・Visiting JTB USA Inc. & Gulliver USA, and players getting together for the tournament!! – “Day 4 Recap”
In the morning of the 4th day, the Japanese players visited JTB USA Inc., who has been our sponsor since the first event, and our new sponsor this year, Gulliver USA. Even though they had busy schedules, they took time in their meetings and introduced the players to all the employees.
The players expressed their appreciation for the tremendous support from the sponsors and shared their future goals and dreams. All the employees welcomed warmly and encouraged all the players. Also, the players received some gifts and seemed very grateful for them.
That night, since the players from the US and Canada arrived as well, they all had dinner together at a nearby restaurant. Each player was a little bit shy and hesitant to talk in the beginning, but the good food melted the ice between them. Despite the language barrier, using gestures, body language, or sometimes the translating apps, all the players were trying to communicate with each other and understand the cultural difference.
For the Japanese players, since it was their fourth day here in the US, they were able to order food in English easily. One of them said it was a piece of cake to do so! Also, they were asking the American and Canadian players about their favorite sports and foods. It was very inspiring to see that they picked up English so quickly in a short period of time.
When it comes to tennis, all the players were passionately sharing their tennis theories with each other and sometimes demonstrated their techniques. Just by looking at them interacting with each other, we realized that there was no language barrier in sports.