~Now and the future will open the door Now and the times will begin to continue~

This is a passage from the Senbatsu High School Baseball tournament song "Now Are".

High school baseball has been affected by the new coronavirus for the past three years.

At the tournament, where all the players go around
the stadium, cheer aloud,
and perform with no limit on the number of people,

scenes that have not been seen for a while have been revived. The history of Senbatsu has once again begun to move towards the future.

It is precisely because we have faced the difficult present that we will lead to the future. We approached the thoughts of a person who welcomed the baseball players.
(Senbatsu Interview Team: Yasuhiro Namimatsu)

"High school baseball is finally back"

Watching the opening ceremony on the 18th from a corner of the ground was Mr. Yoshimasa Ogura (64).

For the past three years, as the secretary general of the Koyaren = Japan High School Baseball Federation, he has been working hard to prevent the infection of the new corona. While it was decided that he would retire in May, he saw the original march that was finally realized at the last tournament he participated in as secretary-general, and applauded each school one by one.

The baseball players cheered cheerfully and were delighted with the original appearance of stepping on the soil of Koshien.

Mr
. Yoshimasa Ogura, Secretary General of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, said, "I thought that high school baseball was finally back. Let's fight.'

Three years I never imagined

After serving as a baseball team coach and principal at a high school in his hometown of Ehime Prefecture, Mr. Ogura became the secretary general of the Koya Federation in the fall of 2019.

However, the new coronavirus infection spread from the following year 2020, and both spring and summer Koshien were canceled. In subsequent competitions, we were forced to constantly face infection control measures.

Mr
. Yoshimasa Ogura: "I was disappointed when the tournament was canceled, and I have never forgotten that feeling and have come to ensure that the players, spectators, and tournament officials can finish the tournament safely and securely. I had no experience or knowledge, so it was a lot of trial and error."

Days of Conflict

In order to safely operate the tournament during the corona disaster, the Koyaren and other organizations have established infection control guidelines and have been managing the tournament.

This is the infection control guideline presented at the Ototoshi Summer Tournament, which was held while a state of emergency was declared.

~ From the National High School Baseball Infection Control Guidelines for Summer 2021 ~ ▽ Brass band will set a limit of 50 people
▽ We will not cheer aloud, but will basically cheer with applause

▽ If an infected person or suspected of being infected is found from the representative school, The Emergency Response Headquarters will discuss and decide whether or not to participate. Although it is for safety reasons, which emphasizes

whether or not there is a mass infection, strict standards have been set in the guidelines, and many schools have had to withdraw from participation due to mass infection.

~Teams that withdrew from the tournament~
Summer 2021 ▽ Miyazaki Sho ▽ Tohoku Gakuin (Miyagi)
Spring 2022 ▽ Kyoto International ※ Before the opening ▽ Hiroshima Sho

Some schools were forced to withdraw because they did not want to be identified as infected athletes, even though they did not lead to outbreaks. Unexpected events occurred, and as the secretary-general, I continued to worry about my head.

Yoshimasa
Ogura: "It's a conflict about whether the guidelines were really the best and whether they could be modified a little more..."

"First of all, I want to hear the voice of the community"

What Mr. Ogura placed importance on was to grasp the requests and current situation of member schools.

This is because I myself felt that it was important to firmly accept the ideas of each region from my experience of serving as the president of the Koyaren in Ehime for nine years.

Through repeated surveys and online meetings, we asked the players how well they were practicing and if they had any concerns about participating in the national tournament.

Furthermore, due to the outbreak, they visited schools that declined to participate in the spring and summer Koshien and exchanged opinions directly with the coaches.

Mr
. Yoshimasa Ogura: "While exchanging opinions with the teams that withdrew from the tournament, I felt that we had to think further about how to somehow get them to play in the matches.

Last summer, the results were

The result of this effort was last summer's national high school baseball event.

Just before and at the beginning of the tournament, there were outbreaks at six schools.

Nevertheless, based on the requests of the team that had been in tears, we were able to finish the tournament without sending out any school to decline by setting a new standard that all registered players could participate if they had a negative PCR test within 6 hours before the match.

Restoring its original form to the culmination of the tournament

And Senbatsu arrived after overcoming many hardships.

In addition to the entrance procession, the original appearance before the spread of the infection has returned.

In addition to being allowed to cheer aloud, there is no limit on the number of people in the Alpine brass band, and the baseball players are immediately pushing their backs.

The tournament that Mr. Ogura will participate in as a culmination has finally begun.

Mr
. Yoshimasa Ogura, Secretary General of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, said, "I think that the people involved in high school baseball, including the baseball players, have really put up with it over the past three years. I would like to combine my experience and knowledge over the past three years to work on this tournament."