On March 19, AC Nagano Parciero Ladies held a boccia tournament in their hometown of Nagano, following their previous WE ACTION DAY. Additionally, two online events were held under the title of "One ACTION" – a YouTube live-streaming event in which WE LEAGUERS shared their experiences of overcoming difficulties, and a talk show to encourage future WE LEAGUERS.
The Enjoy! Boccia Tournament was held at the Toyono Gymnasium in Nagano City, with 19 players from AC Nagano Parciero Ladies – including captain and defender Kyoka Goshima and forward player Megugmi Nakamura from Nagano City, who were divided into three teams. A total of 15 teams – which included the 12 teams that were made up of about 70 local citizens, played a league match with three blocks.
Boccia, which became popular at the Tokyo Paralympics – is a game in which six red balls and six blue balls are thrown at each other, with the player who ends up closest to the white ball earning a point. The attractiveness of this game is that anyone can enjoy competing against each other regardless of their abilities, age or gender.
While the crowd cheered from each block, midfielder Hinako Suzuki's team fought an intense battle with a team from the Nagano Boccia Association. The two teams went back and forth between defender Reina Ikeda making a series of remarkable plays and a participant in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy moving his ball closer to the target ball.
Mr. Sakuya Kobayashi, a 17-year-old who has been playing Boccia since 5th grade, could not hide his enthusiasm saying, "the players were also getting excited, so it was fun to play with them.” The player Kyoka Goshima said, "It has been difficult to have these kinds of opportunities due to COVID-19, so I would like to continue to create opportunities for everyone to get to know each other.”
The boccia tournament was co-hosted by the City of Nagano. Nagano City is promoting "community development centered on sports" and plans to announce its "Collaborative Vision for Hometown Nagano Development" soon. In addition to the AC Nagano men's and women's teams based in the city, the city will work with professional basketball and futsal teams to promote community-based sports through events like this, in addition to their regular games.
Two online events were also held on the same day. In the morning, the "One ACTION! Online Talk Show" streamed live on YouTube under the theme of "Proposing a way of life for women, using the experiences as a football player.”
The talk show was hosted by the forward player, Shiho Tomari, with two other forward players Riko Fujita, Sayaka Mitani and Shino Kunisawa, a midfielder – as the panelists. At the beginning of the talk show, each player presented their life chart, which depicts a single line demonstrating the level of satisfaction at certain stages of their life.
Riko Fujita and Sayaka Mitani's curve showed ups and downs during their slumps and good times while Shino Kunisawa's satisfaction level remained high, and it was a gradual wave that was almost horizontal. Shino Kunisawa calmly commented, "I was not anxious about new challenges," referring to her experience of studying football in the U.S. and transferring to an Italian club team. She continued, "If I go, I can always find a way," as she demonstrated her fearless side.
Riko Fujita's position changed from a defender to a forward. She said that it is important to "think about the meaning of being placed in a position" even if it was not her own decision, so she mentioned that “taking an action to convince myself" was the One ACTION to move forward.
Sayaka Mitani revealed that she has thought about retiring twice. She stated that her One ACTION for the future is to "keep smiling and to maintain a positive attitude.” She added, "it is important to keep smiling even during my difficult times, especially to those who support me.”
Finally, Shiho Tomari asked the audience to post their thoughts on the talk show on social media networks like Twitter, with the hashtag "#_one_action" and encouraged everyone to take an action together.
In the evening, the second online event "Learn from the professional football players!" took place where players conveyed the importance of having dreams, hopes and goals to the junior generation who will lead the next generation. A total of 30 participants joined via ZOOM – including female football players from Saku Chosei High School and FC Saku INTENSA, as well as elementary, middle and high school students.
Natsumi Ikegaya, a goalkeeper in her 9th year, led the talk show while Chise Takizawa, a midfielder from Okaya City, and Megumi Ito, a midfielder from Suwa City, shared various topics around professionalism. In the end, Natsumi Ikegaya, who had been a reserve player for a long time said, "There are things that can change from tomorrow. There are things that can be done from today,” as she impactfully wrapped up the show.
