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| Read the report on the 1999 Sister Cities Youth Soccer Tournament. The report is a PDF and to view it you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin. Please note: The PDF is 1.6MB in size and will take about 10 minutes to download on an average home connection. |
A youth sporting exchange involving representative soccer teams from the sister cities of Christchurch, Kurashiki, Japan and Songpa-Gu, Korea, was held in Christchurch during August 1999. Fun, sport, cultural experiences and sightseeing were enjoyed by the visiting teams.
The tournament provided a wonderful opportunity for the teams to come together in Christchurch and for the young players to experience soccer at an international level, while sharing their three differing cultural and educational experiences.
The foundation was laid for continuing youth and sporting initiatives among the three cities.
This project was voted 'Best Youth Project' of the 'Sister Cities Air New Zealand Awards 2000'.
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| The Kurashiki Youth Soccer Team when they arrived in Christchurch. |
The 1999 tournament was inspired by the success in 1998 of a Christchurch Under 17 Youth Soccer Team tour to Kurashiki, Japan and Songpa-Gu in Korea.
The team, who spent three months training and fundraising, played a six aside contest in Kurashiki as well as an international game and then in Songpa-Gu the team played a Songpa-Gu Club side and a representative youth side, a game watched by thousands of local high school students.
In both Kurashiki and Songpa-Gu the boys and accompanying adults were home-hosted so were able to experience not only soccer in the international arena, but some of the culture and environment of their host countries.