JSNC Volunteers at the 2019 Prefontaine Diamond Classic

Japan Society of Northern California’s Road to Tokyo 2020 Initiative kicked off with its first major sporting event engagement on June 30, 2019. We were involved with the famous Prefontaine Diamond Classic 2019 at Stanford, the first of the series of Track & Field trials that will continue internationally and culminate in the finals in Eugene, Oregon in 2020.

It was a perfect day with a packed stadium. And, most importantly, a fantastic meet, amazing athletes and records set—and of course delightful volunteers. You can see a few pictures here, so be sure to check them out!

The Prefontaine Classic Volunteer Manager’s compliments and appreciation says it all:

“Well, we did it! After months of planning and work on an event that has such a rich history, it has come to a close. Thank you so much for all of your flexibility and hard work. Many of you would come up and ask, ‘how can I help’ or ‘anything else need to be done’ and that is so appreciated…volunteers to cover all areas and then some.”

– Sawyer Franz, Volunteer Manager, Prefontaine.

Special thanks to Larry Greenwood, Miho Greenberg and Wesley Yee, as well as volunteers Yale, Rohan, Emily, Jamie, Christine, Shizu, Eric, Ishita, Monwashisu, Tom, Shigekazu and Bryan.

Coming up next on July 29, 2019 is the WTA Mubadala SV Tennis Classic at San Jose State (fka Bank of the West Classic, at Stanford). We will partner with United States Tennis Association in the annual pre-Classic Kids’ Playday with about 100 kids from the community, who will participate in tennis drills, games, players Q&A and interviews, followed by lunch and free tickets to first day of the match. For many of the kids, this will be their first time to see a live tennis match! A call for volunteers will follow shortly, so please keep an eye out.