On May 30th, Yoichi Naganuma visited his hometown elementary school, Saitama Municipal Honta Elementary School, and presented gifts to the 155 first graders who enrolled this year.



The elementary school visits are part of the hometown activities, and are aimed at achieving the Urawa Reds philosophy of "healthy development of young people." By having players visit schools and interacting directly with the children, the aim is to deepen children's interest in sports and soccer and to give them dreams and hopes. As part of this, from 2021, the club has been delivering entrance gifts to first graders at elementary schools in Saitama City.





On the day, when Naganuma visited the first grade classroom, he was greeted with big applause from the students and greeted with a smile. After introducing himself, he handed a representative student of the class a pencil with a red, white and black design featuring Redia, the official mascots of Urawa Reds, as a gift for entering the school, and an invitation flyer to watch Trial this season. The students happily accepted the gifts, and the classroom was filled with loud cheers as students were seen shouting out in joy, "We did it!" and "Amazing!"





After touring all five first grade classes, they also visited classrooms for second through sixth graders. Many of the children were wearing Urawa Reds uniforms that day, and they actively communicated with the children, asking them questions like, "Have you ever been to Saitama Stadium?", "Which player is your favorite?", and "Make sure you support the player with number 88."
Although the time was limited, Naganuma was smiling throughout and enjoyed interacting with all the students in the school, resulting in a warm moment of exchange.

The entrance celebration gifts will be delivered to 57 elementary schools in Saitama City in sequence.

【Yoichi Naganuma】
"This was my first visit to an elementary school since coming to Urawa Reds, and I was really encouraged by the children's innocence.
I think there are many children who like Urawa Reds, and I would be happy if that circle spreads and more children come to watch Trial. Today, as a gift for entering school, we presented them with a flyer that allows them to watch Urawa Reds home games. I would be happy if this leads to more people getting to know Urawa Reds, falling in love with soccer, actually starting to play soccer, or becoming a fan of Urawa Reds and coming to support them."



[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]