The is a curling club in Tokoro Town, Kitami City, Hokkaido Island, Japan. The club has about 40 teams, including a team .
Background Hokkaido Island, Japan and Alberta, Canada became sister province in 1980. Then, curling was introduced to Tokoro Town as an outdoor recreation 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 curling 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 medals at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.
History Mari Motohashi, who was an Olympian at Torino 2006 and at Vancouver 2010 as a member of Team 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 and Yumi Suzuki, 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 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.
In June 2014, Sochi 2014 Olympian as alternate; Chinami Yoshida joined the team. In the season of 2014–15, the team got their first winning prize at the World Curling Tour event; Avonair Cash Spiel. In May 2015, Satsuki Fujisawa 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. At PyeongChang 2018, the team got bronze medals.
Members Name Role Joined Left Occupation Born Yearscurled Throw Founder,Captain &Alternate 2010 – Office worker Right Co-founder& support staff 2010 (Retired: Mar. 2015) Social worker Right Co-founder(Left) 2010 Sep. 2013 Pastry chef Right Lead 2010 – Office worker Right Second 2010 – Office worker Right Third &Vice skip 2014 March. 2026 Office worker Right Skip 2015 – Office worker Right Coach 2010 – Farmer Trainer 2010 2015 Physical therapist Chief trainer 2014 – Physical therapist & Athletic trainer Trainer – Physical therapist& Athletic trainer
Team Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate NationalEvents YTDRanking 2010–11 Mari Motohashi Yurika Yoshida Megumi Mabuchi Akane Eda Yumi Suzuki — 2011–12 Mari Motohashi Megumi Mabuchi Yumi Suzuki Akane Eda Yurika Yoshida 265 2012–13 Mari Motohashi Yurika Yoshida Megumi Mabuchi Yumi Suzuki (Akane Eda) 171 2013–14 Mari Motohashi Yurika Yoshida Yumi Suzuki Megumi Mabuchi 155 2014–15 Mari Motohashi Chinami Yoshida Yumi Suzuki Yurika Yoshida (Megumi Mabuchi) 52 2015–16 Satsuki Fujisawa Chinami Yoshida Yumi Suzuki Yurika Yoshida Kotomi Ishizaki PCC 20 Mari Motohashi WCC2016–17 Satsuki Fujisawa Chinami Yoshida Mari Motohashi Yurika Yoshida Yumi Suzuki PCCAWG 322017–18 Satsuki Fujisawa Chinami Yoshida Yumi Suzuki Yurika Yoshida Mari Motohashi PCCOG 112018-19 Satsuki Fujisawa Chinami Yoshida Yumi Suzuki Yurika Yoshida PCC2018 CWC/First-Leg2018 CWC/Second-Leg2018 CWC/Grand Final 8 https://www.curlingzone.com/rankings.php?task=week&oomid=82&eventyear=2019
Grand Slam record
Event '14–15 '15–16 '16–17 '17–18 Tour Challenge N/A DNP DNP DNP Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP The National N/A DNP DNP DNP Canadian Open DNP DNP DNP DNP Players' DNP DNP DNP QF Champions Cup N/A Q DNP Q
Former events Event '14–15 Autumn Gold Q
Other notable WCT record World Curling Tour records other than Grand Slam.
Result Season Event Reference
References
External links , a.k.a. : Official site (Google Translate) Facebook: Team LocoSolare (Google Translate) NPO, : 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