*Information related to faculty members/students and graduate schools at Gifu University here are all that of the time of interviewing.

Joining forces with teammates to contribute to the community while aiming for better results.

1st GIFU UNIV. FESTIVAL U-9
A soccer tournament for elementary school students in the third grade and under, organized by the Gifu University Football Club. Held over two days on Saturday, December 18 and Sunday, December 19, 2021, at Gifu City Northwest Athletic Park, the tournament was attended by 28 teams from Gifu City. In order to hold the tournament, sales activities were conducted and funds for the tournament were raised from four companies: Gifujou Lions Club, Gifu Football Club (FC Gifu), Sankei Company, Ltd., and Chirashiya.com. On the day of the event, all operations, including reception, refereeing, and grounds maintenance, were carried out solely by club members. The second tournament is scheduled to be held in the winter of 2022.

FC Gifu Soccer School held at
the grounds of Gifu University.

In 2020, a contract was agreed
with Sankei Company Ltd. for
sponsorship of uniforms.

A strong desire motivates many people to execute a large-scale soccer tournament.

The Gifu University Soccer Club currently has 25 members, who practice daily with the aim of being promoted to the second division of the Tokai Student Soccer League. In addition, since the 2021 academic year, the club has started community contribution activities under the philosophy of "TSUNAGI (Connections) - Walking Together with Friends and the Community." However, although we had a strong desire to do something that would benefit the local community, we needed time to explore what we could do, and it was difficult to determine the specific details of the activity.

The idea to hold a soccer tournament for third graders and under was born out of consultation with various people both inside and outside of the university. We thought that hosting a soccer tournament would please the children and their parents. The club decided to hold the tournament in December, during the off-season of club competitions, and we began marketing activities to sponsors and preparing to operate the event. Everything was new to us, so we consulted with our advisor, Associate Professor Ueda, as we proceeded. The grass field where FC Gifu usually practices became the venue and as many as 28 teams participated in the event. Furthermore, the mayor of Gifu City visited us on the day of the event, making it a bigger event than we had originally thought. It was hard work to carry out the preparations and to manage the event, and some issues remained, but we were really glad we did it, as we saw the smiling faces of many children, and parents asked us to hold the event again next year. When I was a child, I would participant in things without thinking, but now I understand the feelings and trouble of the people involved in planning and running the event behind the scenes. When I was preparing report materials for the sponsors of the tournament, my parents said to me, "now you know what it means to be an adult, don't you?" I thought from the bottom of my heart, "yes" [laughs].

Gifu University Football Club
IWAGAKI Shin (left)
TOKUNAGA Yudai (middle)
TERAUCHI Hidekazu (right)

Tokunaga, captain of the 2021 school year, and the goalkeeper Terauchi, took the lead in planning a soccer tournament for children. The teamwork off the pitch was excellent, with Iwagaki, the current captain, acting as a bridge for the junior members.

Experience with community service activities also leads to teamwork

In addition to running soccer tournaments, Gifu University has had an agreement with FC Gifu since 2017 and dispatches members of the club as coaches to a soccer school run by FC Gifu. Many of the members of the club are in the Faculty of Education, and we too have a lot to learn from interacting with children.
In addition, since academic year 2020, the team structure has been reviewed and members have been assigned to the "General Affairs Department," "Referee Department," and "Public Relations Department" to ensure systematic management of club activities. By giving each person a role, the goal is to have them take responsibility for their own work and to keep the organization running smoothly. We want to be a team that is flexible in both competition and community service activities.
It is also important for us to achieve good results in the future for our sponsors, who have been helping us with uniforms and in creating a website. We are very grateful for everyone's support and have been told that "supporting students helps improve the image of our company," but we have not been able to meet their expectations in competitions. We believe that our experience in community service activities can be applied to soccer as well, so we would like to take on more and more new challenges and expand the possibilities in both areas even further.

Department of Health and Physical Education,
Faculty of Education, Gifu University
UEDA Shinya Associate Professor

Associate Professor Ueda, who serves as advisor and manager, says, "I think that the management of the soccer tournament and sponsor acquisition activities provided a good opportunity for the club members to experience society before becoming working adults. However, a person will not grow very much just by doing a little, so I hope they will continue their community service activities to improve their teamwork and competitiveness as well as their human skills."