Former Japanese High School Ballplayer Coaches Thai Students

Nakayama, 31, is serving with the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, a program run by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Baseball is not widely followed in Thailand, but some of his students aim to make the national team. Nakayama's practices are lively and focused.

A native of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, Nakayama started playing baseball in third grade of elementary school and went on to attend Meiho Senior High School in Oita Prefecture, a traditional powerhouse.

As a sophomore, he helped the team navigate the local tournament to earn a spot in the summer national championships at Hanshin Koshien Stadium, the mecca of Japanese high school baseball. A pitcher, he did not take the mound at Koshien, despite dedicating himself to three years of rigorous training.

He continued playing at Okinawa University before shifting his focus to coaching, working with high school players as a student coach. After graduation, he became a social studies teacher at Kadena High School in Okinawa and also coached its baseball team. In his first year, he helped lead the squad to the summer national tournament at Koshien.

In May last year, Nakayama left for Thailand as a member of the JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, motivated by a strong desire to take on an overseas challenge.

He was assigned to a two-year post at Suphanburi Sports School in Suphan Buri Province, about two hours north of Bangkok by car. The school is a fully residential public junior-senior high school with about 650 students. Tryouts during the admissions process determine the sport of each student.

Nakayama coaches 33 boys in baseball and 11 girls in softball. The teams train twice daily on a dedicated field--90 minutes from 6 a.m. and three hours from 3pm. During tee work and base-running drills in May, students showed initiative, with senior players calling out to younger teammates, "Run, run!" and "Stop here!"

Nakayama said, "I prioritise building trust in coaching." He eats with students in the dormitory and makes a point of speaking Thai, which he is studying, to deepen communication.

In Thailand, soccer, volleyball and badminton dominate the sports scene. There is no professional baseball league, and only one other school fields a baseball team.

Even so, the country has national baseball teams at multiple age levels to compete internationally. Many Suphanburi Sports School students and alumni are selected for these squads, and Nakayama coached one of them last year.

Nanthapat, a second-year junior high school student, enrolled at the school inspired by a relative, an alumnus who played for the Thai national baseball team. The 13-year-old said Nakayama's careful focus on fundamentals has helped him improve. He hopes to join the national team himself and also play professionally in Japan.

Baseball has long forged a strong bond between Japan and Thailand. For many years, JICA has dispatched baseball instructors around the world, and Nakayama is the fifth coach assigned to Thailand. One Japanese coach has even managed a national team of Thailand.

"During winter in Japan, it's warm in Thailand, so I'd like to attract Japanese teams for training camps here and get them to play against Thai teams," Nakayama said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]