Professional baseball player → Certified public accountant passed. “Is it okay to do that?” During his active days, he used to open texts even in the locker room | Business Insider Japan

The average age at which a person is no longer active or retires is 27.1 years old. The average length of stay is 6.8 years.

The period during which a professional baseball player can be active as an active player is short. So where do players go after they retire?

In a 2023 survey by the Japan Baseball Organization (NPB), more than 90% of respondents said they would work in a baseball-related job even after retiring from professional baseball.

However, some people choose a completely different career path. Shun Ikeda, who we spoke to this time, is one of them.

After playing professional baseball for the Yomiuri Giants and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, he is currently a certified public accountant exam passer and a lecturer at the CPA Accounting Academy.

What is the axis of Mr. Ikeda’s career, having passed through two narrow paths, from being a baseball player to becoming a certified public accountant?

“It’s fun to think about it” When I discovered baseball in junior high school

Ikeda first encountered baseball when he was in elementary school.

Thanks to the influence of his baseball-loving father, who is the manager of a youth baseball team, and his older brother, who had already started playing baseball, Ikeda found himself on a baseball team as well.

Although he was good at sports, he preferred playing games and hanging out with friends.

It was during his junior high school days that he discovered the joy of baseball.

“When I was in elementary school, I was just told to do this and that, but…It was really interesting when we started thinking and practicing on our own when we became middle school students.That’s right.

I didn’t win any games, but I enjoyed playing baseball for three years.”

Dreaming of Koshien, he decided to enter Niigata Meikun High School, a strong local school.

The school is also a preparatory school. Since he did not have a great track record during his junior high school days, it was difficult for him to enter the university based on sports recommendation, so he studied hard to prepare for the general entrance exam.

Professionals have no choice. My dream is to be a math teacher

After entering high school, he served as the ace player from the fall of his second year. In the summer of his third year, he participated in Koshien and advanced to the top eight.

Although Ikeda has been active so far, he never considered becoming a professional baseball player as a career path after graduating from high school.

“Of course I enjoyed playing baseball, but when I was in my second or third year of high school and thinking about my career path, I realized that I was good at math.

I also like talking to people, and I thought it would be great to become a math teacher.｣

He chose Senshu University’s Faculty of Commerce as his destination. After participating in Koshien, he received an invitation to Senshu University. While dreaming of becoming a math teacher, he decided to continue playing baseball even after entering university.

In fact, right before he entered university, his career path after graduation was already decided. In the spring of his 18th year, while still a high school student, Ikeda participated in a field trip with his university baseball team, and his pitching caught the attention of the manager of Yamaha’s adult baseball team.

“How old are you?”

“I’m a high school student.”

“Come to my house after you graduate from university.”

The relationship that began with such an exchange lasted for four years.

“Of course, I had dreamed of becoming a teacher when I was in high school, so there were times when I was nervous.

But everyone at Yamaha really cared about me over the past four years. I thought this was a blessing in disguise, so I decided to pursue only baseball.”

Late-blooming professional debut: “Retirement is always on my mind”

After joining Yamaha, he has been active as a reliever since his first year. In his second year with the company, Yamaha won the Japan Amateur Baseball Championship for the first time, and Ikeda received the Most Valuable Player Award.

However, at the age of 25, he decided to quit Yamaha.Ikeda was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the October 2016 draft.Noda. Although he was worried about leaving the stable world of adult baseball, he decided to pursue professional baseball.

“I felt anxious and conflicted about leaving the team that I had supported for two years.However, by the end of my first year of professional baseball, I realized that my abilities had improved significantly.

I had been scouted by professional baseball players, so I started thinking that it might be a good idea to give it a try.”

However, professional baseball players who start at the age of 25 are generally late bloomers. As mentioned earlier, baseball players often retire around the age of 27.

“From the moment I entered the world of professional baseball, I wondered how long I would be able to continue playing baseball. Players like me, who have just entered the workforce, are expected to perform immediately.

If you don’t get results right away, you’ll be fired quickly. Post-retirement was always in the back of my mind.｣

Pre-game locker room with text spread out

After playing for the Yomiuri Giants for three years, he transferred to the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles. He spent a total of five years as a professional baseball player. Ikeda says that being able to experience two different teams was a valuable experience.

On the other hand, he cannot shake his concerns about his career after retirement. One day while Mr. Ikeda was active as a professional baseball player, he began studying to become an accountant.

“As I became a professional baseball player and consulted various tax accountants, I became interested in taxes.I realized that even though it was something I had to pay, I didn’t know much about it.

gradually,The job of being a tax accountant seemed cool, so I decided to get certified myself.。

However, in order to take the tax accountant exam, you need to earn credits in social science at university, take Level 1 bookkeeping, or gain at least two years of work experience at a bank or tax accountant’s office. There are several methods, but they all have high hurdles.

So I decided to take the CPA exam, which anyone can take without any qualifications and can even register as a tax accountant, so I started studying.”

