Still in the game... 西日本アメリカンフットボール。

.In the dirt again
Hiroshima, Japan (2005)
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(1994) Atlanta, Georgia USA - Imagine, you've recently settled into a new job in a new city and all is good. Typically, the next step would be to put down roots. As a former athlete you feel the occasional tug to compete but nothing serious. From now on it's daily traffic jams, meetings, and weight training in the evenings. Alas, if only life were that simple.
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.*FAST FORWARD*

(2005) Hiroshima, Japan - You're living on the opposite side of the planet from your birthplace. You've thrown caution into the wind and embarked on what you'd hoped would be a life changing adventure. Life is good; for two years you've immersed yourself in the local culture where you discover the day to day is refreshingly simple, yet somewhat mundane. Everything's foreign, yet everything's the same. A slave to routine, all you do everyday is work, run, and lift weights; alas, you're just not satisfied with following the same old goat path everyday because you're just not wired that way.

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By chance a co-worker notices an old football photo. One thing leads to another and you find yourself standing in a dirt field in Western Japan with sixteen kids and a football. You, suddenly, realize this field is one of the few places that you really understand in this foreign land. That's how it started...
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LINK

Still in the game 西日本アメリカンフットボール。

Recollections of dirty times in Western Japan

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The Johoku alumni game...

The annual Johoku OB (alumni) game December 2007. In front wearing red are the current Johoku High School players. On the right, in the black are the current Johoku Junior High flag football team members (many of these same players are members of the 2009 - 2010 Longhorns team). Standing on the left in steet clothes in the rear wearing white are the OBs (alumni). I'm in the front on the far right. Every year I've played in this game alongside the current high school squad. They've been doing this event for years. The OB team consists of current college players, X - League players, and plain old "salarymen". ...Johoku Field, Hiroshima

The brain...

The sacred "brain" (pictured in my right hand) was our master playbook. It contained the deep, dark, intricacies of Johoku's offensive and defensive systems. It also contained laminated diagrams of our passing game complete with distances and angles..it allowed everyone in the huddle to understand the details of their assignments quickly without explanation. ...It also allowed some of the college players that joined the "combined scrimmages" to integrate into our offense easily. ...If it were to come-up missing, responsible parties would have been exhiled to a remote island... August 2009

Road Trips... 5 Hours plus...

Heading to the “jungle" (Kansai) to play a game. It takes about five hours by bus from Hiroshima to the Kansai (Osaka-Kobe) area. There are only two high school football teams (Johoku and Sotoku) in the westernmost part of Japan so we have to travel to the Kansai area to compete; either that or we scrimmage the few Hiroshima area colleges or adult clubs. Aside from Sotoku the closest opponent is Mikki High School which is four hours east of Hiroshima by bus. There's no allocated funding from the school that I'm aware of so the player’s equipment and transportation costs come out of their parent's pockets. Charter bus fees to Kansai start from $1,200.00 round trip. The cost is evenly divided among the players for away games. In Japan most schools don't provide sports uniforms or pay expenses as in America; private schools in Japan operate more or less as businesses with little or no government funding (Click on photo for more)

The Hiroshima Rivalry... Johoku vs Sotoku

Doing things in unison...

The guys entered the stadium, warmed-up, and most everything else, in unison. Nothing novel or new in football, but for most of these guys, it was. With them, I made sure everything was done this way. I even mandated that every member of the team be similarly equipped with regards to arm pads and the types of cleats they used. The things I wanted to emphasize with them were responsibility, preparedness, and thinking about the details. The game of football itself was just a means to an end. This photo was taken before the Ritsumeikan Moriyama scrimmage, Shiga... March 2009 (Click photo for more)

The dungeon...

This is the inside of my office, spare equipment storage, player confession chamber, locker room. Not the cleanest place in the world as a new form of fungus was discovered at the base of the shelves near the flag football team's shoes. You can see my shoulder pads (#3) on the top of the shelf. This is also where we keep "loaner" football gear for alumni and visitors. Due to our chronic manpower shortage I've established a rule where if a college player or alumnus wants to visit he has to suit up and join me in being another target for the day. Don't have a helmet? We have them in all types and sizes, Riddell, Schutt, you name it; though mostly older models. We also have shoulder pads if you need them. Forgot your cleats? We have those too. High tops or low? Don't worry about a mouth piece either because we'll make you a temporary one out of tape and pre-wrap, although they don't taste very good (for more on football on a budget click on photo)

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My class room was all dirt. ...In Japan, 99% of the football teams play on dirt. In the summer its hard as rock and in the winter it freezes. It is best the day after rain when it is kind of soft. ...In the event of a scrimmage or game after hard rain, the players use buckets and cups to remove the water before we use the field. I've seen parents and alumni help do this prior to the annual OB (alumni) game. After each and every practice or game, all throughout Japan, it is standard procedure for all members of the team to use giant "rakes" to level the entire field and remove imperfections so the ground is smooth and ready for the next practice or event. ...A lot of football programs in America could benefit from doing more of the minutia of the "day to day" stuff. ...Who needs state of the art weight facilities when just "heavy" weights used outdoors will do? The game is played outdoors... ...Who needs air conditioned indoor practice facilities when the elements add to the mental and physical toughness? ...Fix your own damn helmet!!, ...Cut your own field's grass. ..It all adds to the experience.

"No budget" football (not necessarily a bad thing)...

