Masakazu Ieshiro of the baseball club of Mitaka City No. 2 Junior High School in Tokyo, who also served as the director of youth baseball for a long time
There is a system called “club activity instructor” as a solution to problems of public junior high school activities such as lack of human resources for teacher advisors. Masakazu Ieshiro, who has served as a baseball team manager for school children in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo for about 15 years and also learned sports mental coaching, will be active as a club activity instructor for the baseball club of Mitaka City Daini Junior High School in Tokyo. He is looking for a new way of junior high school baseball club, such as elementary and junior high school baseball coaching that makes use of the characteristics of the area where student baseball is active, and he feels that there is still a possibility in the club activities of the baseball club.
-Mr. Ieshiro, who has been teaching youth baseball for a long time, has the title of “club activity instructor” who is not familiar with it. He is neither a director nor an adviser. What kind of guidance is he doing?
Club activity instructors are outside instructors who can provide guidance and guidance on behalf of their advisors in club activities at public junior high schools. You will be a school employee. In addition to technical guidance, I am involved in overall club activity management, including management.
――Does your title become an adviser to the baseball club?
No, the advisor’s teacher is in charge. I don’t like children calling me a director, so I ask them to call me a coach.
――I think that being an outside leader is a position that is based on the understanding of the school. How did you become a club activity instructor in Mitaka Nichu?
At the mental coaching study session that I hold regularly, the mother of the guardian of the Mitaka Nichu Baseball Club came to me, and from the new semester, a teacher who had no experience in baseball became an advisor, and the children and guardians also became parents. However, I received a consultation that I was confused. So I decided, “If I’m okay, I’ll help you.”
–Do you have the necessary qualifications to become a club activity instructor?
Only enthusiasm and passion (laughs). However, when hiring, it may be better to have a qualification as an official coach of the Japan Sports Association.
――It is important that you want to convey the joy of baseball to children and that you want them to continue for a long time. The number of such conscious coaches tends to increase among club team leaders. Mr. Iejo is a school employee, but what about the treatment in reality?
I have received a reward, but it is small. It seems that the idea that leaders = volunteers is still deeply rooted in Japan. I want you to do it again.
