Our Beach Rugby Club competed in the Beach Rugby Japan Tour 2023 Kanto Tournament organized by the Japan Beach Rugby Association. The competition took place at Shonan Bellmare Hiratsuka Beach Park in Kanagawa Prefecture on July 29 and 30. The Beach Rugby Club was started in 2013 when a group of new hires decided to put a team together to compete in the Kanto Tournament that year. At that time, they practiced on the tennis courts at the company dormitory. It became an official company club in 2015.
Beach rugby is a sport that originated in Japan in 1990. Played five against five, the game is like a mix of rugby and American football.
　Forty-eight teams entered the tournament, including two from JFE Shoji’s rugby club: the Narashino Myanmars, led by Kimaru Mizuto from Sheet & Strip Section No. l, and the Billet Slabs, led by Yuki Nagafuchi of the Machinery & Materials Section. Both teams made it through the first round with flying colors, but the Narashino Myanmars were regrettably eliminated in the second round.
The Billet Slabs conquered their first-round opponents 6-0 before winning the second round in a close match that went to a tiebreaker. In the third round, however, the team was unable to execute as well as they wanted against a strong opponent, losing 20-0. Despite that, the cheering sections for both teams—which had few experienced beach rugby players—went crazy when the two squads made it through the first round.
　This year’s tournament attracted thirty JFE club players and supporters from across the country, including newly hired employees. It was a great opportunity for them to foster relationships beyond the boundaries of their hiring year, department or region through sports.
　Daiki Yamada of the JFE Shoji Legal Department, the player-manager of the Narashino Myanmars, expressed his passion as follows: “Through the practices and training camps leading up to the tournament, I deepened my relationships with my contemporaries as well as seniors and juniors I’ve had few opportunities to interact with. To make it to the nationals next year, I’ll need to build up my stamina first!”