Ayumi
Soft Tennis with Five Guys
I played soft tennis on May 18th with the Noro brothers (Kazuya and Kyota), Shingo (50th), Hidetaka (51st) and Oka-chan (54th). We are all English Department students except Kyota, but he is taking courses at the department.
It was a sunny day. We played on the artificial turf courts at Mie University. Kyota (the younger Noro) and Oka-chan have some experience because they played the game when they were junior high students. Kazuya (the elder Noro) and Shingo once belonged to the soft tennis club at Mie university. Hidetaka is a beginner.
I was surprised that they were all very good at playing it; Kazuya plays carefully and never misses a ball. Shingo has good control. Oka-chan hits a ball as best he can. Kyota is very good at lobbing: to lob is to hit a ball in a throw high curve. I have to run from side to side. Hidetaka is a beginner, but he understands quickly. He was practicing strokes against a wall rather than actually playing the game. If he continues to practice, he will become a very good player!
I enjoyed playing very much. I would like to play more with English Department students. Does anyone want to?
Hidetaka-san and other guys, please post if you have any comment.
Soft Tennis
I have played soft tennis since I was a junior high school student; now I belong to the soft tennis club at Mie University. I play it on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. There are matches in Mie prefecture at least once a month; four matches take place in May.
There is a difference between tennis and soft tennis. In tennis, the balls used by the players are yellow and very hard. In soft tennis, by contrast, the players use balls which are white and made of rubber. While tennis is spread all over the world, especially America and Europe, Soft tennis is played only in Asia, especially Japan and Taiwan.
Since what I play is soft tennis, I hope that many more people will play it.
Playing sports has at least three advantages. First, of course, moderate exercise is good for one's health. Second, it is interesting to see improvement of one's skills. I always confine my efforts to a limited purpose, for example, "I want to win the next match." When I achieve the goal, I am very happy. Finally, people who play sports can have many friends in many places. They can talk about sports or other common hobbies with each other.
I really like soft tennis. Unipyon, which is similar to tennis but easier, is also OK!
A Traffic Sign
There is a wide road near my house, but we are restricted to a speed of 15 kilometers an hour there. Though nearby there is an omi-kenshi , a spinning factory, I do not know why we have to slow down there. Do you think that 15 kilometers an hour is adequate?
Hideki Matsui
Do you know Hideki Matsui? He comes from Japan, and now he plays baseball in the Major League. I like watching baseball, so I watch koushien baseball games, which take place among high schools in Japan every August. I watched Hideki Matsui on TV when he was a student in Seiryo high school in Ishikawa-prefecture, because he was a member of the team. My brother and I have been Matsui fans ever since. The other day, he hit a bases-loaded home run! His profile and the details of his career are here, but this site is complicated if you do not know very much about baseball. I am happy because he plays baseball in the U.S.A.