Japanese softball team's class rubbed opponents the right way
By Brian Ojanpa

Mankato Free Press
Seventeen young men from Japan may not realize it, but the impressions
they made a few days ago went well beyond their softball prowess.

The Waseda University team swept through play undefeated in the Class AA
Division of the North American Fastpitch Association World Series at
Caswell Park. They did so with a dazzling display of pitching, speed and
rock-solid fundamentals.

"They play the game the way it's supposed to be played," NAFA official
Roger Hawes said. "They don't screw around."

That last part of his statement is what elevated Waseda's tourney victory
from a tale of a pretty good amateur team succeeding to a noteworthy
lesson in athletes' conduct.

The Waseda squad is a bunch of kids, really, and little do they know that
their on-and-off field behavior had an effect on teams rostered with guys
many years their senior.

Anyone who follows American sports at all knows that chippy play, whining
and look-at-me antics on the part of players has become numbingly common.

In Japan, these things are virtually nonexistent because they're
antithetical to that culture's mores.

During the tournament, umpires made some iffy calls and some American
teams reacted as American teams do, with arguments and petulance,
prompting umps to threaten players with ejections.

When the Waseda squad got hit with questionable, even clearly wrong calls,
its silence was deafening. Therein lies the social dynamic that manifested
itself during the team's four days of play.

The American players — both Waseda's opponents and those who observed the
team's on-field comportment — found themselves upgrading their own
sportsmanship skills.

Politeness broke out. Churlish behavior was mitigated. It was almost as if
a priest had stopped by to say hi at a bachelor party.

Douglass Scott, the translator for the Waseda team, heard as much from the
manager of one of Waseda's opponents.

"He told me, 'Our guys started behaving differently just by being around
your team,'" says Scott, an American professor at Waseda who served as
group leader for the team's U.S. trip.

The unfailingly genteel squad quickly garnered a spectator following, and
after Waseda beat The Bar of Appleton, Wis., 1-0 in nine innings, it
received a standing ovation from fans.

Waseda players responded by removing their caps and bowing to the crowd in
the traditional Japanese manner. Moments earlier, The Bar's pitcher Joe
German was seen bowing likewise to each Waseda player as the two teams
exchanged postgame handshakes.

When Waseda recorded the final out in the championship game against a team
from Lancaster, Pa., Waseda players walked, not ran, to their pitcher, and
congratulated him — there's no other way to term it — cordially. No
dancing, no whooping, no histrionics.

And as this was going on in the center of the diamond, the Lancaster
players emerged from their dugout and gave the victors a sustained round
of applause.

Class begets class.

The Japanese university team returned to Tokyo with two deserved
souvenirs: A nice big trophy and a grade of A-plus in Behavior
Modification 101.

Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or e-mail

bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com.
 

Used with the permission from The Free Press, Mankato, Minnesota
(August 28, 2005).