The characteristic of the player that the commander of V2 times nationwide thinks is “power to imitate”
Director Masato Tsuji of the youth baseball team “Taga Youth Baseball Club” in Taga Town, Shiga, has celebrated its 34th year since launching the team. The theme of the 4th serialization is “Characteristics and common points of growing players”. Director Tsuji feels that the growing players were good at “imitation power” while coaching many players who are active on the upper stage such as Koshien Stadium. A typical example is Takahiro Norimoto, a pitcher of Rakuten, who is said to have outstanding ability to analyze and absorb the skills of good players.
Director Tsuji gives priority to teaching the way of thinking and how to use the body necessary for baseball so that the skills of the players will improve after junior high school when the body grows. Twenty-one of the players who have left the team so far have participated in Koshien and stood in the sanctuary as regulars. Director Tsuji says that athletes with high athletic ability do not necessarily grow.
“When I go to a selected team in Shiga prefecture, I usually have the opportunity to interact with players and parents who are playing in other teams. Although my athletic ability is clearly higher than that of my team’s players, my batter and defense are inferior. Such parents and children say that there is a cause other than themselves, such as “because there are not five hitting machines like Taga” and “because there is no wide ground like Taga”. There are many cases. I think it’s a reason to convince myself, but if I don’t change my way of thinking, I can’t make the most of my athletic ability. “
The players who participated in Koshien from the Taga Youth Baseball Club were not all players with large bodies and high athletic ability. The characteristic of the growing player that Tsuji thinks is “the ability to imitate”.
“The best way to improve your skills is to imitate a good player. If you can analyze why you can’t do what you can and adjust it to suit you, you’ll get better and better. I think it’s natural that once you get into the habit, you’re more likely to grow up in middle school or high school. “
