Kaoru YOSHIDA (Fukushima Prefecture School Children Badminton Federation Chairman)

I want to express my gratitude to Daihatsu for their cooperation. It was pleasing when the director of Fukushima Daihatsu gave a greeting speech at the opening ceremony, with words to encourage the children as well as us officials.
The tournament itself became very attractive, there was a lot of more energy in the children’s matches and the cheering. I think the family members who were watching had a lot of pride that their children were appearing in such a big tournament.
We had some concerns about introducing the cheering balloons, such as whether the noise would interfere with the matches and the need to be aware of manners. In the end though, the liveliness outweighed our worries and I though it was great.
There was media coverage and increased interest around us due to the unexpected support we received this time, so we really felt a strong motivation from the players and related participants. We would like to proactively implement these kinds of initiatives as an association.
As the organization itself is made up of volunteers, increasing the number of personnel and improving out our operations and funding are major issues for us moving forward.