Hitoshi Takashima, the renowned former head coach of Chiben Wakayama High School’s baseball club, who has won 68 games in the spring and summer Koshien tournaments, the most of any high school baseball coach, referring to the disappointment students must have felt after the cancellation of the summer National High School Baseball Championship due to the coronavirus.
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I feel so sorry for senior high school students all over the country that I cannot find the words. Now that it has come to this, I want them to shift emotional gears and think, ‘Hey, life is long and unexpected things can happen.'
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UK9393
I for one of millions am absolutely DELIGHTED it is cancelled. It is an appalling darkness that shuts everything else out during the summer. Good riddance to an archaic and inane competition that exposes the poor kids to injury, both physical (Far too much practice pitching, throwing, batting, etc many many times more than US equivalents etc) and emotional (Bullying etc).
YongYang
Am sure the children will be pleased they don’t have to throw 180, 200, or more pitches a day! Young arms need rest, young minds need relaxation! Far too militarised in its approach and execution. The marching and rigid disciplinary nonsense. Here’s to more change in the system!
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/12/62bc917294f4-focus-baseball-high-school-pitch-limits-tip-of-japans-injury-iceberg.html
FizzBit
High school students? How about all the 18 year old 1st year college kids who’ve left home, living alone, unable to go to class or make friends?
Vince Black
Yeah im Sure the kids and the parents are going to terribly miss sitting outside in sweltering heat all day pretending they’re having a good time
Ah_so
Hold it in the autumn. What's the problem? It's just a week. The world won't end.
redelmotalking
Once these kids graduate and are a few years on after school, they will realise that high school baseball wasn’t life and death like they were led to believe by everyone - teachers, coaches, the society and the media.
Laguna
My kids' HS always hit the sweet spot: second place in the regional tournament, so eliminated from Koshien. All students' parents, whether players or not, are expected to contribute at least 10,000 yen towards the team's journey to Kobe.
Ah_so
But some will drone on about the fact that they played at Koshien for the rest of their lives. And for many, it will be the standout moment of their lives. They will never achieve that level of celebrity again.
Mocheake
Really going to miss the tournament this year. Losing both March Madness and the Koshien sucks.