Shota WadaJuly 15, 2024 9:00am

“Nice batting”

The voice of the baseball team captain, Rui Shimoo (3rd year), echoed across the grounds of Kan’onji Sogo High School (Kanonji City, Kagawa Prefecture), located near the Seto Inland Sea. A banner printed in red letters reading “Let’s go to Koshien” swayed in the sea breeze.

“At first I felt a bit out of place because I’m from outside the prefecture, but Kannonji has a lot of warm-hearted people who support me.”

In late June, after completing a practice session in a realistic game setting with the Kagawa tournament just around the corner, Shimoo spoke with a refreshed look on his face.

Shimoo is from Sakai City. He dreamed of playing at Koshien and joined the Minami Osaka Baseball Club during his junior high school days. However, he did not receive any offers from the strong schools in Osaka Prefecture that he had hoped to attend, so he planned to go to a public school in the prefecture.

At that time, he learned that there was a way to aim for Koshien at a public school in another prefecture without putting a big burden on his family, so he changed his course. This was the “Setouchi Study Abroad” entrance exam system that the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education introduced three years ago.

Breaking down barriers and recruiting students nationwide

Prefectural high schools and other public schools are mainly funded by local taxpayers’ money, so as a rule, students from outside the prefecture cannot take entrance exams. What makes the Setouchi Study Abroad program revolutionary is that it breaks down barriers and recruits students from all over the country in order to revitalize the region, which is facing a declining population and low birthrate.

Kanonji Sogo is a traditional school where Kanonji Chuo, before its merger, achieved the feat of winning the spring tournament in 1995 on its first appearance. Many baseball players think that they can aim for Koshien here.

Currently, the school’s baseball team has 40 members, including the manager, and 21 of them, including Shimoo, are from outside the prefecture and took advantage of the “Setouchi Study Abroad” program. The majority of them are from Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, known as baseball powerhouses.

Nationwide recruitment systems for public schools are also in place in the other three Shikoku prefectures, but what makes the Setouchi Study Abroad program unique is that all public high schools in the prefecture have set acceptance quotas in addition to their actual enrollment numbers.

“Setouchi Study Abroad” Changes High School Baseball

A unique entrance examination system that responds to the declining population is gradually changing high school baseball in Kagawa.

Ace pitcher Shinpei Sato (3rd year), who made a major contribution to Takamatsu Commercial’s victories in the Kagawa Prefectural Tournament this spring and the subsequent Shikoku Tournament with his fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 146 km/h, also enrolled at the school two years ago on the “Setouchi Study Abroad Program.”

He came from Okayama Prefecture, inspired by the Giants’ Shogo Asano, who will thrill the crowd at Koshien Stadium as captain in the summer of 2022 and is known as the “number one slugger of his generation.” “I’m grateful that there’s a system in place that allows me to play baseball in the environment I want to play in,” he said.

Even Takamatsu Commercial High School, a nationally renowned powerhouse, is seeing an increase in students from outside the prefecture enrolling using the Setouchi Study Abroad Program.

According to the prefectural board of education, even before the introduction of the “Setouchi Study Abroad” program, there were cases where students from outside the prefecture were allowed to take the entrance exam for prefectural high schools as a special measure. However, this was limited to cases where a student’s family had to move due to a parent’s job transfer, or where the department or course they wanted to study at was not available in their area. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Kannonji Sogo also had athletes from outside the prefecture before the Setouchi Study Abroad program began, but because it required the entire family to relocate, which placed a heavy burden on parents, the number of athletes was not as large as it is now.

These changes are not without criticism. At one prefectural high school, the supporters’ association and others are expressing opposition to the sudden increase in players from outside the prefecture.

The number of students entering the Setouchi Study Abroad Program, which was 21 in fiscal year 2021, has been on the rise, with 47 students entering 11 schools in fiscal year 2024. The prefecture has earmarked a budget of approximately 12 million yen this year for the hiring of fiscal year appointment staff (promotion coordinators) who will support the lives of international students.

One of the goals of the “Setouchi Study Abroad” program is to increase the number of people with connections and exchanges and to revitalize the region. Of the 20 Setouchi students who graduated in March this year, only one remained in the prefecture.

A prefectural board of education official said, “We hear that students are stimulated by the different opinions of people from outside the prefecture,” but also revealed that some residents feel that “they are just doing this for sports.”

Kannonji Sogo coach Doi Yusuke said about the Setouchi study abroad program, “As the number of club members increases, competition is created within the club, which leads to the growth of our students.”

This year, only three players from Kagawa Prefecture joined the school’s baseball team. “I can’t imagine that we’ll be able to play baseball with the current number of players in 20 or 30 years’ time. I’m working with the sole desire to keep the baseball team going for as long as possible and keep it vibrant,” said Shota Wada.

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2024-07-15 07:40:43
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