50 years of “wanting to popularize minibuses”
○…The Yokohama City West Mini Basketball Federation, which consists of elementary school teams from Totsuka Ward, Izumi Ward, and Sakae Ward, is celebrating 50 years since its establishment. At that time, the Totsuka Ward Minibus Federation started with 14 teams as it was not yet divided into districts. Although the number has declined in recent years due to the declining birthrate, there are still 25 affiliated teams and approximately 800 registered players. Although he has supported the tournament behind the scenes for many years, he says, “It’s always a joy to see the children grow.”
○…Born in Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku. He was a third-year student at Maioka Junior High School and was on the basketball team. “At first, it was a branch school of Totsuka Junior High School, and I used to run all the way to Tonaka School to practice.” In high school, he continued to play basketball at School Y, which was one of the prefecture’s strongest schools, but he recalls those days, saying, “When we were winning, Zushi Kaisei always stood in our way.”
○…My involvement with minibuses began when I was in my late 20s. As I was visiting schools for work, I heard the sound of a minibus whistle coming from the Taisho Elementary School gymnasium. At the time, most children’s sports were baseball, and the elementary school’s minibus team had just been established as the prefecture’s first team. He became involved with the idea of “wanting to spread this type of activity,” and started a federation with the teachers who served as team leaders. Until then, it had only been a practice match, but “little by little it started to feel like a competition, and the level rose.”
○…I was coaching athletes myself until three years ago. He says that he was most happy when “more children of my students joined the school.” Developing human skills through basketball. But even before that, he has a strong feeling that he doesn’t want to create children who hate basketball. Therefore, we have put a lot of effort into holding seminars for instructors and parents. Many of the federation’s executives are former minibus workers in the western part of the country, and he says with a smile, “We have a lot of young people. I can feel safe leaving the job to them.”