The "Edo Jidai" (Edo period 1603-1868) blocking sled at Johoku's practice field. It was more dangerous than useful, but it’s all we had (we broke it in 2009). As you can probably deduce, this is definitely the "anti-Nebraska" program with regard to facilities; and that’s not entirely a bad thing. Apparently for some it would be considered a luxury to have "blue chip" athletes, state of the art weight rooms, and indoor practice facilities. Grounds keepers and training staff might also be considered frivolous depending on where you are. What an eye opener this experience was for me coming from America. As a result of what I’ve had to deal with here consider me a convert. Somehow it all seems more fitting to do things the hard way. Overcoming difficulty is the definition of preparation. If weights are heavy, they’re good enough to lift. If weather is bad, practice in it. ...No squat rack or blocking sled available? Use a mountain. ...No trainer? Tape the players yourself, or better yet, teach them to tape themselves. If the players have low motivation for rigorous training, train with them. I strongly believe that having everyone involved in the minutia of the day to day makes for a better organization. Though football in Japan isn’t developed to anywhere near the level that it is in the US, I’ve come to realize that a lot of what’s deemed as necessary in American football programs isn’t. In the various (US) football programs that I’ve been a part of over the years we didn’t always make full use of what we had. Though by no means impoverished many of those football programs aspired to emulate what the most bloated programs were doing. There’s a mentality that the most newfangled facilities somehow improve the quality of the sport. Case in point: in the summer of 2008 I met a young “aspiring” high school football player from Kyushu (see “the Guys from Fukuoka”). He and his three teammates had travelled three hours by bus to Hiroshima just to practice with my six players. The kid had a huge heart and the physical ability to match. In the various drills he excelled in each. He caught everything I threw, too high, too far, too low. He clearly stood out from everyone and had a big, eager smile on his face the whole time. I looked down at his feet and noticed he had two un-matching shoes, both of which were completely worn out. Turns out, he didn’t own any (Click photo for more)

The "stairway to pain"...

The mountain next to Johoku's campus had 150 yards of steep stairs. ...This is where we trained our legs for power and stamina. ...These stairs go vertical about 150 feet from the ground and are about 150 yards total in length. The stairs extend another 10 yards downward beyond the bottom of this picture (they are blocked by a small cemetery), and another 60 yards or so upward beyond the grey pole in the upper center of this picture. The players hated this mountain training. They didn't speak English, but if they heard me say the word "mountain" they'd start mumbling profanity in Japanese. ...After the weight training (...usually 2 twice a week) was finished we would run from the school (...1/2 a mile downhill from this place) to the base of this mountain. We would usually run 2 or 3 sprints up the staircase, intermittently doing plyometrics at the bottom. ...Occasionally, we’d run to the top of this mountain, turn to the left, and follow the mountain trail on a roundabout 1/2 mile course that would lead us back here where we started. ...We (myself included) always ran in full football gear in all weather. ...When we first started the mountain training, the players always complained. After we started "blowing out" teams in the second half of games, they seemed as if they actually looked forward to the mountain training. ...Back in 2007, when I first started using the mountain trail, I would run with the team just to the top of the stairs and wait for them to return from the trail run. ...The very first time I sent the players off to run the trail, only half of them came back. ...The rest had gotten lost and took about 30 minutes to return. Since then, I always ran with them and made sure to carry my cell phone. ...There are some benefits to training with the players, such as: understanding how they felt based on the current conditions which allowed me to make adjustments. It was also a useful psychological tactic (click photo for more examples of daily routine integrated "free training" ).

Gameday support...

The video crew - A variety of people supported Johoku's football team. On game days some duties were handled by a local OB (alumni) that happened to live wherever we were playing. Once or twice when we were undermanned a local alumnus would suit up so we had enough members to compete. Food and labor for special events was often provided by player’s parents. In the photo above the videographer is the sister of one of the Johoku player's. Most of the photography was done by Mr. Oda (the father of a former player) or myself. The video footage taken at our practice field was done by Mr. Takeshita, who is a man of many talents. ...Osaka, Japan 2006

"@#% damn it!!" ; ...internationally understood.

After the "tongue lashing", I applied the silent treatment to initiate "mental pressure" on #88... It didn't work in this case though... It's a good thing that the fans and the referees in Japan didn't understand the English profanity I was using. The funny thing is, my players DID understand my profanity... They knew that if a sentence began or ended with "goddamn it" that they did something wrong. Otherwise, they didn't understand a word of English. Hiroshima 2009 (Click photo for more)

The "11 man" era... (2007- 2008)

During the 2007 - 2008 season, the team was only able to compete two times the entire year as a result of having so few members. The players learned to work just for works sake. On this particular day, we scrounged together eleven players just to compete. The Captain, Noma (#26) wasn't able to participate due to an injury...so we actually had ten Johoku students available. Fortunately, one of the OBs (alumni) was available and joined the team as the eleventh man. The team we faced (the Titans) had thirty-five or so players. To make a long story short, we outplayed the other team and let them escape with a 6 - 6 tie. The game ended with our offense on their 5 yard line and a fumbled snap. …And the moral of this story? ...take your pick. (Click photo for more)

Disbelief...

After the "11 man" game (Johoku's eleven players vs the Titans thirty-five players resulting in a 6 - 6 tie) the guys are filled with a sense of accomplishment, obviously outplaying their own expectations. For the four guys on the left (...all 10th graders), this was their first football game. The prior scheduled game against our rival Sotoku, had been deemed a forfeit (three months earlier) in the second quarter of the game as a result of two of the eleven players getting injured (one before kick-off). I vowed never to be put in that situation again because it is bad for football in Japan and for the players on both teams. It was obviously no coincidence that the three players to come up lame early, were the same who wouldn't invest themselves in the physical or mental preparation required (they wouldn't come to practice, but they showed-up for the game). We aren't playing golf here folks...bodies must be conditioned. That kind of thinking didn't play well at Johoku (...academic school?). I'm getting ahead of myself here...Anyway, as a result of the last forfeit and this game with only eleven players, I decided that I would suit-up myself if we had thirteen or fewer players available on game day.