{"id":452059,"date":"2025-05-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=452059"},"modified":"2025-05-20T01:57:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T01:57:02","slug":"soldiers-in-yokohama-engage-with-local-youth-during-inaugural-sports-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=452059","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers in Yokohama engage with local youth during inaugural sports exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n A Soldier assigned to the 5th Transportation Company at Yokohama North Dock, plays a game with a girl during an inaugural sports exchange event between the unit and local youth May 6 at Yokohama North Dock.
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YOKOHAMA NORTH DOCK, Japan \u2013 An event between Soldiers stationed here and a local youth baseball team brought the groups together for a day of sports, physical training and even a tour aboard an Army watercraft.<\/p>\n

The 5th Transportation Company (Composite Watercraft Company) welcomed the Yokohama Higashi Little League team to Yokohama North Dock on May 6 for the inaugural exchange between the unit and the youth athletes, who practice several times a month on the field located on the installation.<\/p>\n

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\n Capt. Alena Leshchyk, left, commander of the 5th Transportation Company commander, along with Soldiers from her unit, welcome the Yokohama Higashi Little League team to an inaugural sports exchange event May 6 at Yokohama North Dock.
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Capt. Alena Leshchyk, commander of the 5th Transportation Co., said her unit is new to Yokohama, and they were looking for opportunities to engage with their host city and share a little bit of what they do. The exchange event provided the perfect opportunity, Leshchyk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpening doors and engaging with our host city will not only help the Soldiers here have a richer cultural experience; it will also strengthen the ties between our unit and the city, making it more a joint community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\n Soldiers assigned to the 5th Transportation Company at Yokohama North Dock pose for a photo together with a group of local children they invited to the installation May 6 for an inaugural sports exchange event.
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The initial plan was for the Soldiers and little leaguers to play baseball on the same field where they practice. Inclement weather necessitated moving activities to North Dock\u2019s indoor fitness center, where they played dodgeball and basketball together.<\/p>\n

The Soldiers also treated their guests to pizza for lunch and later showed them aboard a Landing Craft Utility vessel, which are used to transport troops and equipment.<\/p>\n

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\n Staff Sgt. Yerandy Gongora, left, assigned to the 5th Transportation Company, shows a piece of equipment to members of the Yokohama Higashi Little League team while aboard a Landing Craft Utility watercraft May 6 at Yokohama North Dock. The unit invited the team to their installation for an inaugural sports exchange event.
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Masaharu Sano, a sixth grader and his baseball team\u2019s captain, said he and his teammates had fun playing and eating with the Soldiers and getting to tour the LCU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my first time interacting with U.S. Soldiers, so I was a bit intimidated at first,\u201d Sano said, \u201cbut after I started to play with them, I learned they were very kind and funny.<\/p>\n

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\n A boy steers the wheel of a Landing Craft Utility watercraft May 6 at Yokohama North Dock. That day, members of the Yokohama Higashi Little League team were invited to North Dock for an inaugural sports exchange event with 5th Transportation Company Soldiers. The event also included the children getting a tour aboard the LCU.
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\u201cThe best part for me was seeing the inside of the vessel for the first time and realizing how big it was,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd of course, eating pizza with the Soldiers afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sano and the team said they were enthusiastic about more opportunities in the future to interact with the Soldiers.<\/p>\n

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\n Soldiers assigned to the 5th Transportation Company, stationed at Yokohama North Dock, Japan, lead children in doing push-ups inside the installation\u2019s gymnasium during an inaugural sports exchange event between the unit and local youth May 6 at Yokohama North Dock.
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Leshchyk agreed, saying it was great to see the children and the Soldiers be enthusiastic, motivated, excited, and having fun playing together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it endearing to see how the language barrier and the cultural barriers go away when they\u2019re together having fun,\u201d the commander said.<\/p>\n

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\n Soldiers assigned to the 5th Transportation Company at Yokohama North Dock pose for a photo together with a local child who was part of a group invited to the installation May 6 for an inaugural sports exchange event.
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Leshchyk called the event a success and said she hopes the children had a good time and learned something new about the U.S. Army, and that Soldiers are not so different from them and like to have fun too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a presence here in Japan,\u201d Leshchyk said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important that we take part in the community and contribute something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Soldier assigned to the 5th Transportation Company at Yokohama North Dock, plays a game with a girl during an inaugural sports exchange event between the unit and local youth May 6 at Yokohama North Dock. (Photo Credit: Noriko Kudo) VIEW ORIGINAL YOKOHAMA NORTH DOCK, Japan \u2013 An event between Soldiers stationed here and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452061,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-452059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=452059"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452069,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452059\/revisions\/452069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/452061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=452059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=452059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=452059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}