Jayden Villatoro and the Kubasaki Dragons hope to put a win or two on their ledger when they visit Iwakuni this weekend to take on Matthew C. Perry and Zama. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – Not only are teams gaining valuable playing time and tournament experience when they’ve hit the road for inter-district play this spring.
Some are also winning. That’s a good byproduct when teams are flying or taking lengthy bus rides, then stepping onto the field sometimes right after arriving at their destinations.
Kubasaki’s boys soccer team and Kadena’s and Kubasaki’s softball teams hope to be the next road warriors to put a few inter-district W’s on the scoreboard as well as prime themselves for Far East tournament play, coming up later this month.
The Dragons’ strikers visit Matthew C. Perry to play the Samurai and Zama on Friday and Saturday – two Division II teams that are a combined 18-2-5 this season. Perry has won two in-season tournaments as well, with some victories coming against Division I foes.
“We’re hoping we can become better with our small passing game,” Dragons coach Robert Barrett said. “We’re controlling the ball, but we aren’t there yet with the small passes. It will help set them up for Far East.”
Kubasaki will play three games at Perry, which is 14-0-1, including titles in their own Perry Cup and the Western Japan Athletic Association D-II tournament in back-to-back weeks earlier this season.
“We’ve been in two finals – won both – but we have a lot to learn still about each other,” longtime Samurai coach Mark Lange said following the WJAA title. “A work in progress, but we have some fine-tuning to do.”
The in-season tournaments tend to emulate Far East conditions. Play a match, turn around and play another one an hour or so later.
“It’s tiring, but it’s a good experience,” said coach Abe Summers of Kadena’s boys soccer team, which won the WJAA D-I tournament in March.
“You can’t replicate that in our weekly games” against Kubasaki. “You go to these tournaments and you learn what Far East is going to be like. Two games, wake up and you play two more games. You get that feeling that you have to keep winning to move on.”
In other sports, three-time defending D-I softball champion Kadena travels to Korea, where the Panthers will play fellow D-I opponent Humphreys and D-II Daegu in a weekend jamboree at Humphreys.
The Panthers were also supposed to play Osan, but the Cougars for the second straight season had to end their season early due to lack of players, team and school officials said.
Meanwhile, Kubasaki’s softball team is headed to Sasebo where the Dragons face E.J. King and a D-II powerhouse in Zama. The Trojans are unbeaten in 18 games this season.
With the snow finally subsiding at Misawa, Robert D. Edgren finally gets to host soccer, baseball and softball games. The Eagles strikers host Nile C. Kinnick, while on the diamond, Edgren takes on Yokota.
On the track, Japan’s best athletes gather Saturday at Zama for the DODEA-Japan and Kanto Plain finals meet.
Elsewhere, Kadena hosts an Okinawa regular-season meet Thursday and Friday. Guam High competes in the league’s second meet of the season Friday. And Humphreys hosts its second meet in three days Saturday.
AloJapan.com