On May 27 the Cameroon World Cup team played a practice match against a select team of high-school students from Oita Prefecture. About 1,300 people came to see the Cameroonians train and to watch the game. Only 1,370 people live in our village, so I was surprised that the number of people at the game was the same as the population.

During their training session, the Cameroon team played a match against the high-school students. Two of the Cameroon players joined the high schoolers to help them out. The young players on the school team chased the ball earnestly and put all of their effort into every shot. In the end, Cameroon won 2-1. Seeing how the high schoolers battled so hard until the very end against much stronger opponents made me realize how important it is to try one's best.

The manager of Cameroon came on to play during the match, which made everyone laugh, and the game finished in a fun and friendly atmosphere. After the match, the players kindly let people to take photographs with them and also signed autographs. The most amazing thing for me was the athleticism of the Cameroon players. They can run very fast, of course, but they can also jump really high. When a high ball came across, they would jump after the high-school players and still get higher by about half a body length. I was really surprised.