Launching of First Permanent Softball Clinic by Japanese Professional Baseball Team

In the wake of the introduction of softball as a compulsory subject in junior high school throughout Japan from 2012 and in view of similarity of both baseball and softball, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, a Nippon Professional Baseball Club in Sendai City announced on January 25 to launch “Softball School” starting from April in two places in Sendai Prefecture, the team’s home town in North Eastern Japan.

The training program will be supervised by Ms. Haruka Saito (41), former manager of National Softball Team which won gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, and will be assisted by former women softball players as well as professional baseball coaches .

Manager of Rakuten Eagles, Sen-ichi Hoshino, led the National Baseball Team at the Beijing Olympics and the team aims to help develop skills of softball for the beginners.