By Matthew Lau/Red Sports
Players from both teams hit side by side in batting cages. The Singapore national baseball team hosted the Japan Tokyo All-Star High School baseball team during an immersion programme. (Photo 1 © Matthew Lau/Red Sports)
Kallang Diamond, December 26-29, 2014 — The Singapore national baseball team played host to the Tokyo High School all-star baseball team in an immersion programme aimed to forge new friendships between the players and to share knowledge on training techniques and methods.
The Singapore team were mostly made up of secondary school softball players who have embraced baseball as their primary sport. The coaches and officials for baseball are volunteers who have a passion for the game and are committed to developing our nation’s youth.
The team from Japan consisted of 18 handpicked players; most of them are captains of their respective top schools. Accompanying the squad was a team of 19 staff, including specialised coaches and physiology trainers.
The programme kicked off with a welcome dinner on December 26, followed by two days of training and a farewell dinner on December 29. The players went through a training programme specially designed by the Japanese head coach, Katsuhito Ichihara. The programme focused on improving the fundamentals of baseball with exercises to improve aspects such as fielding and hitting. The players were also exposed to a higher level of baseball with more sophisticated plays and training techniques.
In addition to training with the Singapore squad, the players from Tokyo held a small clinic for young players from Baseball Club Singapore.
Ichihara said, “The players here are very passionate about the sport. They are very hard working and willing to learn. If they were to continue to train harder, they will definitely be able to achieve more. Due to the monsoon season, the ground was rather muddy but I could feel the passion among the players as they sponged the field and prepared the field early in the morning to train. I feel that the players should not treat the poor field conditions as a disadvantage but instead learn to be persistent and patient to take this positively and grow from this experience.”
“This programme not only benefits the local players but it has also helped the Japanese players to understand that there are people around the world who do not have good training conditions and environments as they do back home and helped them to learn to treasure the benefits that they have. I would like to continue this baseball relationship with Singapore. As baseball is a very minor sport in Singapore, during my next trip, I would like to invite the local players over to Japan to watch the Koshien National High School Baseball Tournament. I hope that through this, the players would be more passionate and motivated to train harder and see playing baseball at a higher level. I would also like to share my experiences and skills to younger kids who might be able to play high school baseball in Japan,” added the Japanese head coach.
“I had a lot of fun these past few days. Despite language barriers, the way the Singapore players communicated with us, through smiles and happy gestures, was really heart warming. I enjoyed being here and teaching the ways of Japanese baseball. In Japan, where baseball is a major sport, we are more particular and detailed than the Singaporeans, but I can sense, through the effort and spirit of the Singaporean players, how passionate they are about this sport. If I ever had the chance to come over again, I would like to be able to teach and show the Japanese way of baseball in a more detailed fashion and further strengthen the bond between Japan and Singapore. I would also like to experience other things besides baseball with the Singaporeans in order to learn more about our culture and lifestyle,” said Kazuki Kitamoto, captain of the Tokyo High School all-star baseball team.
“I have been able to achieve my biggest goal of the immersion which is for the Singapore players to enjoy playing baseball with the Tokyo high school players,” said head coach of the Singapore national baseball team, Hideyuki Uchida.
“I hope that we would be able to continue the immersion for another 47 years, since there are 47 prefectures in Japan, and to increase the amount of time players would have to interact and talk to their buddies in the future trips. I believe that the Singaporeans lacked the speed which the Japanese players have, thus more training, preferably daily, would be crucial to develop the explosive speed that the Tokyo team has displayed and to achieve greater heights for Singapore baseball,” he added.
“Despite having had two of such exchange programmes with the teams from Wakayama and Kyoto, these few days with the Tokyo team is still a fruitful and eye-opening experience,” said Wang Gang Yi, captain of the Singapore national baseball team.
“Through this programme, not only did I learn to improve myself technically, I’ve also forged new friendships and memories with the Tokyo team. I definitely hope that this good relationship with Japan will continue and that teams from other parts of Japan will continue to come down to Singapore for more immersion programmes. I also hope that one day, we will be able to go to Japan for an immersion programme as well,” he added.
This is the third time that the national baseball team has hosted teams from Japan. The team hosted a team from Wakayama in 2009 and a team from Kyoto in 2012.
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