Japanese High School Baseball

Japan;

Yes; I have seen this philosophy of discipline and baseball for 22 years.

Goodwill Series <www.goodwillseries.org> will play the best 18 players, selected from the 84 year Japan National HS Tournament.

We will host the Japan National Team, two games in Cooperstown on 31 August and three games 2-3-4 at USC in Los Angeles.All games will be TV to 40 million people in Japan.

This will be our 17th Japan/ America Goodwill Series. We have 40% of American players [alumni], since 1983 in the Major Leagues.

Our American players will be selected by pro scouts and interviewed for their skills, self teaching and ability to adjust to the skill level of future Ichiro's and H. Matsui.

The Japan Team will be the strongest High School. At this time, I am concerned for the ability of our American players to compete on the level.

We will select two teams from the Eastern USA and Western USA.

Multi sport players are preferred.

Bob Williams

When my son was 12 he played a game against a visiting Japanese team. We played with their ball, which is rubber and slightly smaller than a regular baseball.

I remember thinking: If you want to kill baseball in the U.S., make the kids play with this ball. It makes no noise when hit, goes nowhere, and its small size makes hitting it squarely very difficult.

Do the high schools play with that same ball? Anybody else have experience with it?

Baseball must be the national pastime of Japan.

Ours must be something else yet undetermined, but no doubt completely unrelated to our social and cultural way of life.

Japan;

The baseball is regulation ML quality made by Mizuno or SSK.

We will use the Diamond baseballs and SSK bats.

Bob Williams

I too saw the documentary Kokoyakyu on PBS and thought it was well done. I hope it’s re-aired soon so more can see. It had special meaning for me as my son just returned from Japan last month after traveling with Bob Williams (aka Consultant). The film focused on the importance of the Koshien national high school tournament. Founded in the early 1900s, that tourney spans two weeks and attracts over 400 million television viewers.

Japan loves baseball like no other sport. The respect paid to the game of baseball is huge, and everyone in Japan apparently shares the honor. It’s hard to draw a parallel with the game here, as the commitment level just isn’t the same on a national basis. I suppose the CWS comes closest.

My son told us stories of intense competition and outstanding sportsmanship, He described great facilities and high fan participation, wonderful talent and sound fundamentals; how the pitchers throw gas and the hitters make contact. That sounds like great baseball in any language.

I’ve said it before in another thread, but Bob Williams has an outstanding international baseball program. The organization is first class, and the staff is highly experienced. If you ever get the chance to send your son or daughter to a Goodwill Series with Mr. Williams, by all means do it.

Here’s a link to the PBS page where you can watch the Kokoyakyu trailer.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/kokoyakyu/resources_03.html

Baseball is the national pastime of Japan.

The intensity and dicipline involved at every level is a wonderful thing to see.

I neglected to mention that there's a very interesting interview with Bobby Valentine on the PBS page along with some related info on baseball culture in Japan. See the link above.

A friend played pro there for 2 years. Everything paid plus $500,000 a year tax paid. He loved it and was talking about going back. Very intense ball.

Very good interview with Valentine. He makes very good points. He even makes suggestions through comparison on how and why the high school game is better attended in Japan as compared to here.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/kokoyakyu/special_valentine.html