Take this virtual tour to see what it's like to spend a day with us

---

	Step Inside Compare Nushima Middle School's timetable with your own. Does yours include hamochi making? Or yachting? Learn about the students' club activities and what they like to do after school.
==> Classes ==> After School

Soft Tennis

	The courts resound with high-spirited voices till the sun goes down.

Years ago, when it had more than 100 students, Nushima Middle School had various types of club activities, such as baseball and table tennis. With the small number of students nowadays, though, the only club is one that requires few participants--soft tennis. Soft tennis is played with a soft ball and a special racket different from that used in standard tennis. All the students participate in this club during their three years in middle school and practice very hard.

	Masato Koizumi and Takuya Matsumoto, Nushima Middle School's doubles partnership, qualified for the Hyogo Prefecture soft-tennis championships this year.

They practice for two hours every day after school, but when there is a match coming up they also practice voluntarily before school nearly every morning. Because they practice a lot every day--even during summer vacation they practice three hours every morning--the 22 members of this club are quite good at the sport. Their teacher says, "Having so few students is a huge handicap, but the kids play real well when their friends cheer them on." This season second-year students Takuya Matsumoto and Masato Koizumi played doubles at a tournament with more than 90 teams in Awajishima. They were chosen as regional representatives and went on to play in the prefectural tournament.

---

Send your comments and questions here. (nushima@jcic.or.jp)

---