SENDAI -- Hoping to provide inspiration -- and perhaps a bit of distraction -- a professional basketball team from Sendai has managed to bounce back after the devastation of March 11.
SENDAI -- Hoping to provide inspiration -- and perhaps a bit of distraction -- a professional basketball team from Sendai has managed to bounce back after the devastation of March 11.
The Sendai 89ers of the bj league played their season opener on Oct. 8. The team, based in quake-hit Miyagi Prefecture, had been forced to disband in March due to damage to its home stadium, but was reformed with support from local fans. Now, the players -- who had transferred to other teams all over Japan -- have come together for the first time in six months.
"We hope the team will feel support from people nationwide, and become an even better team than before," says a 39-year-old woman who is an 89ers fan.
On Oct. 6, 11 members of the team trained enthusiastically at a gym in Sendai. This was the first practice since the team was reformed. Four new foreign players were among the members who participated in the practice.
The bj league's season lasts from October to May. Four days after the March 11 quake, members of the 89ers were told the team had no choice but to disband because the quake damage in Sendai prevented them from hosting games.
"My mind went blank," says Hikaru Kusaka, 28, an 89ers player who hails from Sendai. "I couldn't think at all."
After the team disbanded, Kusaka visited evacuation centers nearby and hosted basketball clinics. That's when he felt that basketball was all he had, so he later transferred to another bj league team, Kyoto Hannaryz.
"I wanted to give courage to survivors in quake-hit areas by showing them some good basketball," he says about his decision to relocate.
Other members also transferred to bj league teams based in Osaka, Toyama, Miyazaki and Okinawa prefectures. They all kept in touch and many of them decided to wear jersey No. 89, reflecting the Sendai team name. It was a way to maintain a link, even from a distance.
Fans also took action to support the players. Between late March and May, fans collected about 20,000 signatures for a petition calling for the team to be re-formed. Encouraged by the dedication of these fans, the company managing the 89ers filed for re-entry into the bj league in May.
"There is significance in playing in the town of Sendai, which took great care of us," says 89ers' new captain Takehiko Shimura, 28, who returned to his hometown to rejoin the team.
Shimura and his teammates vow that they will do their best to inspire the survivors of the disaster, one layup at a time.