September 5, 2014
Connor's Summer Break Blog Post
Hi all, Connor here;
Our first semester of Year 2 came to an end and it was time for Summer holidays, which is more accurately described as a 5 week training camp for the Athlete clubs. 
Like all other sports athletes, Connor also went to support his Baseball classmates in their attempt to make the Summer All Japan High School Champs (Koshien) this year).
Similar to last year, the first weeks of Summer training concentrated on the Inter High tournament and training sessions were usually very intense with a large focus on playing the 'Seiritz' way: trying to keep the ball away from the opposition effectively and being decisive and sharp in attack.
On the 2nd of August the first round of the Inter High kicked off and Seiritsu were faced Takagawa High school from Yamaguchi Prefecture. The game itself was slightly disappointing from Seiritsu's viewpoint as we were unable to capitalise on the chances we created. Unfortunately the opposition scored a swift counter attacking goal and chose to defend their lead for most of the game. Although the game did not go our way it was a good experience to be in and amongst the top high schools throughout Japan where we also learnt a lot.
Fortunately, after the first few weeks of summer training had passed we were afforded a short but much needed 2 day break which I took to go to Osaka to visit my Grandmother and Aunty. During the visit the weather took a turn for the worse and it rained constantly which meant most of the things I did were indoors, such as shopping and eating okonomiyaki. It was an enjoyable visit and was a welcome change in the busy summer schedule.
Mid-way through August we headed off to a seven day camp which included 2 tournaments and traveling through various prefectures. The first three days we were based in a nice hotel in Shizuoka where we competed in a tournament against various J-league and strong high school clubs. Having only recently come back from injury I was used sparingly in the first few games but gradually increased my workload by the end of the first tournament. For our second tournament we traveled upwards towards Hasaki where all Seiritsu 2nd Year soccer students competed in the U-17 Ocean cup. I was able to regain my starting place during the tournament and out of 20 teams we placed 4th, although we were unable to win the tournament it was tiring but thoroughly enjoyable.
For the last week of holidays the schedule eased off slightly. During this time my father was able to come to Japan and visit me for a few days. Together we traveled around Tokyo visiting various nice restaurants and also sights such as Tokyo Skytree and Shibuya. It was great seeing family again after a long while albeit only for a short time.