An exchange meeting of KUT students and baseball players from West Africa was held

On July 20th, an exchange meeting of 20 students of Kochi University of Technology (KUT) and 8 baseball players from West Africa was held in a class "Sports Industry" by Associate Prof. Atsushi Shojima, School of Economics & Management at Eikokuji Campus.

After the self-introduction time, the students gave a presentation about the Japanese culture and Kochi prefecture and Mr. Yuta Deai, Association des Amis du baseball au Burkina Faso and the baseball players talked about their countries and their hardship.

Mr. Deai said "It is extremely difficult to have a dream in West Africa since they have to work hard to live every day and they can obtain only limited information. However, after I proposed one ambitious dream to be a professional baseball player in Japan eight years ago some young men began to practice hard. Finally, one of them joined Kochi Fighting Dogs last year. He is Mr. Sanfo Lassina from Burkina Faso. This news made the other members more motivated. They can imagine and realize a dream without a lot of information. This is true for everything as well as for baseball."

The KUT student said "We can picture our specific dreams through a lot of information in Japan. Ironically, we often gave up our dreams due to the overflowing information and communication. You are trying your best with the strong spirit to make your dreams come true. We got courage to go on advancing towards our dreams."

After the class, the baseball players served African meals and the KUT students taught Yosakoi dance to them. This event was a great opportunity for all of them to broaden their horizons for the future.

【Information】
A friendly match "West African team vs Kochi Fighting Dogs"
Date: July 24th (Sun) 18:00~
Venue: Baseball field in Kochi city general athletic park
*Free admission