The Unconventional Path to the Olympics: Inside SC Karuizawa Club Women’s Curling Team

“I’ve only seen the Olympics on TV, but I want to stand on that wonderful stage too and play in a way that gives everyone courage,” says Yui Ueno (22) from SC Karuizawa Club, the champion of the 2024 Curling Japan Championship.

Japan, which is becoming one of the world’s leading curling nations, sees SC Karuizawa as a unique team.

While strong teams like Loco Solare, led by skip Satsuki Fujisawa (33), who won medals in both the PyeongChang and Beijing Olympics, and Fortius, the 2025 Japan Championship champions with skip Sayaka Yoshimura (33), are made up of experienced members in their 30s, SC Karuizawa consists of 22-year-old Yuu Ueno, her 24-year-old sister Miyu Ueno, 23-year-old Asuka Kanai, and 44-year-old Junko Nishimuro.

Unlike the golden generation born in 1991 like Fujisawa, this team doesn’t have any players in their 30s. Moreover, the team, which started in 2023, won the Japan Championship just a year later.

“As we were a newly formed team, it was a season full of trial and error, but at the same time, we had momentum, and I think the best result came from having good conditions and luck,” says Kanai modestly.

However, the two-year-old team still faces many challenges. In fact, at this year’s Japan Championship, they didn’t even make it to the final league, being eliminated in the first round. Miyu, who serves as the team’s skip, comments,

“This year was a season where we worked together to improve our individual skills, but on the other hand, we couldn’t make our individual techniques work as a team. Also, we struggled to share and adapt to the changing ice conditions during the matches, often repeating the same mistakes and allowing large deficits. It wasn’t about technique; it was the difficulty of communication that became apparent during the competition.

On the other hand, ‘Loco Solare’ has excellent communication. They immediately convey any changes in the ice conditions after a single missed shot and make quick adjustments. At major tournaments, microphones are set up at the venue, so we can listen to other teams’ conversations. We learn a lot from them.”

In the March 21 issue of FRIDAY April 4 & 11, and the premium version FRIDAY GOLD, you can read more about the rivalry between the Ueno sisters and how anime serves as a common language to unite the team.

For more details and several photos, click here↓

For more details and multiple photos, click here↓.

From the April 4/11, 2025 issue of ”FRIDAY”