
New collaboration between part-time job hunting app an and Soccer King means you can fulfill your childhood dream of being a wall when you grow up.
In dodgeball, as the name suggests, the aim is to evade the ball that comes flying towards you at speed. One reason being to win the game, the second being it really, really hurts if you get hit in delicate areas like the face or private parts. In football, or soccer if you prefer, defenders will attempt to do the opposite, shielding their goal by throwing their body, with the exception of their hands or arms, in front of the speeding ball. Their reward if they do is the pride that by taking a ball to the crotch and preventing a goal, they put their team in a better position to win the match. But with a collaboration between the part-time job finding service, an (the same company who recently gave people the chance to take part in a manga-based game show), and Soccer King, your reward for doing the same could be much more.
▼ To give you an idea of what a football to the face looks like, but in slow-motion.
Different ball, same head, 1000x slower than real time. https://t.co/u5l3aM2zxM
— Gavin Free (@GavinFree) December 11, 2016
For just four hours of standing with four other successful applicants, forming a wall against practicing free-kickers, you will be reimbursed 50,000 yen (US$442.54). And to inspire you to greater feats of bravery, for every ball the wall manages to block each member will receive a 500 yen bonus. The company will also cover your fare to and from the event (unfortunately from anyway within Japan – do Japanese embassies abroad count as Japanese soil?) that is planned to be held on the evening of January 11 in Iwata city, in Shizuoka Prefecture, home to the J-league team Júbilo Iwata.
The application window runs from December 19 to January 2. Wannabe wall members, five of whom will be successful, can apply by following an’s official Twitter account, retweeting the tweet below, and then filling in an entry form. The job is open regardless of age or gender, and the company suggest that it would be ideal for people for whom the ball is a friend, not to be feared, or are affectionately known as “Skyscraper” or “Green Giant”. So the taller and wider you are, the better. Time to crack out our medieval torture racks and pies.
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/942915152290004992The lucky few will also have the football boots and kits they need for the event provided, and will receive studded boots signed by Júbilo Iwata, and former Japan and Celtic, player Shunsuke Nakamura, who’ll be the one repeatedly taking free kicks for you to block, face-first if needed.
With the company saying that no experience is necessary, you don’t need no education, you don’t need no thought control. All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall.

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