2018.09.05
Ayako Tsuji (fourth-year student, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies) and Honami Nakata (third-year student, Faculty of Policy Management) competed as members of the Japanese national team in the 9th IFAF Flag Football World Championship, held in Panama City, Panama, from August 9 to 12, 2018.
Flag football is a five-on-five version of American football, a non-contact sport played without protective gear. Like seven-a-side rugby, it aims to become an Olympic sport. The Flag Football World Championship has been held biennially since the inaugural tournament in Austria in 2002, with this year marking the ninth event. This is the first time that Keio students have been selected for the Japanese national team.
At this year's tournament in Panama, the Japanese team advanced through the group stage to the knockout stage. Although they were defeated in their first knockout match against the eventual champions, the United States, they won the 7th-8th place playoff against Denmark to finish seventh in the world.
Tsuji and Nakata are members of the women's touch football team, the Unicorns. The Unicorns are the only six-a-side women's touch football team at Keio University and operate as a family team of the Keio University Athletic Association American Football Team, primarily based at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) and Hiyoshi Campus.
Alumnae Yuki Sato (a 2013 graduate of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies) and Shizuka Ushinohama (a 2017 graduate of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care) were also selected for and competed on the Japanese national team at this tournament.
Comment from Ayako Tsuji
With only a short preparation time of about three months after being notified of my selection, I competed in the World Cup in August as a member of the Japanese national team. Although we ended with the disappointing result of 7th place out of 11 teams, it was an incredibly valuable experience. I was able to experience firsthand the high level of global competition, and I discovered areas where I need to improve, not just in terms of skill but also mentally.
I am grateful to everyone who gave me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to use this experience to dedicate myself to my future in football.
Comment from Honami Nakata
For 26 years, our women's touch football team has been working to promote the sport and aiming to win the national championship for the first time since the inaugural tournament. In recent years, under the leadership of Chairman Yoshikawa of the American Football Mita-kai, we have been promoting collaboration with flag football, and we hope to continue to cooperate in our mutual promotional activities in the future.
It has been decided that the 2028 Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles, USA. To help make American football an official sport at those Olympics, we will put more effort into promoting women's football as a whole.
Posted by: General Affairs (Public Relations), Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office