Mr. Hisao Yamakami, SAMURAI Senior Ballers

Senior athlete’s passion forward basketball. Looking ahead to the future.

Impressions after participated in the World Masters Games 2017 Auckland

SAMURAI Senior Ballers, the basketball team decided to participate in WMG 2017 Auckland as a tryout because the World Masters Games 2021 will be held in Kansai region, Japan. Mr. Hisao Yamakami is a member of this team. He considers the future of Japanese men’s basketball competition and says ” Japanese men’s basketball has a disadvantage in body size, so the ranking in the world is not so high. By us expanding the circle of exchanges worldwide, we want to promote senior sports in Japan, and for young people to make an opportunity to turn their attention to the world.” As for the first step, he challenged the Auckland games in order to aim for the first victory in international competition.
The result is 1 victory won by default, and 4 defeats. However, they were able to compete with athletes whose body size is very different at the senior age category (over 65) and they enjoyed playing basketball very much. By making the most of this experience, Mr. Yamakami realized the first victory of the international competition at the senior tournament in Italy in July.
Mr. Yamakami and his teammates enjoyed exchanges not only in Auckland city but also at Basketball competition venue. In the competition venue and in the city, they met a lot of people gathering information for participating in the WMG 2021 Kansai, and they are looking forward to their participation in the Kansai Games.
Also, in the Basketball of the Auckland Game, the system making automatic game video called “GLORY LEAGUE” was introduced. As a result, not only the video of the game was delivered to each participant immediately after the game but also various stats such as the state of the game, the box score, and the shot chart could be freely browsed, so they could enjoy their games even after returning home.

The enthusiasm for World Masters Games 2021 KANSAI

In the WMG 2017 Auckland, SAMURAI Senior Ballers participated in the category of over 65 years old. Mr. Yamakami says for the WMG 2021 Kansai, “Based on the experience at the Auckland Games and the Senior Games, we will continue to practice with our teammates. We will participate in the WMG 2021 Kansai in the category of over 70 years old with the aim of winning overseas teams. Also, we are looking forward to seeing again in the Kansai region with the people we met in the Auckland Games.”
Their goal is one step closer to achieving by participating in the Auckland Games. Even at the Kansai Games, the challenge of SAMURAI Senior Ballers will continue so that it will be even closer to realization of their dream.