Hirofumi Hanamura founded “Shizuoka Futures” for girls only in 2018
Last year, Koshien held the final match of the National High School Baseball Championship for the first time, and the enthusiasm for women’s baseball is increasing. Director Hirofumi Hanamura, who founded the prefecture’s first elementary school girls’ team “Shizuoka Futures”, was working with the expectation that this movement would spread to Shizuoka Prefecture, the kingdom of soccer. The commander from Shizuoka Commercial High School, who also produces professional baseball players at Koshien regular school, has a guidance policy based on the Japan women’s soccer team “Nadeshiko Japan” and is called “Hana-san” by the players.
In Shizuoka prefecture, not only boys but also girls play soccer, and especially high schools are competing for victory in national competitions almost every year. In recent years, women’s baseball has begun to change in that “soccer kingdom.” The women’s baseball club was established for the first time in the prefecture at Tokai University Shizuoka Shoyo High School, and the movement of the founding club is spreading to other high schools. With expectations, the one who read this “wind” was director Hirofumi Hanamura, who is also the representative of the elementary school baseball team “Shizuoka Futures”, which is only for girls.
“I was hoping that a women’s high school baseball team could be formed in Shizuoka in the future. I wanted to broaden the base of women’s baseball as much as possible in preparation for that time.”
It was in 2013 that Hanamura became very interested in women’s baseball. She was shocked by the “Japan Cup,” a tournament in which female teams from all over the country, from amateurs to professionals, compete for the top across generations. The venue for the 3rd tournament in 2013 was Kusanagi Baseball Stadium in Shizuoka City. Hanamura watched the women’s baseball tournament for the first time because the daughter of an acquaintance who belongs to the Tokyo team participated. She was amazed at the quality of play as soon as the match began. She said, “There was a sense of speed, and it was a level far beyond my imagination that girls were really playing. The defense was soft and beautiful.” At the same time as he was impressed, I was wondering why there is no women’s baseball team in Shizuoka.
If you make a movement for women’s baseball in Shizuoka prefecture, the circle should expand. After working as a leader for the youth baseball team, Hanamura launched the elementary school girls’ baseball team “Shizuoka Futures” in April 2018. The team, which started with two players, currently has 13 members from the first grade to the sixth grade. Most haven’t touched grabs or bats until they join the team.
