Junior high school women’s baseball is becoming more active in Kanagawa Prefecture year by year. Over the past 15 years, we have seen the formation and development of the team.
We spoke to Tomoyuki Omae, the coach of the prefecture’s select team “Kanagawa Yamayuri Club,” about its history and the activities that took place this year.
A girls’ junior high school baseball team in Kanagawa Prefecture with a history of about 15 years.
Junior high school women’s baseball in Kanagawa Prefecture began in 2011 with the establishment of the Yokohama Women’s Club. This was established as part of the baseball training team of the city’s Junior High School Athletic Federation (Chuutai Ren).
The prefecture’s first women’s team aims to create a place for female baseball players in the prefecture.
2016 was a turning point. A national tournament for junior high school girls will be sponsored by the All Japan Softball Baseball Federation. In response to this, at the request of the Prefectural Baseball Federation,“Kanagawa Yamayuri Club”was established.
Two years later, in 2018, the name of the prefectural team participating in the national tournament was decided to be “Kanagawa Yamayuri Club,” so the existing team changed its name to “Kanagawa Iris” to avoid confusion.
Since then, the number of girls’ junior high school baseball teams in the prefecture has been on the rise. In 2020, the Yokohama All Izumi Baseball Club, a men’s softball baseball team, will become the prefecture’s first mixed-gender club team.“Yokohama All Izumi Women’s Baseball Club”Formed.
In 2023, the prefecture’s first all-female softball team“Sagamihara Hydrangers”has been established.
Last year, Kanagawa Iris established a club for junior high school students to avoid confusion with general teams for high school students and above.“Kanagawa Club”Name changed to. Kanagawa Iris practices with the Kanagawa Club, a general club for high school students and above, so that they can continue playing baseball as players after graduating from junior high school.
Starting this year, the aim is to increase the number of women’s teams in the prefecture.“Chuutai Ren Dreams”was established. Meanwhile, the Yokohama Women’s Club will be disbanded by the end of the year, saying it has fulfilled its original purpose.
As such, there are currently four women’s softball teams in the prefecture: “Kanagawa Club”, “Yokohama All Izumi Women’s Baseball Club”, “Sagamihara Hydrangers”, and “Chuutairen Dreams”.
These four teams will compete in the Kanagawa prefecture qualifying round to advance to the “Kanto Tohoku Hokushinetsu Women’s Baseball Tournament,” which is also a step toward the national tournament, and the winning team will earn the right to participate in the tournament.
Kanagawa Prefecture has been given two spots in the Kanto Tohoku Hokushinetsu Women’s Baseball Tournament, and the remaining one goes to the selected team, Kanagawa Yamayuri Club.
Players from three teams other than the winning team mentioned above, as well as junior high school baseball teams and softball club teams consisting mainly of male players, are selected to participate in the tournament.
Furthermore, Hiroshi Shinjo, the manager of Kanagawa Yamayuri Club, was also the first manager of Yokohama Women’s Club.
When he was an advisor at Yokohama City Namamugi Junior High School, he won second place in the All Japan Youth Softball Baseball Tournament, and his students include pitcher Akihiro Aoyagi (Tokyo Yakult Swallows) and pitcher Kohei Miyadai (former Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters).
I was impressed by how hard the players worked.
Omae, who is currently a junior high school teacher, is a coach at the Kanagawa Yamayuri Club.
He revealed how he came to be involved in girls’ junior high school baseball.
“I started getting involved in my first year as a teacher in 2018.I wanted to become a teacher and when I was doing teaching practice at my alma mater during university, I was introduced to the team by teachers in the prefecture.”
Mr. Ohmae, who participated in a practice there once, said he was impressed.
“I still remember being very moved by seeing the players’ eyes shining and how hard they were working.
At the time, baseball was more strongly viewed as a men’s sport, but he said, “I’m happy to be playing baseball,” so I thought it would be rewarding, so I decided to join the team.”
She began working as a full-fledged coach and obtained qualifications such as “Japan Sports Association Certified Softball Baseball Coach 3” and “1252 Certified Female Athlete Conditioning Expert Certification Level 2.”
She is still working with the players to revitalize women’s baseball in the prefecture.
“Girls Festa” is the biggest event of the year
There was one big move this year. That was the “Girls Festa” held in September.
