On November 11th, Monosus held its third sports day as part of its 19th anniversary celebrations.
It has been three years since we decided to hold sports day like this.
Up until now, Monosus' anniversary events involved inviting customers, business partners, and associates to our Yoyogi office for a party with food and drinks.
One day, they decided to hold a sports day as their anniversary event!
We will introduce the background to the event and what it has been like over the past three years.
It all started with a Monosus Sports Club drinking party
The sports day began with a drinking party hosted by the Monosus Sports Club.
Once every few months, about 15 members who liked to exercise would get together after work, rent a gymnasium in Shibuya Ward, and have fun working up a sweat together playing futsal, table tennis, badminton, ultimate, basketball, soft volleyball, musical chairs, long rope, and more.
There is a delicious local Chinese restaurant that we always go to after exercising, and every time we go for a drink we always get excited talking about how we want to have a sports day!
The representative, Mr. Hayashi, had also participated in the event several times, so he had heard everyone say "I want to hold a sports day!" so many times that he was familiar with it.
Thorough warm-up exercises at the opening ceremony
The first event at the first sports day was ball throwing.
I think it was at the end of the 2019 year-end party. Hayashi-san suddenly announced, "Next year's anniversary event will be held by Okubo-san!" It was my dream to hold a sports day at Monosus.
However, in 2020, the event had to be canceled due to the spread of COVID-19.
Searching for a place that could fulfill Hayashi's wishes
In 2021, with the encouragement of Mr. Hayashi, even though the COVID-19 pandemic was still ongoing, we decided to "conduct antigen tests and carry them out as much as possible."
Regarding the sports day, Hayashi had two requests.
- I want to do it under the blue sky!
- I'd love to have a sports day while drinking and having a BBQ on the sidelines!
Of course, I would prefer to be outside, but I thought the gym might be a good option in case of rain, so I had to start looking for a location from scratch.
We searched for a place that met three conditions: "We could hold sports days," "We had a BBQ area," and "We also had a gym nearby in case it rained."
However, on rainy days the BBQ area is closed, and it takes 20 minutes to walk from the playground to the BBQ area.
I couldn't find a place that met my needs.
At that time, I suddenly remembered a DM I had received some time ago, and when I looked at it, I saw a place that was perfect for a sports day! It was a DM that I had saved for a training camp that we were going to go to someday with all the members of the sports club.
This is a closed elementary school called Chonan Nishi Elementary School, which has a playground, where you can have a BBQ, and even a gymnasium for when it rains - it's perfect!
Sports day goods are available for rental, the bath is made of cypress wood, the changing rooms are clean, there are several spacious rooms, and there is even a kitchen where the head chef from MONOSUS Shokuken can prepare your meals!
I found Chonan Nishi Elementary School
This was truly the best encounter, and I couldn't find anywhere else! I made a reservation right away, and took Hayashi-san and Sakuyama-san in a rental car to go and check out the place. By the way, at that time Hayashi-san had a fever after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. I gave him some painkillers and let him sleep in the car, but I dragged him around from place to place while we were checking out the place. I'm really sorry about that time.
There was constant laughter from preparation to the event
Once the location was decided, we quickly decided to hold a sports day! The members of the sports club, Ito and Harazawa, who had been saying this, along with the head office's responsible officers Sakuyama and Okubo, formed the sports day executive committee. We came up with original Monosus events, divided the team into red and white, and came up with prizes.
Monosus' original competitions included a bread-eating race, a relay race that mixed a three-legged race with a serious run, a balloon sword fight that narrowed the range more and more, and a borrowed person race where participants had to find a designated person, such as "someone wearing glasses," and run with them. The prizes for the winning team were delicious condiments and rice accompaniments from DEAN & DELUCA, which were lined up on the table and each person was asked to choose three.
The second Chambara event
A heated tug-of-war every time
Exciting one-legged centipede race
Since this was our first time, there were many things we were trying to do in the dark, so we created a timetable that covered everything from staying overnight the night before to preparing, to returning to the office and tidying up. We also wrote down in detail what each person was to do by time, and we ran through it in our heads many times with Mr. Sakuyama, from the day before to returning to the office the next day.
There were a lot of little things to do, but I had said I wanted to do it, so I enjoyed every single one of them. We were all good friends, always working up a sweat together at the gym in Shibuya Ward, so we were laughing all the time when we were thinking about the event, and I was so excited to imagine everyone from Monosus doing it.
Members who arrived the day before
In the second year, members of the Blind Donkey prepared delicious meals on the spot, and in the third year, members of MONOSUS Food Research Institute prepared the meals on the spot!
All meals were prepared by Mr. Iino, the head chef of the newly established MONOSUS Food Research Institute, and everything from the sports day to the meals was homemade, so all I could think of was the happy faces of everyone.
On the day, more than 30 people participated, and although it was a small event, it was full of laughter. The rooms at Chonan Nishi Elementary School were formerly classrooms, so each one was spacious and perfect for a large evening party. It was just as Hayashi had hoped, and it was the perfect place for everyone to enjoy! With the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuation of working from home, it was the first time in a while that we could see everyone's smiling faces in real life, and we thought, "This is it! This is it!" It was a truly fun event that made us think that way.
Of course, we've already booked for 2024!
The following year, in 2022, the event was held again with antigen tests being carried out and to a reasonable extent, but perhaps because the first sports day was well received, more than double the number, 60 people, participated, including family members and partners.
Teamwork put to the test in the courier relay
Members who don't usually have a chance to interact will come together to form a red team and a white team.
This year, we were able to hold the event without any restrictions, and once again over 60 people participated.
As this was the third time the sports day was being held, the organizing committee had become quite accustomed to it, and decisions were made smoothly without having to hold many meetings. Everyone who participated had also become accustomed to the event, so it felt like preparation and cleanup on the day was completed in about half the time it took last year.
It's fun thinking about the competitions every year.
It's an orthodox game, but it's good to work together to achieve one goal! So we kept the most popular tug-of-war as a classic. This year, the sports day executive committee proposed new events, such as the ball toss with obstacles, the delivery relay, and the one-legged centipede race. The best was the musical chairs game. It's been a long time since I laughed so heartily.
A game of musical chairs that anyone can join
When I looked around, everyone was laughing. Since COVID-19, more people have been working from home and it's become hard to see everyone's faces, but there's nothing like a sports day where we can all laugh together and become one, and it's the best!
Yes! Of course, we are already booked for 2024!
This is a video record of the 2023 athletic meet.
If you watch this, you'll understand how much fun it was.
Monosus's proud designer and video creator, Mr. Kawarazaki, made this following on from last year. Check it out!
モノサスアーカイブ