Sports Clubs

We are now settling into a bit more of a routine in Japan which includes getting the kids into some Japanese sports clubs.

Both Felix and Neve go to the swimming club at a pool 3 stops down the train line. It's a totally Japanese club and one of the Japanese Mums at the school help Julie to fill in all the forms and get the kids enrolled. We then had to pay some huge amount of money for the official swimmimg trunks and the coloured hat that shows which class you are in. Of course when you go up a class you have to pay for a new hat.

The instructors are really good and really drill the kids on how to do the strokes. There's none of this politcial correctness that we have in the UK. The instructors stand in the water and grab the kids to show them exactly how to do the strokes. Like most Japanese things there is lots of attention paid to getting the technique right. The lesson is of course in Japanese which the kids have to try and understand. They are the only Western kids in the class. There is one kid that has an American father so he does the translating for the instructors if Felix and Neve can't understand.

Felix also goes to Rugby training each sunday morning with the MRS Rugby club. This is a Japanese club but the BST School have adopted as the Rugby club of choice so around 8 english kids attend. They also have one Aussie coach who does the translating for them. As with the swimming they spend a lot of time on technique. This week was scrum and line out. They are now starting to play tag rugby matches at the end of each training session. The expensive part of the club is that you have to buy the club kit. I think we have spent about £150 on head protection, official club shorts and shirt. In Japan all school boy rugby requires protective head gear to be worn so Felix has to have the padded skull cap.