Co-op Gifu* has been supporting FC Gifu（Gifu Football Club Co., Ltd.） as an official sponsor of the team with the aim to contribute to building ties with and revitalizing the local community through supporting local sports. FC Gifu is a professional soccer club affiliated with the Japan Professional Football League, based in Gifu city in Japan, serving all of Gifu Prefecture.

In FY2022, as one of FC Gifu's sponsorship projects, Co-op Gifu is supporting the "FC Gifu Kakekko (running) Class". In the running class, top athletes teach children "how to run fast," which is useful for other sports such as soccer and baseball.

　

 　 

On July 17, the second "FC Gifu Kakekko Class" was held. The instructor was Mr. WADO Tatsuya, an active top track-and-field athlete from Ena City, Gifu Prefecture. Ninety-two children from the first to sixth grades of elementary school participated in the class and were given lessons on how to run fast.

First, Mr. WADO showed the children a good example of how to run, and they tried to imitate his posture and arm swing. It was supposed to be a light warm-up, but everyone ran as fast as they could!

After that, Mr. WADO taught the students tips on how to run faster, such as posture when running, how to swing and position the arms, and how to put their feet on the ground, which they practiced.

Finally, they competed against Mr. WADO! Compared to the way the students ran in the warm-up session at the beginning, their posture and arm swing were completely different!

　

Comments from participating children included, "It was fun to see how different my running was before and after the lesson," and "I am glad I learned how to run today because I can use it in many other sports besides soccer."

*Co-op Gifu is a Consumer Co-operative mainly engaged in home delivery and store operations in Gifu Prefecture with a membership of about 252,024 (as of March 20, 2022) and a total business turnover of about 29.4 billion yen (FY2021).

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