The is a

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

club in Tokoro Town, Kitami City,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

Island, Japan. The club has about 40 teams, including a team .

Background

Island, Japan and

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada became sister province in 1980. Then,

was introduced to Tokoro Town as an

outdoor recreation Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

while farmers could not work in winter, and has been popular sport among people in Tokoro. In 1981, lessons are held by former world champion curler Wally Ursuliak. The administration of Tokoro Town, later Kitami City, built public indoor curling facility in 1988, which is rebuilt as ' in 2013. But major sponsor does not exist in Tokoro because it is a small local town. As the result, famous curlers born in Tokoro has gone to other prefectures in Japan.

Loco Solare

, also known as the , is a women's amateur

team established in July 2010 by Olympian curler Mari Motohashi. The team is based in, and all the members are from Kitami City. The team got

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s at

PyeongChang 2018 The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

History

Mari Motohashi, who was an Olympian at Torino 2006 and at

Vancouver 2010 The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

as a member of

Team Aomori Team_Aomori_2006

The Aomori Curling Club is a curling club in Aomori, ...

, had also been one of such curlers. She thought why curlers born in Tokoro could not stay in the town. In the Summer of 2010, she asked two former curlers once retired, Megumi Mabuchi and Akane Eda, and two student curlers

Yurika Yoshida is a Japanese curler. She currently plays lead for Team Loco Solare, which is skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa. The team won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Career Yoshida was a membe ...

and

Yumi Suzuki is a Japanese curler. She currently plays second for Team Loco Solare, which is skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa. The team won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Career Suzuki was a member ...

, to join her rink named "Loco Solare," also known as "LS Kitami." At the press conference in Tokyo on 16 August 2010, she announced leaving Japanese national representative

Team Aomori Team_Aomori_2006

The Aomori Curling Club is a curling club in Aomori, ...

to establish her own rink in Tokoro. It was hard to find big sponsor in Kitami City, but small ones increased slowly. But in September 2013, Eda left the team because she could not kept the balance of curling and her work

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; feminine pâtissière, ) is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bistros, restaurants, bakeries, b ...

. In June 2014, Sochi 2014 Olympian as alternate;

Chinami Yoshida is a Japanese curler. She currently plays third for Team Loco Solare, which is skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa. The team won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Career Yoshida began cur ...

joined the team. In the season of 2014–15, the team got their first winning prize at the

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and Doubles curling, mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later ass ...

event; Avonair Cash Spiel. In May 2015,

Satsuki Fujisawa is a Japanese curler from Kitami, Hokkaido. As a skip, she has won the Japanese national championship six times. Fujisawa skipped the bronze medal-winning Japanese team at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and the silver medal-winning team at the ...

joined the team. After Fujisawa became the member, Mabuchi retired from games, but the team got medals as Japanese representative in various tournaments every year. In 2015, while Motohashi had maternity leave, Kotomi Ishizaki appeared at Pacific-Asia Championships as alternate.

Olympics

In September 2017, this amateur team won the five set match at 2017 Japanese Olympic Curling Trials against team

Chiaki Matsumura is a Japanese curler from Nagano. She was a longtime member of the Chubu Electric Power curling team from 2012 to 2023. With the team, she won five Japan Curling Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019. At the international level, she ...

. At

, the team got

Members

Team

Grand Slam record

Former events

Other notable WCT record

records other than

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

References

External links

, a.k.a.
Official site (Google Translate)
Facebook: Team LocoSolare
(Google Translate)
NPO, {{Nihongo, Tokoro Curling Club, 常呂カーリング倶楽部
Official site (Google Translate, Nonprofit organization)
Advics Tokoro Curling Hall
Official site (Public curling hall owned by Ktami City)
2016 Swift Current WCC's introductory PDF (pages 1, 15)Team Satsuki Fujisawa
–

Grand Slam of Curling The Grand Slam of Curling (formerly branded as the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling for sponsorship reasons) is a series of curling bonspiels that were formerly part of the annual World Curling Tour. Grand Slam events offer a purse of at least Ca ...

Curling in Japan Curling clubs established in the 21st century Sports clubs and teams established in 2010 2010 establishments in Japan