I was at the “Freshmen Championships” with my gym friends in Ibaraki Prefecture (about 2 hours drive from where I am) just yesterday.  Naturally I rooted for Juntendo University because it’s where I currently train but I did have friends at other participating universities as well.  The competition was interesting, and was a close race until the end.  Juntendo was down by 2 points behind Japan Sports Science University (aka Nittaidai – home of Kohei Uchimura), however Juntendo’s last event was high bar (a good event for the team), while Nittaidai finished on pommel horse (a relatively low scoring event).  These two teams were in a league of their own, just going head-to-head.  Unfortunately, some costly mistakes kept Juntendo from taking the lead.  Nevertheless it was an exciting competition and it was great to see some familiar faces inluding Kohei (Uchimura).  It was also a good chance for me to get away from campus and to just hang out with my friends from school. 

The next competition for these guys is the All Japan Championships.  All Japan should be intense and it’ll be a big reunion for sure.  Can’t wait to see my old friends!