Ghana has opened its own version of Japan’s fabled Hanshin Koshien
Stadium thanks largely to a baseball-loving former Japanese high school
player who is spreading the popularity of the sport around Africa.
A ceremony was held April 12 to celebrate the completion of
the Koshien Ghana Baseball and Softball Field at a school compound in
Accra, the capital of the western African country. After a signboard
with the name of the field was unveiled, a friendship game was held
between Ghanaians and Japanese living in the country.
It has since been used for baseball games and classes for children.
The new field, the first full-scale baseball field in the
country, stretches 120 meters from home plate to the center field
boundary, and 105 meters each to right and left field. It does not have
outfield fences but is equipped with a backstop and benches for both
teams.
Ghanaians hope their new field can generate the same kind of
excitement that sweeps Japan when the national high school baseball
tournaments are held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Prefecture.
They also want Ghanaian players to use the new field as a springboard for future success in professional leagues overseas.
“Baseball has the power to raise human nature, such as caring for and cooperating with others,” said Shinya Tomonari,
49, an employee of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
who is currently working at its office in Tanzania, eastern Africa.
“Like the National High School Baseball Championship in Japan, I want to
hold a similar one in Ghana so that children in the country can have a
goal.”
Tomonari, once a member of the Keio Senior High School
baseball team, was a key player in efforts to build the new baseball
field and use “Koshien” in its name.
In 1996, when he was assigned to Ghana as a JICA official, he
rarely saw local people playing baseball. Like other African countries,
soccer was the most popular sport in Ghana. The Ghanaian children who
did play baseball had to use empty lots or school fields.
But Tomonari found there was enough interest in baseball to
form the Ghanaian national team. In 1999, the team reached the
semifinals in a preliminary African tournament for the 2000 Sydney
Olympic Games.
In 2003, Tomonari set up the Association for Friends of
African Baseball (AFAB), a nonprofit organization based in Tokyo that
continues to promote baseball in various parts of Africa.
Seeing great potential in the young Ghanaian players,
Tomonari in 2011 started a project to support the activities of the
Ghana Baseball and Softball Association (GHABSA).
He explained his approach to baseball to GHABSA members and
showed them a documentary produced by a foreign media company about
Japanese high school teams.
The members applauded after watching the documentary.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry agreed to provide about 10
million yen ($100,000) from its Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots
Projects fund for construction of the Koshien Ghana Baseball and
Softball Field.
Tomonari obtained permission from the operator of the Hanshin
Koshien Stadium to use “Koshien” in the name of the Ghana’s new
baseball field.
“Nearly 20 years have passed since I encountered baseball in
Ghana,” Tomonari said. “I am now full of emotion as my dream of
constructing a full-scale baseball field has been realized.”
GHABSA President Albert Frimpong, 43, who used to be captain
of the Ghanaian national team, has high expectations for the baseball
field.
“Many Japanese high school students who played in Koshien
became top-level players of (Japanese professional baseball) or major
leaguers,” said Frimpong, who was trained by Tomonari on the national
team. “I hope that Ghanaian children also train their hearts, skills and
bodies in this Koshien.”
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