ibaraki Prefecture and interacted with the children there, mainly preschoolers.
M-HOPE Player’s Action with Kei
“If I hadn’t become a basketball player, I would have become a childcare worker.”
#18 Oba has many cousins and had many opportunities to interact with small children from an early age.
While taking on the role of a caretaker, her dream for the future was to work with children, and if she hadn’t followed the path of becoming a basketball player, she would have liked to have become a childcare worker. This project was started from this background of mine.
In addition, #18 Oba met and interacted with professional basketball players when he was young, and it seems that he was left with an impression of how much courage he gave him back then.
Now that I am a professional basketball player myself, I decided to do this activity in hopes of being in a position where I can be given the courage that I received.
(Meeting after practice)
There are children who have difficulty coming to watch games.
M-HOPE faced several challenges while inviting children from orphanages in Ibaraki Prefecture.
One of these is the difficulty of allowing preschool children to watch the games on-site.
- Preschool children must be accompanied by one staff member for every two children.
- Difficult to sit and watch the game for long periods of time
- Due to this, there is a limit to the availability of staff.
We have received a variety of inquiries from the facilities listed above. When I conveyed this situation to #18 Oba, he said, “I would like to go to the facility directly and interact with the children.I would be happy if I could help them get to know the Ibaraki Robots and become interested in basketball.” So, this project was born and the activities were carried out.
Activities
First of all, we received a greeting from Isozaki, director of the children’s care facility Ishizaki Gakuen, which we visited this time.
Afterwards, the children introduced themselves.
Eleven children ranging from preschoolers to third graders introduced themselves to #18 Oba one by one, even though they were nervous.
After the greetings, two picture books selected by #18 Oba were read aloud.
We carefully considered the message the picture book conveys and chose the books while thinking about what we wanted to convey to children.
#18 Mr. Oba was also nervous at first, but he seemed to loosen up after spending time with the children.
After reading the picture book, we all did origami together.
#18 Mr. Oba deepened his interaction with the children while teaching them how to fold.
While learning origami from the staff, we folded medals and Pakkuncho together with the children.
#18 There was also a scene where Oba was taught origami by children.
After origami, we played hula hoop basketball with the children.
We designed a fun way to play basketball using a small ball and a hula hoop.
The children learned about shooting, passing, and dribbling from Oba and had a chance to try out basketball.
“Let’s make rice balls.” It was impressive to see him gently telling the children how to hold the ball.
Finally, #18 Oba signed the picture book he had read to the children and presented them to the children.
#18 Keitaro Oba comment
My father is one of four siblings, so I grew up with a lot of cousins.
Since I was in elementary school, I often worked with small children, and I naturally fell in love with it.
If I couldn’t become a professional basketball player, my dream was to become a childcare worker, so I went to university with the idea of getting certified as a childcare worker.
I had a lot of fun interacting with the children today, and seeing them playing happily makes me feel like I have to do my best as well.
I think it will have a positive impact on my play. I would like to continue these activities.
Comment from Tomohiro Isozaki, Director of Ishizaki Gakuen Children’s Care Facility
I think it is a very valuable experience for the children to be able to interact with professional basketball players like this, and I think they will remember this day forever.
The children seemed very nervous at first, but by the end they were relaxing and playing with #18 Oba.
I am grateful that you took the time even though it was during the season, and I hope that today’s project was a time for refreshment for #18 Ohba.
I’m really thankful to you.
2024-03-21 13:52:02
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