May 13, 2022 6:00
The Ichisako Sho (Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture) baseball club, which participated in the 2005 selected high school baseball tournament in the 21st century and won the first Koshien in the spring and summer, was abolished due to a shortage of members. Due to the influence of the reorganization of the school district of Miyagi Prefectural School General Course, the number of members has decreased year by year, and the number of members has been less than 5 for the past 5 years.
Former director Kumagai “Thank you for your support”
The Ichisako Baseball Club was established in 1973 when the school was founded. From 2003 to 2005, he won the second place in the autumn prefectural tournament for the third consecutive year and advanced to the Tohoku tournament. He participated in the selection tournament in the spring of 2005 in the 21st century, and defeated Shutoku (Tokyo), who was the top 8 in the summer of 2004, 5-2 in the first round.
At one time, there were more than 50 members, but the number of members has decreased due to the increase in the number of local junior high school students going out of the city due to the introduction of one school district in all prefectures of the prefectural school general course in 2010. Since 2018, he has participated in each tournament as a team with neighboring schools, and in the summer of 2008, the last two members retired. The absence of members continued for a year, and the abolition was decided in December last year.
Former director Sadao Kumagai (67), who strengthened the team through hard training and led to Koshien, retired in March 2016, which also led to a decrease in the number of members. After retiring, Mr. Kumagai, who supported the club as an outside coach, calmly accepts that “it was like that. It can’t be helped.” Looking back on his participation in the selection tournament, he said, “I was grateful for the support of the people who were in a hurry and said,’It was the best memory I have ever lived.'”
Masahide Sato, a 51-year-old teacher who served as the director for 10 years until the abolition, said, “I wanted to do something as a person who has been involved for a long time.”
From this year, the school has revised the framework of club activities so that it can carry up to three clubs. The process of establishing a new department has also been simplified, making it possible with an advisor regardless of the number of members.
Teacher Sato, who has experience as a coach at two schools, Shiogama and Natori, said, “The revival of the baseball club is not so difficult. I don’t think much about the history and traditions of the club, and I want children who like baseball to come.” ing.
Comparing the statistics of Japan High School Baseball Federation between 2008 and 2009, the number of member schools decreased from 4163 to 3890 in Japan and from 82 to 73 in Miyagi prefecture. The average number of members per school has also decreased from 40.7 to 34.5 in Miyagi and from 37.5 to 31.4 in Miyagi.
