Roki Sasaki, the 20-year-old ace of the Chiba Lotte Marines, pitched a perfect game on April 10 in a victory over the Orix Buffaloes.

He became the first NPB pitcher to throw nine innings without allowing any batter to reach base in 28 years.

Sasaki completely subdued the opposing hitters, striking out 19 of the 27 batters he faced.

Sasaki’s stunning performance should be credited not just to his own outstanding pitching might and prowess, which enables him to throw 100-MPH fastballs.

He has also received great support from his team’s well-thought-out talent development program.

In 2020, his rookie year, Sasaki accompanied the top team but was not allowed to take the mound in any regular-season game. Last year, Sasaki, according to the team’s policy, spent a lot of time mastering pitching mechanics that helps him avoid shoulder and elbow injuries while building up his physical strength.

The Marines’ long-term development plan for the pitching sensation was mapped out by Masato Yoshii, the team’s pitching coordinator, who played in both NPB and Major League Baseball.

After retiring from professional baseball, Yoshii studied baseball coaching theory at the Tsukuba University graduate school. His coaching approach is focused on helping players acquire the ability to think on their own instead of peppering them with advice or guidance.

There is another unforgettable episode concerning Sasaki’s development as a pitcher. Sasaki first drew the notice of many Japanese baseball fans when he was a member of the baseball club of Ofunato High School in Iwate Prefecture.

Ofunato lost in the finals of the regional qualifier for the National High School Baseball Championship, an all-important annual nationwide high school baseball tournament held every summer at Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

Ofunato's manager, Yohei Kokubo, did not allow Sasaki, the team's ace, to take the mound because he had pitched nine innings in the previous game the day before.

Kokubo made the difficult decision, which caused a stir, to avoid causing the high school pitcher, who was still in an early development stage, serious damage by driving himself too hard. The manager also thought the team should not depend entirely on one star player for winning.

The perception that the long-term well-being of athletes should be given a higher priority than winning now is spreading within the sports community.

Last year, Yasunobu Okugawa of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, who started his career in professional baseball the same year as Sasaki, contributed greatly to the team’s winning the Japan Series.

To avoid imposing too much physical strain on the young pitcher, the team adopted an unusual policy of ensuring that he got at least 10 days of rest in between starts during the regular season. The plan apparently worked well.

These stories signal a notable shift from the traditional coaching approach designed to develop young talented athletes.

This shift changes the approach that exposes them to fierce competition to one focused on long-term and healthy mental and physical development through efforts based on the latest scientific knowledge in various fields including sports medicine.

This growing trend is not limited to baseball.

The All Japan Judo Federation has decided to abolish a national tournament for elementary school students from this fiscal year. The move is aimed at eliminating “excessive efforts to win at all costs” seen among some judo instructors, according to the federation.

The bold decision to scrap the tournament is a stinging rebuke to the "win at all costs" approach, exemplified by coaches willing to force elementary school students to lose weight to compete in a lighter division.

In the figure skating community, debate is raging on whether to raise the minimum age for Olympics and world championship skaters from 15 in response to doping allegations against 15-year-old Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva.

Some experts point out that one factor behind such problems is the exploitation of minors without sufficient judgment in figure skating because of the belief that lighter skaters are better suited for difficult jumps. 

One key challenge facing the sports community as a whole is to craft and establish scientific and systematic talent development plans for athletes in various development stages.

This is a crucial challenge for ensuring that many people, not just world-class athletes, can long enjoy sports for the pleasurable and beneficial human activities that they should be.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 12