Curling SC Karuizawa Club Women’s Curling Championships! The “Sweep is our special move!”

In September, they will challenge “Loco Solare” and “Fortius” for the Olympics representative round!

I have only seen the Olympics through TV, but I want to stand on that wonderful stage and play in a way that will give courage to everyone.

The one who spoke to the FRIDAY reporter with eyes brimming with determination was Yui Ueno, 22, of the SC Karuizawa Club women’s team that won the Japan Curling Championships in 2012.

SC Karuizawa is unique in Japan, which is now one of the world’s leading curling nations.

The team is led by skip Itsuki Fujisawa (33), who has won medals at two consecutive Olympics in PyeongChang and Beijing with her outstanding teamwork, and the experienced “Loco Solare,” which has skip Sayaka Yoshimura (33), who is the same age as Fujisawa and is the 2013 Japanese champion “Fortius,” with her. While “SC Karuizawa” consists mainly of experienced skaters in their 30s, the four members are Yusei Ueno, his sister Miyu Ueno (24), Asuka Kanai (23), and Junko Nishimuro (44).

There is not even a player in his 30s, let alone a “golden generation” born in 1991 such as Fujisawa. In addition, the team won the Japanese championship just one year after it was formed in 1923.

We had just formed, so it was a season of trial and error, but on the other hand, we had momentum, and I think we got the best results because we were in good shape and had good luck,” Kanai said humbly.

As Kanai humbly states, the team, which has only been in existence for two years, has a lot of work to do. In fact, at this year’s Japan Championships, the team did not even make it to the final league, losing in the first round. Miyu, who is in charge of the skip, the team’s command post, says, “This past year, all the members have been working on their skills.

We had a season in which all the members worked together to improve their skills, but on the other hand, we couldn’t make our individual skills work as a team. Also, we couldn’t share our responses to the ever-changing ice during the game, and there were many cases where we repeatedly made the same mistakes and conceded a lot of goals. This competition made me keenly aware of the difficulty of communication rather than technique.

In this respect, “Loco Solare” is a very good communicator. They immediately communicate changes in the ice conditions that they sense from a single mistake to their fellow players, and correct them immediately. At big tournaments, microphones are set up at the venue so you can hear what other teams are talking about. We learn a lot from them.

Anime” is the common language of the team members, whose ages are far apart.

Although there are some issues with communication during games, the team members have a strong bond with each other. The day I visited the team for an interview, the ice was filled with the sound of their friendly voices. Nishimuro, the oldest member of the team with a 22-year age difference from Yusei, the youngest, said, “Even though we are older, we are all very close.

Although we are far apart in age, everyone says to me, ‘That doesn’t matter! I don’t mind it either. I don’t mind it. Just because I am the oldest doesn’t mean that I am the leader. Since I joined the team, I have subscribed to the subscriber program and started watching anime that everyone recommended.

Recently, Yusei told me, “Kingdom is really interesting! I am planning to watch it all at once on my next long trip to Japan. I also incorporate the calls of the characters from the anime into my practice. It’s a common language that transcends generations.

I don’t want to lose to my sister!” Sisters who are rivals

Miyu and Yusei are also close sisters off the ice. Even so, it seems that they are still conscious of each other. Yusei says, “I don’t want to be your ‘big sister’ during the game.

When I am playing, I treat her as a “Miyu Ueno” player, not as a “big sister. But since we are family, I don’t want people to think that my sister is not as good as me, and I never want to lose to her!

Hearing her sister’s “rivalry declaration,” Miyu says with a wry smile, “I have pride as an older sister.

I have pride as an older sister, so if Yusei intends to do that, I don’t want to lose to her either. It is quite rare for sisters to see each other as strong rivals (laugh).

Since “SC Karuizawa” is not a corporate team, they are engaged in different jobs during the day. Miyu does clerical work in the general affairs department of a subsidiary of watchmaker “Citizen,” Kanai makes machine tool lathes for another subsidiary, and Nishimuro runs a curling store that she started herself. Yusei is a student at Nagano University.

Junko lives in Yamanashi with her children, so the whole team can only get together four days a week. Our style is to concentrate on a short amount of time. We talk about hobbies such as anime, and we also have a lot of fun talking about curling. Between and after practices, we often go to a western-style restaurant called “Kikusui” in Karuizawa. I love the “Sagari steak” at this restaurant. It’s delicious! (Yusei)

Kikusui has been in business for three generations, and the owner is a senior member of Nishimuro’s former curling team. The owner is a senior member of Nishimuro’s former curling team, and he supports the team’s nutritional needs as a sponsor.

The owner of Kikusui is a senior member of the curling team that Nishimuro used to be a member of. It doesn’t look like a strenuous activity, but a game of curling burns as many calories as a game of volleyball. That is why it is very important to have a place where people can exchange information about curling while nourishing themselves.

The true nature of “sticky

SC Karuizawa, which has strengthened its teamwork through anime and food, will compete with Loco Solare and Fortius in a three-way battle for the right to participate in the Milan Cortina Olympics this September. How will they fare against their more experienced opponents?

Our special technique is the “sticky sweep,” a sweeping technique in which each stroke is slower than usual and the pressure of the brush is stronger than usual on the surface of the ice. I named it “sticky sweep” because it looks sticky. The “sticky sweep” is used at the very last moment, but I kept saying “sticky, sticky, sticky” like an incantation to make people aware of it, and it became a common practice,” said Nishimuro.

The day they beat the best with their special moves, a place on the Japanese national team awaits them.

The skillful communication of ‘Loco Solare’ and the high precision of ‘Fortius’ shots are still amazing,” said Nishimuro. The Olympics may seem near, but it is far away. Still, I will definitely seize this chance to play curling on the stage that I have longed for since I was a child.

One year from now, the “Karuizawa whirlwind” may sweep the world.

Moo-goo time” is very welcome!

From the April 4/11 issue of “FRIDAY