The WBSC u-15 level competition is held every even-numbered year. This year is 2006, just in time for Kōshū to meet. The competition takes the form of preliminaries, semi-finals and finals. There are a total of 12 representative teams from all over the world, divided into two groups AB. The preliminaries are group civil wars, five days, one game every day.
Finally, the ranking is based on the ratio of the total points scored and the total points lost in 5 games. For example, if you score 50 points in total and lose 25 points in 5 games, then the score/loss ratio is 2. In this way, even if the number of wins is the same, you can rank higher and lower. Each group has the ranking of A1\A2\A6. The last 2 of each group, namely A5\A6, will be eliminated, and then there will be a rematch within the group.
There will be a total of 2 games in the semi-finals, one against the team in this group, one against the other team, the ordering method is the same as the preliminary round, and finally the final. The final will be played between the first place Team A and the first place Team B, and the second place Team A will be played against the second place Team B... In the form, the final winner of the first place and the first place is the champion, the loser is the runner-up, and the winner of the second place and the second place is the third runner-up, and so on.
Judging from the data of previous years, the Japanese team ranks in the middle. Countries with strong performance are generally the United States and Cuba. This is probably due to race. Children in these countries develop early and have advantages in body shape. In American high school students' games, 150+ appears much more frequently than in Asian countries. However, the characteristic of Asians is that even if many pitchers reach professional baseball, they are much more likely to increase their ball speed after gaining muscle.
Coach Ninomiya explained the entire game schedule to the two players on paper. If they are not eliminated in the group civil war, there will be 8 games in the entire 8 days. The schedule is very intensive, so there will be 8 pitchers, 2 catchers, and 4 infielders and outfielders.
"This kind of game is of great significance to the players. Winning or losing is secondary. The most important thing is to communicate with players from other countries and see how their players play in powerful countries. This is very useful for broadening their horizons."
"So, each pitcher can only play one day?" Kōshū felt very uneasy when he heard the huge number of pitchers.
"No, the on-the-spot arrangements will be discussed later. What you have to do now is to sharpen all the existing weapons."
Kōshū hasn't even appeared yet, but a lot of adrenaline has already been secreted, "Haha, we Chinese have an old saying, if you don't sharpen your weapon in battle, it will be useless."
"What about the catcher?" In the team, the position of the catcher cannot be replaced easily, because the catcher, as the backbone of the defense, needs a very long time to adjust to the team.
"This is the focus of what I'm going to talk about next. The day after tomorrow, we will form the team and conduct two weeks of integration training. After that, we will go to Taiwan to compete. The processing of relevant information will be carried out on the formation day the day after tomorrow. I will probably be very busy these two days, so I will explain the arrangements to you first, and then you can just follow."
Coach Ninomiya put on his glasses for the first time in a long time. He has invited all relevant team members in the past few days. "As for you, Hayakawa, the person in the team who needs to lead everyone forward. I hope you will take on the responsibility of the captain, assist the coaching team, and form the team as soon as possible."
"Okay!" Hayakawa was so excited that it made Kōshū's ears rumble.
Afterwards, Coach Ninomiya talked about some pitching-related things. Kōshū was filled with the excitement of participating in the World Series. He couldn't hear it. Fortunately, the coach just repeated what he often said, warning him not to over-pitch and not to put too much energy on the newly added Changeup. Kōshū only nodded.
When they finally left the coach's office, the two of them ran downstairs and ran laps in unison. They were stopped by the support staff, who strictly prohibited them from doing strenuous exercise just after eating. It was also time for a nap. The two had no choice but to toss and turn on the mattress with excitement.
On the penultimate day of August, players from all over Japan gathered in Tokyo. Kōshū stood in the team and saw a few familiar faces. Many media were taking photos of them. He could only stand in the team honestly and listened to the speech of the captain Hayakawa after the head coach Ninomiya finished speaking.
After that, everyone got on the bus one by one in front of the camera and headed to Training Camp. Their things had already been installed and they were waiting to set off.
This time Coach Ninomiya, as the head coach, refused to be followed by the media.
"Phew - it's finally quiet." The teenagers who came to the car began to become restless.
