The First Tokaido Cup!

May 5th of this year marked an important date for netball in Japan, the Spring round of the first Tokaido Cup! The Tokaido Cup is a new competition between Tokyo and Aichi prefectures that will become an annual event, hopefully for years to come. The event is also the only official competition in Japan to involve full one hour games, strictly following the rules and regulations of World Netball. Not only is it a great opportunity for players, coaches and umpires, but it also is a valuable chance for members of the public who are interested in learning about netball to watch a proper game.

The Spring round was hosted by TNA at the Tokyo University for Marine Science and

Technology (Etchujima Campus). It was a mixed team competition consisting of two games. First was the Representative game in which the top players from Tokyo and Aichi competed against each other. It was a hard-fought match with both teams displaying excellent gameplay, but in the end Team Aichi pulled away to take the first win of the series. The second game was the Development match, which was created to give beginner and developing players the chance to play a competitive match. The game was very high energy and entertaining to watch. Both teams got the chance to show off some of their upcoming talent, showing that the future of netball in Japan is looking good. In the end, the Aichi Development team took the win for game 2 as well, a very good day for Aichi overall.

The final results and awards were as follows;

Representative Match: 31 - 21 Aichi win

Development Match: 21 - 14 Aichi win

MVP - Seiya Nakayabu (Aichi)

Best Attacker - Rion Miura (Aichi) and Lucy Humby (Aichi)

Best Defence - Oka (Tokyo)

Best Rookie - Arthur (Tokyo) and Kotaro (Aichi)

From a Tokyo Netball perspective, our teams fought hard and played well but we will be able to use the Spring round as a chance to analyse our mistakes and work hard to come back stronger in the Autumn round in October. The Autumn round will consist of separated Women’s and Men’s teams and will be hosted by Aichi Netball. We are looking forward to rising to the challenge!

Finally, thank you to all the participants, organisers and officials for making this event a success. We would also like to give a huge thank you to the Tokyo University for Marine Science and Technology Netball Club for helping us conduct this event at their campus. Also to the umpires, Akichi Nakazawa (Kawazu) and Rei Kagami (Annaka) for their hard work and excellent umpiring. Without the assistance of our wonderful netball community, events like this would be impossible. Please continue to support us as we prepare for the next competition!