{"id":2726,"date":"2024-09-04T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/?p=2726"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T00:25:21","slug":"ball-game-festa-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/people-culture\/ball-game-festa-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Top athletes conveying the joy of ball sports to children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Experiencing the thrill of sports with the best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Primarily aimed at elementary school students, SOMPO BALL GAME FESTA offers a program where children can experience the joy of various team ball sports. They feel the excitement of each sport interacting with professional athletes who have excelled in top domestic leagues or represented Japan on national teams. It’s a rare and valuable opportunity for the children to learn about techniques and the joy of sports directly from athletes they wouldn’t normally have the chance to interact with. They can also try out a variety of sports they may not have experienced before, opening doors to new discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, a new ambassador Mana Iwabuchi is participating. She used to play for Japan\u2019s women’s national football team Nadeshiko Japan. She joins fellow ambassadors who had also represented Japan on the international stage, rugby player Hitoshi Ono and speed skater Nana Takagi. In addition to the ambassadors, several top athletes also participate as special guests. They are all charged with energizing the events with children at venues all over Japan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Mana
Mana Iwabuchi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Hitoshi
Hitoshi Ono<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Nana
Nana Takagi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

An event for learning, discovery, and community interaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At SOMPO BALL GAME FESTA, we want participants to experience more than just sports. In line with the Sompo Group’s purpose of striving \u201cfor a future of health, wellbeing, and financial protection,\u201d we try to use these fun events to also share other important things such as disaster preparedness and healthy living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events feature a corner by the Bousai JAPAN-DA Project where participants can learn about disaster preparedness with Sompo Japan\u2019s mascot character JAPAN-DA, and a Veggie Check station that encourages people to reconsider their daily eating habits. There is also a section where residents from Sompo Care’s nursing homes can enjoy time with the children trying out boccia, a ball game popularized by the Paralympics. By providing fun opportunities for children and their parents to learn and experience disaster preparedness and health, as well as fostering community interaction, we hope to contribute to the creation of more vibrant local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Boccia
Sompo Care employees teaching kids how to play boccia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Creating social value through smile-filled events<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Festa itself was launched by the Japan Top League in 2006 with the goal of promoting sports among the next generation of children who will shape Japan’s future. This goal aligns well with the Sompo Group\u2019s purpose and its commitment to creating social value by building a healthy and smile-filled future. This is why we have continued to support SOMPO BALL GAME FESTA since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Pro
Children and parents in smiles, enjoying sports with top athletes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The events are held in numerous locations across the country. In 2024, SOMPO BALL GAME FESTA will be hosted in 38 different regions. We aim to leverage our nationwide network of companies, offices, and employees in Japan, collaborating with local governments and engaging with regional sponsors to create events that reflect the unique characteristics of each area. By not only bringing smiles to the faces of children but also working together with local communities to energize these events, we believe we are contributing to regional revitalization, which is essential to our mission of creating social value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sompo Holdings sponsors the SOMPO BALL GAME FESTA, where top pro athletes introduce various ball sports to elementary school students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[106,65,108],"class_list":["post-2726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-culture","tag-csv-creating-shared-value","tag-featured","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2726"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7613,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2726\/revisions\/7613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.sompo-hd.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}