Photo By Representative photography
Ichiro (51), special assistant to the Mariners’ president and instructor, temporarily coached the Gifu baseball team over two days on the 16th and 17th.
This is his 10th baseball club visit for six consecutive years, following the Osaka Daikan Baseball Club, where he coached for two days on the 9th and 10th of this month.
Gifu is one of the prefecture’s top preparatory schools, with students passing into national and public universities such as the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, as well as famous private universities every year.
The baseball club is the oldest baseball club in Japan, and the school is celebrating its 151st anniversary this year. He is a veteran player who has participated in Koshien six times, three times in the spring and three times in the summer, including his time at Gifu, but he has been away from Koshien since the spring in 1978 and the summer in 1954. Last summer, I made it to the top 8 of the Gifu tournament. The new team lost to Ogaki Nihon University in the second round of the Gifu Prefectural Tournament this fall.
Ichiro received a letter from an alumnus and learned that even though he was recommended for the 21st century slot for the 2023 selection and did not participate, the players were starting to realize that Koshien was not a dream. He informed the students of this visit in advance and told them that he wanted them to see the baseball that Gifu High School strives for, and he decided to visit in the hope that it would be an opportunity for them to look for ways of thinking that can be applied to baseball.
After two days of coaching, he said, “I don’t have anything to say. I thought everyone’s reaction was so good. Especially the base running today. I don’t think it’s ever gone so smoothly.Everyone was the best.I was surprised by the response.
“I sort through the words I heard in my head and come to my own conclusion.That’s the way it looks.There have been many players who were dumbfounded in the past, but I didn’t have that.It had an impact.” .
“I’m aiming for Koshien, but I want you to do your best.I have high hopes for you, but I want to have even more expectations for you beyond that.I really think that you are a person who will go out into society and lead society.” “It was very stimulating for me as well.It had such an impact on me that the way I view high school students might change after meeting everyone.” “I also wanted to do my best, I still have a long way to go.I’m 51 years old, after all.” It also seemed to be a source of inspiration.
In principle, coaching student baseball requires leaving the professional team, but the Japan Student Baseball Association has decided to make a special exception because of the magnitude of Mr. Ichiro’s achievements in the baseball world and because he is not in a position to be involved in recruiting amateur players. Acceptance. Ichiro attended a training session on the student baseball qualification recovery system in December 2019 and regained his qualifications in February 2020. During the off-season when he is not active with the Mariners, he is able to instruct high school and university students, and has since taught at high schools all over the country.
It started with Chiben Wakayama in 2020, followed by Kokugakuin Kugayama, Chiba Akinori, and Takamatsu Commercial in 2021, Miyako Shinjuku and Fuji in 22, Asahikawa Higashi and Miyako in 23, and Daikan this year.
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