This festival was an exchange game for female baseball players held for the first time at Shimizugaoka Park Baseball Stadium (Minami Ward, Yokohama City) with the aim of popularizing junior high school girls’ baseball in the prefecture and increasing the number of teams.
The tournament was aimed at female students enrolled in baseball clubs at junior high schools in the prefecture, and the participants formed impromptu teams in eight blocks along the areas of the schools the players attend, and each block competed against the other.
This event was made possible because the Kanagawa Prefectural Baseball Federation is putting more effort into softball baseball for girls’ junior high schools. Mr. Omae reveals the circumstances behind holding the festival as follows.
“A big tournament held every year is the Kanto Tohoku Hokushinetsu Women’s Baseball Tournament, and since Kanagawa Prefecture only has three teams in the preliminary round (Kanagawa Club, Yokohama All Izumi Women’s Baseball Club, and Sagamihara Hydrangers), the federation wanted to increase the number of teams participating.
In addition, I often hear people say, “If I had known there was a baseball team, I would have joined it,” but an important purpose was to provide an opportunity for those who have not received this information or are not familiar with the team.”
In preparation for the event, the “Kanagawa Prefectural Junior High School Federation Softball Baseball Club” played a central role, working hard to provide explanations and gain understanding from all parties. The team visited federations and organizations, coordinating with and gaining cooperation from many people involved, including teachers who are officials of the Chutai Federation.
It took more than three months to bring the project to fruition, while also carrying out various procedures such as securing a stadium and recruiting players.
A new movement born from the festival
80 junior high school girls baseball players from around the prefecture participated in Girls Festa. Mr. Omae also commented on the response, saying, “More players came than we expected.”
Many of the participating players were reportedly nervous at first because they were on a team with players from other schools, but they gradually warmed up to each other and were seen genuinely enjoying baseball.
Kanagawa Iris players and Kanagawa Yamayuri club alumni also participated in the festival as support.
One of them was Ayano Ozaki (Yokohama Hayato High School), who also participated in the “High School Baseball Women’s Selection vs. Ichiro Selection KOBE CHIBEN” held in Nagoya in August.
Three years ago, she served as captain of the Yokohama Women’s Club and the Yamayuri Club, and now she has had close contact with Japan’s leading players, which was a great inspiration for the participants.
After the festival ended, something happened that made the festival even more meaningful.
“By having the players interact with each other, they were able to feel like, “Right now, I’m the only one at school, but I have so many friends,” which led to increased motivation on a daily basis.
Most importantly, the range of career choices has expanded. Yokohama Hayato High School is the only high school in the prefecture that has a women’s baseball team, but some of the alumni and participating members go to strong schools outside the prefecture and are approached by high school scouts.
So I received a variety of reactions, including some who saw me and made me a goal, and others who went to the same university as me, so it was an opportunity for us to meet face to face first.”
“So that each team can have more opportunities for activities.”
In fact, “Chuutairen Dreams” was formed by the players who performed well at Girls Festa.
The Chutai Ren Dreams participated in the tournament qualifying round in October, and although they lost in the first match, they had an even match against the Yokohama All Izumi Baseball Club. (*Sagamihara Hydrangers won the prefectural qualifying round for the second consecutive year)
Girls Festa, which was held for the first time, played a variety of roles, including providing competitive experience and player exchange. Mr. Omae has the following thoughts regarding his future prospects.
“In the future, I would like to popularize women’s baseball to the same level as sports such as basketball and badminton, which are played separately for men and women.
As a first step towards this, each team, including the Kanagawa Club, should increase and continue their activities, which will not only help popularize the sport but also improve the level of the sport as a whole.As it did this time, widening the circle of players will lead to career choices.
I want to be connected to such a movement, and I will continue to work towards that end.”
Kanagawa Prefecture has a long history as a region where baseball is popular. In women’s baseball, we are actively working to raise the level of development starting from junior high school baseball.
(End)
[Related article]
Baseball5 and 3×3 basketball teams team up for the first time! The power generated by urban sports will build the future of a cohesive society and regional revitalization.
Koshien Dream Project challenges Baseball5 for the first time! Junk 5 envisions a major step toward “realizing a cohesive society through baseball-type sports”
Baseball5 Junk 5 holds the “Junk Summer Cup” A space where “seriousness” and “fun” coexist, created by a unique environment
