Hadano City has recently been certified as a “women’s baseball town” by the All Japan Women’s Baseball Federation. It will be the first municipality in Kanagawa Prefecture and the 13th municipality in Japan (as of November 14th) to receive a certificate at a commemorative event on Sunday, December 11th.
“Women’s Baseball Town” is a certification given to local governments that meet standards such as activities to popularize women’s baseball, city promotions that make use of this, original projects, women’s baseball, and the creation of opportunities to improve the status of women and play an active role. .
In Hadano City, Yu Kato, a former female professional baseball player who is currently an ambassador for Da-no-Furusato, is from the city. Because of the success of the schoolchildren’s baseball team “Hadano Sakura Angels” and the junior high school girls’ hardball baseball club team “Seisho Future”, we applied in the spring of this year and after the examination by the federation. , has been accredited. An official of the city’s sports promotion division said, “Since we’ve been approved as a town where women’s baseball is thriving, it’s a big advantage that we’ve been able to properly promote it.” In the future, in order to expand the base of women’s baseball, in addition to actively promoting activities for children, we plan to conduct a project in collaboration with “Sunny Catchball”, a women’s baseball cram school for which Ms. Kato is the representative.
Logo mark also decided
Along with the certification as a “women’s baseball town,” a logo was also announced. This logo is designed with a cherry blossom motif in order to express Hadano-likeness in the basic shape determined by the Federation. It is decided by having players who belong to the women’s baseball team vote from among 17 types created by students of Tokai University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
At the same time, a manga artist and illustrator Mohiro Kito, who lives in Hadano, created a women’s baseball image character. The illustration also depicts Mr. Kato’s jersey number “9”, which will be used for flyers and posters in the future to spread awareness.
Practice experience at a commemorative event
At the certification commemorative event held on December 11th at Chuei Shinkin Stadium Hadano (148 Hirasawa, Hadano City), Hiroko Yamada, Representative Director of the federation, was invited to present the certification and hold a signing ceremony. There will also be a Yosakoi performance by Seisho Future.
From 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm on the same day, a practice experience of “Seisho Future” will be held. It is aimed at female junior high school students who want to play baseball or who want to know the atmosphere of the team. Participation is free, no registration required. Directly to the venue (Q/[mobile phone]090-4940-6451). Use a hardball.
Ms. Kato said, “I am very happy that Hadano City, where I was born and raised, was certified as the first women’s baseball town in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is called the baseball kingdom.” I would like to further boost women’s baseball from Hadano City,” he commented.
