SUNTORY Challenged Sports Support First "Athlete Visit" Event Held

On September 12, Suntory Holdings held its first "Athlete Visit" event to support challenged sports (sports for people with disabilities) at Aoba Junior High School in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

This support for challenged sports is part of the company's Great East Japan Earthquake recovery initiative, the "Suntory Tohoku Sun-san Project," and is scheduled to be carried out over seven years starting this year in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures. This time, Paralympic track and field athlete Sato Mahi (a Suntory employee) and players from "Miyagi Max," the Sendai wheelchair basketball team that achieved its sixth consecutive Japan Championship title this year, visited the school.

 

First, athlete Sato gave a lecture, sharing his personal experience with illness and the appeal of the Paralympics. "When I first competed in the Paralympics, I was deeply moved by the athletes' spirit. It made me accept my own fate and live positively. I want you all to challenge yourselves in everything without setting limits," he encouraged the students.

Following this, Miyagi Max's Coach Iwasa and players led a wheelchair basketball experience session. Students received instruction from the players and coaches, maneuvering the wheelchairs with unfamiliar movements as they tried their hand at basketball. During a game experience where student representatives teamed up with Sato against Miyagi Max players, cheers erupted from the watching students whenever a shot went in.