"I don't know if I closed my eyes when I took the photo just now. I asked my family to take a photo and send it to me for tomorrow's newspaper."
"Anyway, it must be a group photo. At most, it will have an origin and name."
"That's good. Do you need me to send you the photo?"
"Then add an email address."
"I want it too."
A group of people huddled together in the car. After the coaches finished dealing with the media and got on the car, they coughed and separated them.
"Let's go!" The players sat down and started the two-week running-in period.
The coaching team's schedule for the run-in is to first conduct a thorough investigation of the players in each fielding group. Although there is already sufficient information before, they still need to actually look at it and correct the information in their hands. After that, the familiarity between the fielding teams will increase, including pitching, second-stringers, outfielders and first basemen receiving passes from each fielding position. In the last few days, simulated battles and targeted reinforcement training will be conducted.
Time was in a hurry, and Coach Ninomiya frowned. This was his first time as the head coach of the Japanese team. With the mentality of doing one thing well, he must have been very busy in the past two weeks.
As soon as Kōshū and others got out of the car, they began to take physical tests, including pitching speed, accuracy, explosive power test, base running skills test, internal Outfield Defense ability test, and hitting power test. After finishing all the items without panting, it was already lunch time. In the afternoon, it was training for each fielding team. Coach Ninomiya They were nowhere to be seen. They were probably discussing revising the training plan together.
There were not many people in Bullpen in the afternoon. The legendary 8 pitchers were not crowded together, only 4 were there, and the other 4 went to practice Outfield Defense.
Kōshū's partner was busy getting familiar with the other pitchers at the moment, so he had to warm up by throwing and catching the ball with another pitcher.
The other party's name is Fujikawa, from Nara. His front teeth are a bit buckled, he is of medium height, and he looks dark and thin. In fact, everyone generally looks dark and thin. Like Kōshū, this is the only one who grew up so tall in the third grade of junior high school.
The entire Training Camp location was chosen in a very remote place. As a result, in the past two weeks, the baseball boys, in addition to playing baseball during the day, they also watched baseball-related documentaries or games at night. The time was extremely full. Of course, the busiest one was probably Hayakawa. Not only did he have to help the coach coordinate the players, he also had to get familiar with each pitcher and guide everyone's emotions. Kōshū acted as a babysitter for him several times.
Such time passed quickly. Kōshū looked at the homework information sent to him by his classmates at school. Hey, it was only two weeks into the new semester. How could the teacher talk so fast while he was away? How could he keep up with it?
On the last day, the coach showed everyone their passports and quickly took them back, fearing that these futile children would lose their documents. When leaving, near the airport, Kōshū saw his family. They didn't know how long they had been waiting here, just to see Kōshū for five minutes before he left. The team members from outside Tokyo could only stand aside and watch them talk and laugh.
"Takano, come on!" Shen Qing didn't come, her voice came from the phone, and there was a baby's murmur in the background.
"Kōshū, you have to win glory on behalf of Japan." Grandpa Sasaki seems to have forgotten that Kōshū is not Japanese, and is still saying some disgraceful words.
"What about you?" After Kōshū heard the blessings from other people in the family, Lang Zhi was left feeling angry, "What are you angry about?"
"I will watch the TV broadcast and record the whole process. If you make a fool of yourself, it will be my leverage."
Kōshū was confused and didn't understand what was going on in his head. He could only hold his head down and shake it twice. "Let's see your brother show off his power."
At the end of five minutes, Kōshū returned to the team with the things given by his family. During the waiting time, everyone shared the snacks brought by his teammates in the Tokyo area. Shen Qing cooked Dumplings for Kōshū. It was originally intended for him to eat on the plane, but before the plane even got on the plane, there was only an empty box left.
"So, why are we so prepared? Cooked food, cold food, regular meals, snacks, and side dishes are all available. In the end, they all ended up in the stomachs of teammates." Fortunately, he received the care and blessings as they were and kept them in his heart.
The competition in the article is grafted from the content of IBAF World Youth Baseball Championship in 2009. In fact, there was no international competition in 2006. The IBAF championship is the predecessor of WBSC World Baseball Classic. The actual WBSC-U15 competition was the first one in 2012.
So just take a look at the picture for fun, the competition is all fictitious