Wearing two uniforms at the same time

Volleyball is a popular sport at Finlandia University. Here Finlandia's women's team plays against a visiting team in the Paavo Nurmi gym. (Photo © 2007 Niikura [Nick] Takaaki)

By Kazuki Nishiyama

They wear a uniform on the court, and put on a suit for their daily job.

The ''Ketchuppers'' that entered the Premier League for volley ball, though they are working at a school in a small town, closed a curtain on this league.

All players are ''Teachers'' who work at a school in Japan. When it is time for the league, other teams have a good environment for concentrating on volleyball. However, the Ketchuppers play volleyball only on weekends; and their works starts at 7 a.m. on Monday if there are games over the weekend.

Kazuya Kuroyanagi, who got the receiving prize in the last season, takes charge of the class of volleyball as ''Gym teacher'' in his school.

''Because it is physical work, my body is exhausted,” he said. “I thought I needed a rest occasionally; however, someone always replaces us at the school while we are playing volleyball. Because I understand that fully, there is no time to complain.''

Work is work. Volleyball is volleyball.

However, it didn't go well in the Premier League, which is a top league. The Ketchuppers sank to the lowest rank by a series of 12 defeats after the league had begun. We should look forward to watching this remarkable team in their next league.