My Town Inagi 2023 Mr. Ryunosuke Minami
Updated: January 20, 2023
JOC Tournament / 29th All Japan Junior Soft Tennis Championship Winning the men's singles U-17 division!
Ryunosuke Minami
Ryunosuke Minami (15), a third-year student at Inagi Third Junior High School, participated in the men's singles U-17 (junior high school) at the JOC Junior Olympic Cup Tournament / 29th All Japan Junior Soft Tennis Championship held in Hiroshima on September 17th and 18th. 3rd year to 2nd year high school) won the championship. “I couldn’t believe it at first.
Minami-san playing
From the encounter with soft tennis to the present
Minami started playing soft tennis when he was an older child living in Hachioji. He says, "I started out just for fun," following his father, who belonged to a local soft tennis club, to his practice. In the 4th grade of elementary school, I moved to "Inagi Junior", which is famous for its high level. After that, when I entered junior high school, I moved to Inagi City, entered Inagi Third Junior High School, and joined the strong soft tennis club.
Currently, I participate in club activities four days a week, participate in Inagi Junior's practice on Wednesdays when club activities are closed, and have games, field trips, and practices on weekends, so I spend almost every day facing soft tennis without a break. In order to balance my studies with my studies, I go to cram school twice a week after practice. There is also morning practice from 7:30 am, but he says with a smile, "I have never thought of quitting because it was hard." When I asked him about the appeal of soft tennis, he said, "There are various tactics, and it makes me happy to think together with my pair to score points and win."
Mr. Minami, who won the championship against the strong competitors
Gold medal overpowering older athletes! What are your future goals?
The tournament is a very high-level tournament in which only players with excellent records and those who have been recommended by the Japan Soft Tennis Federation can participate. In the second round, Mr. Minami faced a second-year high school player who placed third at the inter-high school. When asked about the moment when he won the championship, he said, "I don't remember it very well. Both myself and my parents were surprised, but when I returned to Inagi two days later, I was overwhelmed with joy when people around me congratulated me."
“My parents took me to and from school every day, and the club and Inagi Junior coaches accompanied me to practice early in the morning. Thanks to that, I was able to continue playing soft tennis without any worries,” says Minami, expressing his gratitude to those around him. My future goal is to go to Mie High School, which is a strong soft tennis player and my father's alma mater, and win the inter-high school.
Inquiries about this page
Inagi City Planning Department Secretariat and Public Relations Division
2111 Higashi Naganuma, Inagi City, Tokyo
Phone: 042-378-2111 Fax: 042-377-4781
