The biggest event in February was that Kanto League gathered the two branches of East-West Tokyo to hold an intra-league skills competition, which included the junior high school baseball league summarizing this year's operations, coaches exchanging training skills, and the player level including Baseball Museum's visit, communication with Japanese Professional League baseball players, and the fastest measurement of pitchers of different ages.
Such an event sounds very grand, and of course it also gathers a lot of media. The final player event is the biggest gimmick. The homepages of major media also announced the list of the most popular players of all ages, which has been very popular for several weeks.
The East and West Tokyo branch has a hundred Little League clubs in total. Each club only counts 20 people, but more than 2,000 people come. Therefore, this annual event only invites players who are about to enter the third grade of junior high school, so the number of junior high school students participating in the event will drop to a few hundred.
Therefore, the situation on the day of the event was that there was no parking space three kilometers outside the venue. In addition to the media, there were also parents who came to the scene to cheer. Although they were not allowed to enter, they could watch the live TV broadcast outside the venue. Therefore, parents sitting on car roofs, tents, and barbecue sheds outside the venue also became the targets of the media every year.
Shen Qing's situation does not allow her to go out now, so Sasaki Family's two children are planning to follow Coach Ninomiya back in a chartered car later.
"Wow - it's such a big place." It looked like an abandoned racecourse, with stands all around. There was no grass on the ground and it was dusty, but the place was quite big.
Just like the opening ceremony of the Celestial Dynasty, there is still an old man talking nonsense for half an hour on the far podium.
Kōshū stands out in a group of people at a height of 1.85 meters. At the age of 14 or 15, he usually grows to between 1.6 and 1.7 meters, so he is very conspicuous when he dozes off. He has been caught many times in the live broadcast. The host even teased in the studio "Is he getting up too early" and "maybe he is looking forward to it too much".
Shen Qing covered his face with one hand and tugged at her husband's clothes in shame with the other. "This child is so shameless! And this shot, it's been more than ten seconds, why are you still looking at him!"
"It's coming, it's coming, I won't keep facing him." Mr. Sasaki reassured, and he began to feel lucky that he didn't go near the venue.
However, next, Kōshū made another move to keep the lens that was originally going to be removed.
"Ah! I put my chin on the head of the classmate in front of me. It seems that sleeping standing up is not very comfortable."
"This height is just right!"
"Hahaha, we have a very good relationship." Discussion started again in the director's room.
Then Mr. Sasaki also covered his face. The one who acted as the boss in front of Kōshū was his son Lang Zhi. The child looked a little unhappy, but was suppressed by Kōshū. The two of them thought that there was no big noise and stood in the back row. Unexpectedly, the whole process was seen by their parents.
I hope no neighbors will pay attention to this live broadcast! This was the only thought of the Shen Qing couple. It was hard for these two children to be on TV for the first time, and they still had such embarrassing footage, so they had to record it quickly.
The two people who knew nothing about it were finally going to visit the Baseball History Museum with everyone.
"You're not drooling, are you?"
"Where is the coach?" Kōshū, who accidentally fell asleep, was first concerned about whether the coach had seen him.
"Don't worry, all the coaches have already gathered for the meeting in the conference hall." Hayakawa, as the captain of Kinoshita Club, is responsible for leading his team members in the follow-up, "Don't get lost."
This Baseball Museum is not so much about the history of baseball as it is about how baseball was introduced to Japan and how it developed subsequently. A large section of the venue at the back displays the deeds of various celebrities and the history and evolution of each team. Kōshū didn't quite understand it, so he finally turned to the door, which is a large souvenir area.
Without a coach around, many children started to buy things. Hayakawa came over and specifically warned the two brothers, "The coach said, don't buy souvenirs during the unified tour. If you really want to buy something, just buy it together when you leave."
"I don't want to buy it anyway." Is this appropriate? Before coming, Lang Zhi specifically asked. Every player needs to pay a corresponding fee for this event, which is included in the annual fee paid by the club to the league. At the same time, there will be broadcast fees and advertising fees for the TV broadcast. Now they even have to earn souvenir fees from the child players. They gave the children a full 20 minutes in the souvenir area.
"Aren't you afraid of being sued by your parents?" Kōshū has been living in Japan for a year and has seen many examples of big companies making mistakes on individuals.
"After all, the Baseball League is the official organization of student baseball. It even has the right to ban a team. If a lawsuit is filed, the children will be forced to wear small shoes. Parents will have such worries." Hayakawa also understood what Kōshū meant. He only took the coach's words and went to the front again.
"Is it Yakult later?"
"I saw on the news yesterday that it was Yakult."
The memorial hall became more and more crowded, and everyone at Kinoshita Little League followed the flow of people back to the racecourse. The children around them were discussing the process for a while.
"Oh - here it comes!"
There was a commotion in front of them. Kōshū and the others came out late and missed the entry of relevant team personnel. During spring training in February, Yakult's star players visited the scene.
To be honest, Kōshū only felt that the faces were familiar, and he didn't feel anything about it. However, the lively atmosphere around him made him excited, and he was squeezed in front of him unknowingly. The children who entered later were not so lucky. For the sake of safety, they were all rushed into the stands.
"Then it's the game session. Igarashi and Miyamoto want to compare their pitching accuracy."
"Eh? -" Although they had already been informed about the form of today's event, the two of them still had to pretend to be surprised. The more than fifty children who were let in around them also became excited. There was no need to explain, they were just fifty ready-made childminders.
"Our staff has put up the Nine-section Grid signboard, but it's a little unfair. Igarashi is the pitcher, and Miyamoto is the shortstop... Let's see, Igarashi is 18 meters here, and Miyamoto is 16 meters here."
The photographer followed the host to the Nine-section Grid board in the distance. "The rules are very simple. Every time a ball is thrown, a wooden board marked with a number must be knocked off. Each team has a total of 5 missed opportunities. Whoever uses up the first will stop first. In the end, we will see which team knocks down the most wooden boards. Do you understand?"
The children all responded excitedly, "I understand."
"So, what I just said about 'each team', do you understand what I mean? Isn't it too easy to just let the players pitch? In order to increase the difficulty, two children on site were selected to join the players' team to pitch together. Do you want to participate?"
Before the host finished speaking, some children who understood had already started jumping and raising their hands.
Kōshū was clapping happily next to the host, but was pushed out by the force coming from behind.
"Ah - it seems that our first child who wants to participate has come out. Children, what is your name, and which Little League team are you from?"
Kōshū had cold sweat and a pound sign on his forehead, and said calmly, "Kōshū, Kinoshita Little League."
This skills competition is written by combining part of the league's All-Star Competition, because the All-Star Competition is for each Little League team to select star players and compete separately to determine the final champion. I don't want to write about the competition here. It's not that I'm lazy, but I don't want to write too many characters. I may rarely mention these people later, but use up a lot of my name library.
At the beginning of this chapter, I am writing about Kōshū making a name for himself within the alliance~