The women’s basketball club of Kanazawa-Sogo High School (a.k.a. Kana-So) is a prestigious club that has won three national championships (twice in an interscholastic athletic meet and once in the Winter Cup), including the win during the era when the school was called Tomioka High School, and is participating in an interscholastic athletic meet this year 16 years in a row for the 26th time.
Not only do the members of this club fare well in their club activities, but many of them achieve top academic performance as well. The club members regularly engage in community service activities, such as cleaning the commuting road between the school and the nearest railway station, and the club has hosted mini basketball lessons for elementary school students six times a year for about 20 years with its members acting as instructors. A total of about 1,500 students – mainly fifth and sixth graders living in Yokohama City – have attended the lessons, and among them are many girls who come to admire “Kana-So” High School through these lessons. Let’s hope the “Kana-So” basketball club will do great both in the interscholastic athletic meet and in the Winter Cup and root for them at these competitions.

* Interscholastic athletic meet: Annual all-round athletic competition held in August under the auspices of the All Japan High School Athletic Federation. At this year’s interscholastic athletic meet, the women’s basketball tournament is scheduled to take place over the period from July 27 through August 2 at Akita Municipal Gymnasium and other venues.

* Winter Cup: Invitational basketball tournament for high schools across the country that is held annually at the end of the year

　
The basketball club shares the gymnasium with other clubs and can use only a quarter of the floor space for their practice. By devising innovative ways of practice, they continue to be one of the top high school teams in Japan.

Teacher Junichi Hoshizawa

Mr. Hoshizawa, who is retiring at the end of this year, has led the “Kana-So” women’s basketball club for 35 years since 1977, the year after the club was founded. This teacher, who has devoted all his energy to basketball, has always been at the vanguard of Japan’s basketball coaching. Not only has he built one of the top high school teams despite the space- and time-limited environment of a public high school, but he has also been successful in human development going beyond coaching a basketball club. Mr. Hoshizawa is going to the games with an uncompromising and positive attitude. Let’s hope his seasoned tactics will bring good results.

Yuki Miyazawa, the Irreplaceable Center

How I Got to Know Basketball and “Kana-So”

I started to play basketball in the summer of my first-grade year in elementary school under the influence of my older sister. We had good teamwork both when I played mini basketball as an elementary school student and when I played for the basketball club at junior high school, so I have always enjoyed playing basketball with teammates. I had this admiration for “Kana-So” when I was in junior high school, and I entered the high school hoping that Mr. Hoshizawa would coach me.
I wrote down everything that Mr. Hoshizawa told us in notebooks and try to absorb them. In the early days after entering the high school, I was able to feel that I was improving day by day, and that was very exciting. I think I would never have been so good without the help of Mr. Hoshizawa and my senior teammates, so I really thank them.
Last year, the first FIBA U-17 World Championship for Women was held (Japan finished fifth), and I was ranked second in points and fourth in rebounds. That gave me great confidence, and I think I have learned a lot and improved as a player at “Kana-So.”

Enthusiasm for the Upcoming Interscholastic Athletic Meet and Future Goals

We took part in the interscholastic athletic meet when I was in the first grade and the second grade, and we finished third two years in a row. We have many rival teams, but we are going to strive to win the tournament, taking one game at a time. My present goal is to join the Japan national team. I am dreaming of being a starting member of the national team and play on the international stage.

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