The passing rate for the CPA exam is around 7%. Naturally, a considerable amount of study is required. In order to balance his work as a professional baseball player, he woke up at 4 a.m. and made time to study. I studied whenever I had a spare moment before or after a game or practice.

“Before a match, I even called the school and said, “I don’t understand this problem…” and they taught me how to solve it. After clearing away my confusion from studying, I focused on the match. I had a routine like that.”

Just before the match, in the tense locker room, each player is concentrating in preparation for the match, but Ikeda stares at his accountant exam textbook.Other players sometimes asked me things like, “What are you watching?” “Is it okay to think about things like that before the game?”。

“Many professional baseball players don’t think about a second career during their playing days.It’s taboo to think about quittingWhat is it? It’s like admitting defeat.

“What will you do after you quit? ‘You basically can’t talk like that with other players.”

Passed the difficult exam after studying hard for 9 hours a day

However, I decided to pursue my goal of becoming a certified public accountant. In order to move on to the next stage of his career, he has decided to retire from professional baseball in the fall of 2021.

He was held back from the team. Even my parents were against it. At that time, she was already raising children. It’s only natural that he would give up his job as a professional baseball player, which pays a lot of money, and aim to become a certified public accountant, which he doesn’t know if he’ll pass the exam. However, my wife was the only one who supported me from the beginning.

Somehow, he managed to convince those around him and began to pursue his goal of becoming a certified public accountant.Studying at your desk for 9 hours a daydid.

“I felt like I was going to break down many times.The content of my studies was difficult, but I also felt uncool because I wasn’t working, and I felt inferior.

But even though I have a family supporting me, this is not the time to say things like that. I was determined to pass on the first try.”

In 2023, he successfully passed the certified public accountant exam in just one attempt.

After passing the exam, he chose the career path of becoming an instructor at the CPA School of Accounting, a certified public accountant qualification school. In fact, he took a correspondence course from CPA Accounting Academy until he passed the exam.

Many people who qualify as accountants find employment at auditing firms or tax accountant firms. However, Ikeda once again chose an irregular path.

“I quit baseball at the age of 30 and was worried about where I would be able to work since I had no experience as a working adult.But, by chance, when I was job hunting, I found an opening for an instructor position.

I thought that I could use my experience to give back in some way, so I decided to go for an interview. Besides,I thought that my dream of becoming a teacher, which I had when I was in high school, might come true.｣

The trick to making a habit is not to rely on motivation.

Currently, he gives lectures and provides advice on a daily basis to people aiming to become certified public accountants. Like Ikeda, there are many people who are aiming for a career change or who are working hard at studying while raising children.

Now that she has gotten the job she once aspired to as a teacher, I wonder how she feels about her job.

“Honestly, I thought that since I had studied so much, I would be able to teach it to others right away.However, when I actually tried it, understanding it and teaching it are two completely different things.

However, it makes me very happy to see the content communicated well and the students go home with happy faces. Some people come to me to report that they got a good score on the exam, which makes it very rewarding.”

The trick to continuing studying is not to rely on motivation. Whether you’re a certified public accountant or a professional baseball player, you don’t always feel motivated every day. Still, he says that in order to achieve stable performance, it is important to develop habits.

“It’s rare to find someone who enjoys studying, but once you make it a habit, you’ll feel like you’ll do it anyway.

If you want to improve your skills or have a goal you want to achieve, I think the key is to practice and study until it becomes second nature.”

Motivation: “fun” and “returning the favor”

His career has changed from working baseball player to professional baseball player to certified public accountant. All of these choices can be said to be outside the realm of the typical career.

What is important when deciding on a career?

“When I choose something, I first think about whether it will be fun or not.If you don’t have fun as your core, you’ll never be able to do it.. I thought baseball was fun, so I made it my career, and when I chose to become an accountant, I enjoyed studying it because I loved numbers.

If you don’t know what you like, take a look at the search history on your smartphone. Before you know it, there’s probably a theme that you’ve been researching a lot.I think it’s a good idea to explore your own interests from that point of view.”

In recent years, in addition to doing things that are fun for him, he has also become more interested in helping others.

Mr. Ikeda, who has made a major transition from being a baseball player to becoming an accountant, is sometimes approached by fellow baseball players for advice.

“I once received a call from a player who was thinking about retiring.We weren’t on the same team and I didn’t know him at all, but I guess that meant he didn’t have anyone around him to talk to.

are worried like meWork that supports the second career of professional baseball playersI think it would be great if we could do that too. I’ve been helped by many people in the past, so I want to give back to those around me, although the form may be different.”

During the interview, Mr. Ikeda mentioned the word “give back” many times. Although he says that the core of his career is “whether or not it’s fun,” it seems that at the root of this is his feelings for the people around him, which has not changed since his high school days.

Perhaps it is because of this mindset that he has been able to successfully make such a bold career change.