Taga Youth Baseball Club Director Tsuji “It’s fun when you hit a wall”
The youth baseball team “Taga Youth Baseball Club”, which is active in Shiga and Taga Town, has been the best in Japan for the second consecutive year with “the most fun in the world! The strongest in the world!” Participate in. The final episode of the series by director Masato Tsuji, who leads the team, is “Next Vision.” Leading a team in Tokyo to train players who can embody “Taga baseball” in the 4th grade, two years earlier than now. Always look for walls and never stop.
The Taga Youth Baseball Club will participate in the national tournament again this year. This is the 34th year for Tsuji, who started the team at the age of 20. He won the national tournament in a row in 2018 and 2019, and his students include many Koshien baseball players in addition to pitcher Takahiro Norimoto of Rakuten. As a leader, he has made no more achievements. But he is always looking for new walls.
“I’m asked by the leaders of other teams who come to see the practice, but sometimes they say,’Isn’t it fun?’. It’s fun when I hit a wall. “
If you don’t hit the wall, make your own wall. Director Tsuji started teaching infants last year. Until now, first graders were the youngest on the team, but now there are children all year round.
“Athletes who entered from the first grade of elementary school grow rapidly from the fourth grade who understands how to use the body and tactics. In the sixth grade, even if I do not teach in practice or give a sign in the game, The players are in a state where their bodies are moving freely. If a child who started baseball all year round reaches the same level as the current sixth grade when he is in the fourth grade, what kind of player will he be? I’m excited to imagine the world. “
Director Tsuji envisions “guidance two years ahead of schedule.” He wants to create the “completed form of Taga baseball” that the current sixth grader will reach in the fourth grader.
“There is a youth baseball team that accepts infants, but it has not been trained for the purpose of teaching the fun of baseball. I want to teach children knowledge and skills while conveying the fun of baseball. I think, of course, there are some parts that are difficult for toddlers and lower grades to understand, but you may find a new way. “
