The JFA Official Enjoy Futsal Portal Site “j-futsal” enables users to search for more than 440 futsal venues nationwide. This number is the biggest among all futsal information websites in Japan. (according to j-futsal)

“j-futsal” interviews staff members organising a futsal venue to find out what is going on at the home of recreational players. The third interviewee is Watanabe Toshimi, who handles reception, manages individual-participation courts and coaches futsal exercise (class for adult beginners) at Toyohashi Futsal Club, Aichi.

Comments from WATANABE Toshimi, Toyohashi Futsal Club

Toyohashi Futsal Club has two outdoor courts and two indoor courts, where you can enjoy advantages of both types. The outdoor courts have artificial turf while indoors courts have Sports Court, a floor cover material certified by F.League. As this futsal venue also has baseball batting cages and a table tennis section, some customers enjoy them before and after playing futsal.

In a family atmosphere, we have sometimes our poster dog just like a poster girl play an important role. The dog sitting in front of our office comforts customers who like animals and people who come together with players just for watching.
Our venue is used by customers with wide range of ages, from 10s to 50s including kids who come for our junior schools and people who come and play with work colleagues for fun. Women are 20-30% of all customers. The rate of women participants sometimes reaches 50% in our adult classes as the number of women who are keen to improve their skills has increased. Some women teams participated in the tournament on the Nagoya Oceans Day a month ago.

Toyohashi Futsal Club started holding more events from July than before as well as competitions that allow individual participants to play every day except Fridays. We will open Nagoya Oceans Futsal School next year and are now planning some more new events. We expect this venue will be even more vibrant than it is now. To make their futsal experience better, we will work on the court management to deliver appreciation through not only words but also actions.

What I like about this venue is customers have warm hearts. They care about peers and they are filled with a spirit of team sports. I started playing futsal only two years ago and I’m still an inexperienced player. I have a strong feeling why I can manage this place without big troubles is because of their support. I appreciate their warm hearts. What I keep in mind during doing customer service are to convey joy of futsal to them and express specifically what I want to thank my customers for

I feel satisfied with this job when a customer tells me “you really like futsal.” First you yourself enjoy futsal! I hope such kind of feeling spreads to people just like our smiles do. When a customer says to me “see you next week!” I feel futsal is a big part of their everyday life. And that makes me want to work hard to see their smile again after playing next time.

The reason why I came to like futsal is that its set plays are easy to understand as I used to play basketball. Futsal is a sport where we use our feet to control the ball, so it has a different kind of difficulty. It also has a lot of occasions where we need to flexibly move around in spite of our assigned positions. Futsal is an exciting sport to watch, because it requires your cleverness. It’s true especially when you try to break down the opponent’s formations and create chances to show what you can do. So when you are playing and make plays you wanted to make, that makes you feel accomplished.

Futsal to me is something that is essential in my work, my private life and my purpose in life. My favourite futsal team is Nagoya Oceans where Yoshikawa Tomoki belongs. He made me seriously feel like playing futsal. Because people playing sports very hard are youthful and lively, I want to keep playing futsal as long as possible. And I want to get to know more and more people through futsal.

Toyohashi Futsal Club was re-launched in June after the managing company changed! We will work hard with the thought - discovering new things by taking lessons from the past. We hope to enjoy futsal with all of you and keep witnessing your smiles. Thank you for supporting us!