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"Kawasaki" is the hometown of Kawasaki Frontale. To cultivate the team role as a source of vigor and dynamism in Kawasaki, we have been taking part in various activities to contribute to the community. As recent examples, we have been organizing events at home games at Todoroki Stadium and dispatching special instructors to elementary schools and junior high schools.

Promoting sports

By developing community sports, we can support the rebirth and revitalization of the community and promote people's health.

Kawasaki Frontale is concerned about the decreases in the strength of children in Japan nowadays. To address this problem, we have been sending our team coaches to elementary schools in the city in cooperation with the Kawasaki City Board of Education. Our team coaches instruct gym classes in place of homeroom teachers. Their goal is to spread the joy of exercising and to have their students acquire the habit of exercising daily.

And in integrated study classes commenced from 2002, we teach practical skills in football and details about the world of football internationally, in parallel with practical lessons on the need to play sports, how to eat properly, and the like. Heartened by the good reputation these activities have earned among teachers and students, we plan to extend them in the future.

To increase the numbers of football players and raise the level of the play, we organize football clinics and traveling football camps for community events and schools that request them. Over the last several years we have taught about 15,000 kids annually. Mindful of the need to train skilled coaches, we have full-time coaches from Kawasaki Frontale give workshops for coaches from community junior sports associations and clubs, to train them in coaching skills and football theory. We have also been holding a "Ladies' football clinic" since 2003 to create an environment where both men and women enjoy playing sports. And to promote sports overall in the community, we organize mini basketball events and other sporting competitions other than footfall.

Developing young players

As a civic club, Kawasaki Frontale operates subordinate teams in school (preschool kids and elementary school students), junior (elementary school students), junior youth (junior high school students), and youth (high school students) categories to train and develop young players within a unified system. This system will ultimately produce more local players with the talent and skills to join the top teams.

The central purpose of the school is to encourage children, mainly elementary school students, learn the joy and excitement of the sport through experience. We teach around 1,600 students in six locations in Kawasaki City (Shimonoge, Saginuma, Asao, Kawasaki Kyujo, Ko-Ajinomoto, Miyamae Sports Center). The junior, junior youth, and youth teams focus on the theme of "enjoying football and taking pride in being a member of Kawasaki Frontale." We lay the groundwork to help young players become professionals in the future. And by systematically training kids in technique, tactics, and physical strength in their age groups, we help them become players who can act as role models even in their private lives. Three of our players joined the Japan national team in 2004's one from the under-15 class and two from the under-16 class.

Volunteering

Sport events are another important part of sports in general. The volunteering program for the World Cup 2002 raised the social awareness of football to high levels in Japan.

Four hundred volunteers, aged 15 to 78, are registered at Kawasaki Frontale. These people support stadium operations for the club at home games and assist in futsal competitions and community events. For sports to become a culture, sporting activity shouldn't be limited to gym classes at school or sporting activities at companies. The public is coming to appreciate volunteering in sport as an important, even indispensable part of society. We would like to make sports a culture working hand-in-hand with the volunteers.

Organizing Home Games in the Community

Local shopping associations and companies award "Antagataisho" prizes the MIPs (Most Impressive Players) at home games.

We also organize "EXCITE MATCHES" with support from local companies and "city supported matches" sponsored by associations and shopping streets. The matches are named after the sponsors. Citywide support and close ties with the local community are key to our efforts. Other events include opening fanfares with citizen participation, the musical performance to welcome spectators, "With Hands" performance, halftime shows, and drawings for prizes offered by local shopping streets and companies. The local cooperation and support for home games are tremendous.

Interaction with the Community

The interactions between our players and citizens are vitalizing the community. Frontale players participate in local festivals and city events. At Christmas, they dress blue (a team color) Santa Clause costumes and visit hospital pediatric wards around town. We also publish a public relations magazine ("Frontale Express") and publicize the latest club news by handing the magazine out for free at locations and major stations. Our participation in safety activities has also been significant, particularly our fire-prevention activities in cooperation with Kawasaki City. We have even had our players model for fire-prevention posters. Through these interactions with the community, we promote ourselves as a familiar team blended into the community.

City of Futsal Kawasaki

Futsal is attracting more attention as an urban sport that playable anywhere, inside or outside. As one of our sports promotion activities, Kawasaki Frontale opened Frontown Saginuma, a space with 6 futsal courts on artificial turf, in April 2006. The goal is to make Kawasaki City the No. 1 futsal city in Japan. This alone provides many citizens with the fun, pleasure, and exhilaration of playing sports. An annual Futsal competition has been arranged in cooperation with the Kawasaki City Football Association since 2002. In 2004, as many as 800 players from 300 teams took part. This is already the biggest Futsal competition in eastern Japan area. Becoming the No. 1 city for futsal is no longer just a dream.