All Japan Student final at 2009, team, Taisho - University 20

I introduce the last match of team final. Red team won this match at end of sansho (5/7) match (link: https://www.learnkendo.com/2018/11/all-japan-student-final-at-2009-team_28.html).

Red player is Yamashiro from Kyusyugakuin high school. White player is Morihara from Kojyokan high school. The following is the youtube video.

The characteristic of both players reflects both team’s characteristic. So, red player is mobile, has many variation of skill and stroke, and good footwork. On the other hand, white player is powerful, standard basic type, strong pressure before stroke.

The team result was already decided, so they played with their own pace,　and own pride.

3:48 ai Men (simultaneous Men) was impressive for me, which both players stroked with full technique, strength and spitrit.

The flow of this match was not fast, but steadily went toward good end. Please just enjoy this match without cunning and clever exchange each other in the match.

I am talking other topics related to this match. Somehow, 5 out of 14 players from both teams were from Okayama. I don’t know why, but this year 5 people out of 14 members total at final, were from Okayama prefecture (2 from Kojyokan, 2 from Kurashiki, 1 from Saidaiji). It was interesting.

National athletic meet was held at Okayama as a host when these guys were 3^rd grade students at high school. They were trained very strictly as high school and that might be one cause players from Okayama were good this year.

Another topic was about team match. Different from individual match, manager has to consider right person in right place for team match. I will list up the suitable character told in general (not adapted all team).

Senpo  aggressive, young, vibrant, lively, fast.

Jiho  understand flow from senpo and properly play.

(Gosho  between Jiho and Chuken)

Chuken  strong, steady, own pace but understand score and play properly.

(Snasho  between Chukne and Fukusho)

Fukusho  calculate score, strong mental, adaptability to any situation.

Taisho  strongest mental, strongest player, understanding the score and play peoperly.

5 vs 5 match is most common, so I consider mainly about 5 to 5 team match based on knowledge and experience.

Getting back on track of this match, which is a watershed point? It is difficult to say the most important point, but at least, Jiho, Chuken, and Sansho were key matches for both team.

Jiho accelerated team score, Chuken broke opponent fighting spirit, and Sansho finished the match.

In the serial articles, I mentioned about team match. 7 to 7 match was interesting but long (^^) actually.