Indianapolis, IN. On Saturday, October 29th the ABA Shizouka Gymrats visited Soma City, Japan to hold a basketball clinic for kids in a devastated area that was hit not only by a huge tsunami this year but was also affected by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant within about 30 miles. With the cooperation of the local basketball association in Fukushima, 50 kids from elementary to high school joined the clinic conducted by the Gymrats.
To start off the day, T.Okada shared a message from ABA CEO Joe Newman to encourage the kids to overcome the challenges they face. In the clinic itself, coaches, players and staff of the Gmyrats focused on how to improve basketball skills and understanding of tactics as well as sharing their thoughts that wisdom they learn on the basketball court can be applied to live off the court.
Since March 11th, they have not had a lot of opportunities to play sports because buildings and grounds are still recovering from disaster and they also are not so welcomed to lay outside due to possible radiation.
Even though the area they have been living is outside of evacuated districts, kids are forced to stay in the houses. During the clinics, they were running around and chasing the ball with joys and smiles. The Gymrats really appreciated and got encouraged by their energy. After the clinic, the team sat down with one of the teachers who supported the event. He said, “Many of the children here today were living in the school district which is less than 15 miles away from Fukushima Nuke Power Plants. Right now, they fortunately go to different schools, but yet they have only 1 or 2 times to play sports a week since playing outside is currently banned. So, the opportunity like this, playing basketball, one of their favorite sports, simply makes them happy and joyful. However, we are all not sure how long this situation will last. It’s not just about school, but family whose homes were swept away by the tsunami, people surrounded and others, pretty much everyone over here does not know when the better day will come. TV news is not capturing the reality here, but we also react to the news, even which is different from what we see in the reality, we have to collect right information from right sources by ourselves. Even though we capture the fact, there is no way to escape, or even if we could escape, we would not be able to find jobs. Nowadays, girls from elementary to high school
are even raising their voices that they may not be able to give birth in the future.”
From T. Okada, GM of the Shizouka Gymrats. “Joe. After the clinic, we drove around the city and found houses only with a base, a bus flooding on the water and nothing but flat land..seeing these, we could not speak…but a great thing, very positive thing we found in Soma was the people who are trying to take a step (it may be a small one) to reconstruct the city and we could meet kids who love to play their favorite sport, basketball. We know we are not capable enough to contribute lots of ways, but we at least can play basketball and have a great time with them. When we closed the clinic, one of the kids came up to us and said, “it was a lot of fun to play with you all. Please come see us again. Thank you.” The ABA is more than just a game.
For more information and photos, visit www.gymrats.jp or visit www.abalive.com.
