At the Winter Cup at the end of the year, Osaka Kunei Girls’ Academy won in spectacular fashion, defeating Kyoto Seika Gakuen in the semifinals and Ohka Gakuen in the final, making it their first national championship. Coach Kaori Ando, who has been leading Kaoru for 11 years, was surprised by the response, but she is looking forward to the challenge of 2026 with increased confidence in what she has accomplished. The day after the Winter Cup ended, he already had a practice match with his new team, and when he returned to Osaka and finally took a breather, we asked him to talk about how it felt to win the Winter Cup and his aspirations for 2026.
2026 Inter-High will be held in Osaka “I want to respond to your wishes”
──Congratulations on winning the Winter Cup. When you actually achieved your goal of winning the national championship, what was the biggest difference from what you imagined?
The most important thing is that Kaoru is exposed so much in the media and on SNS. I was surprised and grateful to have received so many blessings from so many people.
──Up until now, we have created a good team and participated in the Winter Cup every year. Was there anything different about this year’s team?
There was always a “slightly uneasy position”, but this year it was filled. Last year, Rio Matoba was able to score points, but his defense and rebounding were weak, so they brought in Yukio Hosozawa to fill that gap. In that case, No. 3 would not have enough points, so Moe Iwai, who came later, would score. Even so, I was worried that neither Matoba nor Hosozawa would be able to capture the ball when the zone was set up.
This year, first-year student Yoshiko Otsuki came on board, moving Hosozawa to No. 4, and just as things were resolved, Otoha Hara took off. With Hara now number 3, the instability in the starting lineup has been resolved, and the 3-point shots of Remi Hatade, Rion Matsumoto, and Otsuki have become our weapons, and we are more confident than ever that we can score with 3-point shots including Momo Sugiyama.
The other strength is Mirai Miwa, but up until now they have had trouble with fouls, and even when Miwa is not present, Yuube Imai is able to provide solid support. In fact, in the match against Kyoto Seika, without Miwa, my balance was better and I was able to push through.
In that sense, I have never felt so anxious about positional balance. Also, up until now we had to play six games with five or six players, but this year we have calculated that we can use about 10 players properly. That’s thanks to the U18 Nissin Foods Block League. The ability to use a large number of people and support various types of teams was an unprecedented strength.
──It was also great that you were able to play six games without getting injured. Were your injury measures the same as last year?
It’s the same. I think we rarely have our main players out due to injury. This year as well, Hatade had a sprain at Inter-High and Hosozawa had a strained back. Throughout the Osaka preliminaries, Block League, and Winter Cup, I keep telling myself not to get injured. It’s really sad that it ended with an injury.
I also go to college, so no matter what I do, I can’t stick to my high school all day long. After I work hard as a high school student for half a day, I work hard as a college student for the rest of the day, so from the players’ perspective, I’m away for a long time. In the meantime, I practiced on my own, had video meetings, and took care of myself. I’m exhausted watching the two teams, but I think the players did a good job of making effective use of the short time they had.
“I’m good at winning one-shot matches without being marked.”
──You mentioned that it was thanks to the block league, but as of September, the players, including captain Hatade, were feeling quite frustrated about not being able to play in the top league. How did you react to moving to the block league instead of the top league?
Participation in the Top League is based on a point system, and if you win the Kinki Block tournament, you are guaranteed a certain degree, but if you don’t win, you will have zero points, and you will need to be in the top four at the Inter-High. I think the players and their parents were like, “We were competing against Kyoto Seika, so why?” but I understood the system, so I was convinced.
It seems that the players are envious of being able to appear on the prestigious stage of the top league and be in the spotlight. Hatade likes to stand out (lol). For the other kids, Hatade and Miwa were usually called out during the interviews after the Winter Cup games, and there were times when they were disappointed, saying, “They played against us again.” I think the players felt frustrated that their peers were getting so much attention, and they used that feeling to gain strength.
──Coach Ando, did you not feel much regret at not being able to play in the top league?
I don’t like to stand out, and I’m the type of person who wants to be left alone (lol). In the top league, you can play a lot of high-level matches, but you still want to win, so you have to give everything you have. This was also the case in 2018, when we were runners-up, but I think we are good at winning tournaments with no marks and only one shot, and we think it would be better if we didn’t have the data to get there in the first round, where we only won once out of 10 times.
This year’s team also beat Gifu Girls in the spring, competed against Kyoto Seika Gakuen in the Kinki Block Tournament, and I think they could have beaten Ohka Gakuen at Inter-High if it wasn’t for Hosozawa’s strained back, so we are by no means weak in this year’s crowded situation where no one team is missing out. We had gathered a lot of strength in the block league, and in order to win the final Winter Cup, I thought it would be better not to attract attention. On the contrary, the players turned their inability to play in the top league into energy. There may be some areas where the two mesh well together.
──Coach Ando previously said, “I’m aiming to be the best in Japan, but I don’t feel like I absolutely have to be the best in Japan. I’m aiming to be the best in Japan, and how far can I grow from that goal?” Even if you become number one in Japan, will this idea change?
