Japanese High School Baseball

Right across the street from Canadian Academy, the Rokko Island High School boys baseball team practices. These boys are there nearly everyday of the year at lunch time and after school. They water and rake the packed sand field. They run sprints and race across the field doing frog squat jumps. They practice batting, throwing, pitching, and catching in a million different ways. The martial sound of these young men chanting "HEY HUP, HEY HUP is part of the background here much like the birds or crickets back home.

It is fascinating to watch and listen to the full throated chants as these boys practice day after day. There is a vague feeling of a military boot camp to their practices. Perhaps it is the endless drills. Perhaps it is the precision with which each member of the team completes each drill. Perhaps, the endless running and effort regardless of the searing August sun or the cold January winds. For all the times I have stopped to watch them for a moment or two, I know that I have never seen them play a game or practice game like situations. It is endless drills of the basics along with stretching and running.

According to our coaches at CA, the year round Japanese school teams are far superior to our weak seasonal squad. When the CA middle school (grades 6-8) scrimmages against a local Japanese team, it is against 4th graders. And CA still usually loses!