Tuesday 29 August 2006

1Y8M 早実優勝の余韻… My love to baseball

Arata


緑色のグローブ。小学校6年生の時の父からの誕生日プレゼント。当時の私は高校野球が大好きで、中学に入ると両親に「内緒」でソフト部に入部した。6歳の時、しょう紅熱とリウマチ熱を併発して1ヵ月の入院。その影響で腎臓を患い、体育の授業では、過激な運動とされる水泳とマラソンは禁止されていたから、まさか運動部に入るなんて親には言えなかったのだ。だから、当時にしては高額の入部金、400円もお小遣いから工面した。結果的には、高校でもソフト部、大学でも学校の代表として東京都リーグに出場する楽しい経験をした。


常にミーハーな私は、野球と言うよりも、かっこいい野球選手に憧れていたのが本音。だから高校球児が年下になると、新聞の切り抜きや野球雑誌集め、校歌の録音なんて、オタクに近い趣味からも卒業。しばらくあまり見ていなかった。


でも今年は違う。女子高出身なので、母校が甲子園に出ることは永遠にないから、出身大学の系列である早実の快進撃からは目が離せず、優勝は嬉しかった。その上、早実の野球部長は、私がマネージャーをしていた理工学部硬式野球部の先輩、佐々木慎一さんだということがわかったのだ。


彼は理工の学生にしては珍しく、「将来高校の教師になって、野球部の監督として甲子園に出たい」と言って教職を取っていた。その後、都立の高校で教壇に立ち、野球部を指導しているという所までで音信不通だった。だから、いつのまにか早実に転職し、競争が激しいと思われる野球部長のポストを得て、そして、全国優勝を果たしたのだと知った瞬間、夢を叶えたんだ、それも「日本一」というかたちでと、私まで体が震えた。私が海外でふらふらしている間に、日々目標に向かって頑張ってきたのだなあと、あまりはめを外すこともなく、クールで真面目だった慎一さんの顔が浮かぶ。それに比べて私は人生で何か成し遂げられるのかしら…と恥ずかしさと焦り。


さて、アラタが生まれてからの私の夢は、将来アラタとキャッチボールをすることだったけれども、もう一人男の子が生まれるっていうことは、打撃練習でもノックでもできる。楽しみだ。彼らにも慎一さんのように、目標に向かってひたむきに取り組める人間になってほしいけれど、どうやって育てればいいのかしらねぇ。


The first clear memory of birthday presents from my father is a green baseball glove. I was 11 or 12. I was mad about watching high school baseball tournament. And when I started junior high school, I joined school softball team without letting my parents know. I had scarlet fever and rheumatic fever at the same time when I was 6 and hospitalized for a month. As a result my kidneys were damaged and I wasn't allowed to do any 'hard' sports, such as swimming and marathon, even though I had no symptoms and perfectly felt fine. But still, I simply couldn't tell my parents for a little while that I was playing softball. I ended up playing softball for nearly 10 years, for high school and even for university, though.


I hadn't watched much baseball for a long time since I got out of Japan. But not this year. One of the high schools which has a connection to Waseda university, the university I went, won the summer tournament for the first time. I went to a girls' high school and there has been or will be no chance to participate the tournament as it's for boys. That's the reason I've got a special feeling for Waseda's high schools in respect of baseball. I was so delighted that they won the tournament. In addition, the manager of the team (not the main coach) is someone I know. He is Mr Shinichi Sasaki, who was one of the members of the Waseda Science and Engineering department baseball team, where I also belonged to to help the players.


Mr Sasaki would tell me he wanted to be a high school teacher to coach the baseball team. Unlike other Science and Engineering students, he was taking extra subjects to be qualified as a teacher. I knew he got a job at a high school in Tokyo and became a baseball coach as well. Yet I've lost in touch with him since. So when I realised that he was the manager of the winning team, I was really moved. In these years, he must have worked very hard to be a good coach and found a job at the Waseda's high school, which has one of the top baseball teams in Japan, and got a post as a baseball team manager, which must be terribly competitive. His dreams came true. It's not ordinary achievements. He is now the top manager in Japan. I can still remember Mr Sasaki's serious and cool looking, and I can easily imagine how determined he must have been to make his dreams come true. I have to realise that there are people who have worked hard with self belief and achieve something special in their lives. Looking at myself, I feel a bit embarrassed, how little I have done in the same span of time...


Our family will expand soon and I will have 2 boys. With 2 boys, we will be able to not only play catch but also practice hitting balls etc. It'll be really nice! And I really hope that my 2 sons will grow up to be a sincere and confident men who can be determined to achieve their dreams. But, how can I bring them up to have such determination??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

あらたん、大丈夫?嘔吐しちゃったなんて可哀相にね。laksaさんも後片付け大きなお腹で大変だったでしょう?


野球の話、なんて狭い世界!って思って読ませてもらったよ。知り合いの方が活躍されてるみたいで、そういうのをこういう形で知ることができるのはとても嬉しいね。>

Anonymous said...

ひぇ~、Laksaさんって早稲田だったんだ!すっご~い。
なんかソフトボールしてたってのも、意外だったんだけど、早稲田だったって事に感動しちゃったぁ。すごいなぁ。


で、校歌の録音なんてしてたの?
それって、野村のよっちゃんの応援隊に入ってた高校の時の私と同じ位オタク行動かもね。(笑)>