I don’t think that will change. Matsumoto said, “Next year we want to win two in a row,” and the players are fine with that. I will continue to do the same thing next year, and whether I win or not, I will still aim to be the best in Japan.
There are times when everything goes well, but there are still injuries, there are referee’s whistles, there are international students who might attack us, there are times when we miss a 3-point shot, and there are times when we win and times when we don’t. So not much will change, but if there is one thing that will change, it will be the addition of the phrase, “If we do things well, we can become number one in Japan.”
Up until now, we have never been number one in Japan, so we have been saying that we can become number one in Japan by continuing to overcome our own barriers, but from now on, we can tell our players with confidence that, “If we do this properly, we can become number one in Japan.” Other than that, it’s the same as usual.
“Be confident in yourself for working hard during the three years of high school.”
— You’ve been at Kunuei for 11 years, and there are many alumni, including players you coached before that. How do you feel about the results in terms of “to what extent can we grow as we aim to be number one in Japan?”
We don’t have any special players who are winning, so I don’t think it will be that easy to go from here to the W League and be successful. That’s why I tell the kids who decide to go to W, “There’s nothing happier than being able to make a living playing basketball.” I want Nodoka Kumagai and Hoka Nakae, who are in their final seasons in college, and Miwa, who is in high school, to play an active role in the W-League, and I hope they carry the Japanese flag on their backs in the future.
However, that may be one of the achievements, but since the time in Teshima, everyone has come to me because they love basketball, and after three years, they have continued to love basketball the same way and continue playing basketball in the next place. That’s one of the things that makes me feel good. Also, although the abilities of the players vary, they often become captains wherever they go, and even if they are not active, the teachers often say, “Kunue’s child is a great person.”
The children who met me may be unreasonable in their respective places, but I’m really happy that they are working hard there and still supporting Kaoru. They often come to see us, and this time we receive so many messages of congratulations for becoming number one in Japan, and we feel that it’s a great asset to have them say, “We’re proud of them too.”
──After winning, I was flooded with messages from various people, and I think many of them were from my former students. What is the maximum number of unread items?
That’s about 350 (laughs). Even if it says “No reply required,” I still want to reply, so I reply when I find time, and I don’t have to sleep on the Shinkansen back to Osaka (lol).
We always hold an OG party on January 3rd, and not only Kunei but also children from Toshima come. After getting a job and becoming a new mother, some children bring their children to the school, and the children that fill the two gymnasiums come together and say, “I’m so glad I had you teach me.” There aren’t that many special kids in my family, but the fact that everyone is living happily and having confidence in themselves for working hard during their three years of high school is the greatest reward for what I’ve done.
“I’m sorry if I lost, I’ll try harder next time (lol)”
──Coach Ando was entrusted with the responsibility of the late coach Shunichi Nagatari, and I think it must have been difficult for him to lead the team, even though he was from a prestigious school. I think the support from Coach Nagato’s wife, Yuko, who watches the team with him as an assistant coach, was also great.
If it weren’t for Yuko-san, our club activities wouldn’t be able to perform at this level at all. Even if Yuko won, she wouldn’t be included in the team’s commemorative photo. When that time comes, it just disappears somewhere (lol). During the filming of the last movie, “Last Meeting,” I asked him to do it just for this one time, and he finally let me in.
When I came to Kunuei, the dormitory wasn’t very functional, but Yuko-san changed it even though it meant her burden would be about five times as much. Yuko-san works in the school’s accounting department, so she has her own job as well. Yuko-san takes care of all the dormitory accommodations, train and hotel arrangements, and financial settlements, while I concentrate on school work and teaching at high school and university. For me, the MVP of this victory was Yuko.
──You can only take a little time during the year-end and New Year holidays, and the new team will start working soon. 2026 is the year of Osaka Inter-High. What do you think about the significance of winning at a local tournament?
The 2006 and 2009 Inter-High School tournaments were held in Osaka, and in 2006 I had just arrived at Toshima High School and was working at the headquarters doing various jobs. 2009 was around the time when the team entered the Kinki Tournament, and while I was in charge of the competition review, I saw Tokyo Seitoku University at the practice venue when they won runner-up and thought, “Wow, that’s amazing,” and I was participating in the inter-high school as a member of the high school athletics federation that was building the tournament.
For the 2026 Osaka Inter-High, my position has changed and I am now a standing committee member and a technical committee member, and I also have work to do with the association, so I can see more of the preparations for the tournament than ever before. Having participated in Inter-High School in various capacities, I have come to understand that all kinds of teachers put a lot of effort into making the event possible. I receive encouragement from many places to “do my best” and “win”, and I feel pressured to do so, but I have a strong desire to live up to that feeling.
I don’t think anything would be so great if we could win the Osaka Inter-High Championship, but just like this time, we have to do everything well to win, so I’m thinking, “I’m sorry if we lose, but I’ll try harder next time” (lol). However, I still feel particularly motivated. We were able to win this time, and the underclassmen remain. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often, so we’ll all do our best and aim for victory.
