Go Sumikawa!

The last three Saturdays have seen us at different primary schools in Sapporo as Calum's football team, Sumikawa JFC, advanced through the stages of the All Sapporo Under 10 Futsal Tournament. Today they had reached the semi-finals and an impressive 3-0 victory saw them line up in the final against Consadole, one of the boys' teams attached to the pro club from Sapporo. They could not cope with the speed and skill of their opponents but it was certainly a worthy achievement just to reach the final. Parents cheered the team on from the sidelines - the mothers get particularly excited, one or two even get quite hysterical! It's quite interesting watching some of the dynamics. The refereeing is very strict - the rules are applied absolutely to the book! Sometimes it's hard to follow what rule is actually being applied. The team which lost the other semi-final after a very long penalty shoot-out was quite distraught. Their goalkeeper even ended up in tears in the middle of the penalties after he missed one and he of course had to keep going in his teary-eyed state. There is often a deep sense of personal responsibility for letting down the team. As for Sumikawa, well they were happy just to get their silver medals. We're all looking forward to the next tournament in March.