Tokoro Curling Club
# Tokoro Curling Club

The Tokoro Curling Club (常呂カーリング倶楽部) is a curling club in Tokoro Town, Kitami City, Hokkaido Island, Japan. The club has about 40 teams, including a team "Loco Solare" (ロコ・ソラーレ).

## 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 Advics Tokoro Curling Hall [ja] 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

"Loco Solare" (ロコ・ソラーレ), also known as the LS Kitami (LS北見), 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 | Years curled | Throw |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Mari Motohashi (本橋 麻里) | Founder, Captain & Alternate | 2010 | – | Office worker | (1986-06-10) 10 June 1986 (age 37) | 25 | Right |
| Megumi Mabuchi (馬渕 恵) | Co-founder & support staff | 2010 | (Retired: Mar. 2015) | Social worker | (1983-07-06) 6 July 1983 (age 40) | | Right |
| Akane Eda (江田 茜) | Co-founder (Left) | 2010 | Sep. 2013 | Pastry chef | (1989-07-07) 7 July 1989 (age 34) | | Right |
| Yurika Yoshida (吉田 夕梨花) | Lead | 2010 | – | Office worker | (1993-07-07) 7 July 1993 (age 30) | 25 | Right |
| Yūmi Suzuki (鈴木 夕湖) | Second | 2010 | – | Office worker | (1991-12-02) 2 December 1991 (age 31) | 22 | Right |
| Chinami Yoshida (吉田 知那美) | Third & Vice skip | 2014 | – | Office worker | (1991-07-26) 26 July 1991 (age 32) | 25 | Right |
| Satsuki Fujisawa (藤澤 五月) | Skip | 2015 | – | Office worker | (1991-05-24) 24 May 1991 (age 32) | 27 | Right |
| Ryoji Onodera (小野寺 亮二) | Coach | 2010 | – | Farmer | (1960-12-13) 13 December 1960 (age 62) | | |
| Junichi Kaizuka (貝塚 純一) | Trainer | 2010 | 2015 | Physical therapist | | | |
| Tatsuya Omori (大森 達也) | Chief trainer | 2014 | – | Physical therapist & Athletic trainer | (1973-10-03) 3 October 1973 (age 49) | | |
| Rentaro Suzuki (鈴木 廉太郎) | Trainer | | – | Physical therapist & Athletic trainer | (1986-12-05) 5 December 1986 (age 36) | | |

### Team

| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate | National Events | YTD Ranking |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 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 |
| 2015–16 | Satsuki Fujisawa | Chinami Yoshida | Yumi Suzuki | Yurika Yoshida | Mari Motohashi | WCC | 20 |
| 2016–17 | Satsuki Fujisawa | Chinami Yoshida | Mari Motohashi | Yurika Yoshida | Yumi Suzuki | PCC AWG | 32 |
| 2017–18 | Satsuki Fujisawa | Chinami Yoshida | Yumi Suzuki | Yurika Yoshida | Mari Motohashi | PCC OG | 11 |

### Grand Slam record

Key :

| C | Champion |
| - | - |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| 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 |
| - | - | - |
| Winner | 2014–15 | Avonair Cash Spiel |
| Runner-up | 2015–16 | International Crown of Curling |
| Runner-up | 2015–16 | Karuizawa International |
| Runner-up | 2015–16 | World Women's Curling Championship |
| Runner-up | 2016–17 | International Crown of Curling |
| Runner-up | 2017–18 | Red Deer Curling Classic |
