100 Stories2006 Ranked Third in Japan With a Perfect End! Asahi Kasei SparKids

Athletes from the KYOKUYO club’s volleyball team even participated in the Olympics. Asahi Kasei proactively engages in sports activities, but volleyball was the sport it put effort into the most compared to judo and track-and-field events.

It has a long history. It was established as a nine-man volleyball team in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture in 1946. It was changed into a six-man team in 1963, and in 1971, it moved its base to Mizushima and participated in the Japan League.

Masayuki Minami, who joined the team at this time, is one of the top players who participated in three games in a row since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He won his first bronze medal as an Asahi Kasei employee in the Tokyo Olympics. He won the silver medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and the long-awaited gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

However, the KYOKUYO club volleyball team struggled in the Japan League, the biggest league in Japan. They participated in the Japan League for four seasons, but their performance declined. At some point, they were even demoted to the third league, which is the regional league.

In 1993, Masayuki Minami’s son Katsuyuki Minami joined the company in an effort to enhance the team and get back to the league. Katsuyuki Minami is a talented athlete who was chosen to represent Japan in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which was held a year before he joined Asahi Kasei.

Right around that time, a plan to become professional, called the 21st Century Volleyball Reform Plan, was announced in 1994. The goals of this plan were recruiting professional contract athletes, the resurgence of international athletes, and having professional teams participate (incorporated clubs).

The V.League began at the end of that year. However, at this point, there were no professional Japanese players, and the professional team was still not formed, but there was a team that was gradually transforming from a corporate team to a professional league.

The results of the enhancement started to show in 1998, and they had developed a lot that they even won in the second league, which is the corporate league. At that time, the first league, which is the V.League (formerly known as the Japan League), increased the number of teams, and the team was finally promoted to their long-awaited V-League.

The team was named Asahi Kasei SparKids. The name “SparKids” was coined to combine the two words “Spark” and “Kids.” “Spark” represented the performance and their sharp offense that resembled scattering sparks, and “Kids” implied that they were healthy and energetic youth who would still continue to develop.

Among their rival teams who all had international supporting players, SparKids was the only 100-percent domestic in the V.League, keeping them in the lowest rank for four years in a row. This was the result of the KYOKUYO club’s philosophy.

This philosophy is “Sending out in-house athletes who have a foothold in the workplace to contend for Japan’s victory or participate in global competitions, such as the Olympics, with the Japanese flag to raise the employees’ morale, thus contributing to the local community.”

The time-honored KYOKUYO club volleyball team announced its disbandment in March 2006, a half century after its formation.

The Kurowashiki All Japan Volleyball Tournament, which was held two months after this announcement, was their last playing field. The athletes’ passion showed in this tournament where if you lose, it is over. Despite being under enormous pressure, they desperately continued to pass the ball, showing great offense.

In the quarterfinals, they stormed to victory against the V.League Champions from the year before at the end of the full set. This was Japan’s first time to rank third place in 33 years, putting the perfect end to the team.