Back to Nature
Rugby Connect 2019 Report
Date: Saturday, November 2nd, 2019
Location: Tokyo University Komaba Campus Rugby field
Participants: 87 wonderful supporters
Event sponsors: Wahl+Case / Apex / Zenworks / SimpleGroup
Raffle prize donors: JanSport (Backpack) / Noma
Co-organizing partners: MinJapa・Aoyama Touch Rugby
Pro Bono Photographer: Johan Brooks
Our very first Rugby Connect fundraiser was a great success! There were as many as 87 supporters joined, including 2 Leader in Training students who made speeches in front of everyone, and enjoyed playing touch rugby together in teams.
On this special day of Rugby World Cup Final match, we hope all the supporters were able to experience the “spirit” of rugby, and get to know about Mirai no Mori at first hand.
Regardless of their rugby experiences, together, we made 8 different teams. After trying some Mirai no Mori camp games, all the teams started going over some rules and practicing with rugby balls: rule #1 “Have fun!” and rule #2 “Don’t break the rule #1!”
While playing the touch rugby games, experienced participants were kindly leading the team, sharing the fun of playing rugby. There were so many who scored “try” for the first time in their life!
Each team worked on our Mirai no Mori theme such as “Happiest team” “Best Teamwork” or “Creativity”, and it was a great way to experience how “rugby” can bring everyone together.
In the closing after some fun raffle time, LITs counted “3,2,1..” for everyone to reply “we did it!”, as one of our camp traditions. One of the LITs promised everyone to come back to Rugby Connect next year as a university student, and we will try our best to keep this annual program in our menu to welcome everyone back.
Once again, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone involved. With corporate sponsors, participants, bake sale volunteers, raffle prize donors and such, we are pleased to announce that we raised ￥343,519 from Rugby Connect 2019. This efforts will be put to work including the Touch Rugby program and other outdoor programs for the children we support.
Thank you very much, and we did it!
