The national high school girls’ baseball selection tournament that ended on April 3rd. It was the first time in history that the final match was held at Tokyo Dome in the 23-time tournament. Hiroko Yamada, chairman of the All Japan Women’s Baseball Federation, spoke to the audience at the closing ceremony.
“My mom won the Tokyo Dome,” said her son, “Dad, I’ll take you to Koshien.” Women’s baseball, everyone. I’m here
Last summer, the final match of the National High School Women’s Baseball Championship was held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium. In addition, Hanshin entered the management of the women’s baseball team last year, and the giant and the NPB baseball team continued to enter the management of the women’s baseball team this year. ing.
The competition population is 300 → 2000
Chairman Yamada began to be involved in women’s baseball in 2004. She was asked by the boss of a sports agent company in her previous job to be an interpreter for the American national team who came to Japan at an international tournament, and she first came into contact with women’s baseball.
Chairman Yamada, who had been busy every day, recalls, “I was healed by women’s baseball” while interacting with female players at various competitions. “I’m doing so hard in such an environment …”, I was moved by the undeveloped environment of women’s baseball and their pure and sincere attitude.
At that time, the domestic female baseball population was 300 or not. Even so, the efforts of the ancestors who devoted themselves to baseball have paid off, and now the number of female players playing hardball exceeds 2,000, and if you include softball, the number will increase further.
Currently, there are about 100 women’s hardball teams nationwide, and they participate in championships sponsored by the All Japan Women’s Baseball Federation and league games held in each region. In addition, the number of schools affiliated with the National High School Women’s Baseball Federation has increased to 43, and the number of schools is steadily expanding. It is a rare category in which the competitive population is increasing in the Japanese baseball world, where the declining baseball population is being called for, and there is no doubt that it will play an important role in the future baseball world.
