school daze: baseball

the japanese high school pro baseball draft was today.

a student from where i work, a senior in high school, was drafted by the seibu lions, a tokyo team. now he's five months and graduation away from being a professional baseball player.

these are the things little boys' dreams are made of.

baseball in japan is not "the nation's favorite pastime." no, here in japan, it's serious business and hours of sweat and tears. even nights when i leave at 8pm, i can stil hear the clinking of baseball bats and yelling coming from the brightly lit fields.

the baseball players are notorious for sleeping in class. they practice for an hour before school and at least four hours in the evenings. on sundays, they practice from nine am to seven pm. i always see the boys running from the high school to the baseball fields after school. they have no time cushion. the discipline is so strict it's unbelievable. the younger students must get there first and get all the equipment ready. they also seem to be constantly on edge looking around for older baseball players; they must stop, bow, and greet their seniors whenever they see them.

our school even has a small dorm for baseball players who live too far away to handle the practice schedule AND commuting to school (which for some students is up to an hour).

but it's all worth it for some, to have a chance at becoming a pro baseball player. and this year's draft has no doubt sparked the hopes of many, who get up at dawn to practice and play well past dusk at least six days a week, all year round.