After a young Shogo Shibata came down with a rare and intractable disease, he found the will to persevere through the National High School Baseball Championship.

Combatting the disorder, Shibata became a standout pitcher and played in the annual prestigious tournament event held in the summer at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.

Later, he would be drafted by the Yomiuri Giants and pitch in the professional ranks. 

Today, at 33, Shibata is working hard to give other youngsters across Southeast Asia the same goal to shoot for, which had given him hope. 

He is currently working toward organizing a student baseball championship in Southeast Asia that resembles the one played at Koshien.

3-YEAR STRUGGLE AGAINST DISEASE

In his third year in junior high school in April, Shibata had a terrible stomachache and fever.

The symptoms turned out to be due to the government’s designated difficult-to-cure condition known as Behcet's disease, which causes blood vessel inflammation throughout the body. 

Shibata moved from his hometown in Mie Prefecture to Nagoya for hospitalization at a regional medical center.

“I wanted to find another goal in life before I die,” he recalled.

On the TV at his hospital room in August, Shibata watched the championship game between Komazawa University-affiliated Tomakomai High School from southern Hokkaido and Saibi High School in Ehime Prefecture at the summer high school baseball championship.

The game inspired him to have a dream of “competing at Koshien on my own.”

Shibata had pitched in national competitions before falling ill and multiple prestigious schools invited him to join their teams. Of these, only one club well understood the difficulty he was facing at the time.

“I was told to work hard to compete in the summer tournament at Koshien in my third year at high school,” Shibata said. “I was advised to concentrate on recovering from my sickness until that.”

Hearing the advice from the representative of Aikodai Meiden High School, which is located in Aichi Prefecture, Shibata began attending the academy in April the following year.

Specialized meals were provided for him at his student dormitory and Shibata gradually increased his training intensity. These approaches ended up enabling him to take the mound at Koshien after three years.

BASEBALL IN THE PHILIPPINES

Shibata, who runs an information technology consulting firm in Tokyo, pitched for Aikodai Meiden at the 89th National High School Baseball Championship in 2007.

The left-hander then entered Meiji University and joined the Giants pro baseball team in 2011 as the third draft pick in the trainee category. He played there for three years.

Shibata was afterward released by the Giants because of his poor results, so he started looking for a job.

“I asked friends how to find employment, visited my college’s graduates with professional careers for advice and sent my resume to companies,” said Shibata.

He landed a position with a foreign-affiliated consultant firm. As a natural requirement, Shibata needed to refine his English skills and would stay with a host family in the Philippines on the weekends and during long vacations.

In return to children living nearby who taught him English, Shibata showed them how to play baseball. The student numbers rose every time Shibata gave a lesson, and more than 100 kids finally turned out for his class.

Shibata in 2019 founded his own company. One of the corporation’s missions is “spreading and promoting baseball,” because Shibata saw business potential in the sport through interactions in the Philippines.

To put the business on the track to profitability, Shibata researched educational institutes for baseball and soccer players. He concluded that his program could generate a profit if retired pro athletes were hired to work out a teaching manual, which would allow locally employed staff members to offer lessons.

STUDENT CHAMPIONSHIP ELSEWHERE

Shibata decided to establish a baseball academy in the Philippines, but the plan was dropped during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Reviewing his project, Shibata became aware that he had not taken a significant topic into account: “The purpose, or culture, of playing baseball will be indispensable.”

This thought reminded him of the national summer tournament at Koshien.

“Koshien represented the goal for me to do my best again to live,” Shibata said. “Organizing a competition like one at Koshien may provide local children with their own target to accomplish.”

The baseball academy program was thus revived as one to hold a Koshien-like championship.

Sticking to realism, Shibata set up a corporation to organize and manage the envisioned tournament. Since huge funds are essential for making the event a reality, the corporation is soliciting money for that objective.

As the first step, Shibata is looking to call on U.S.-affiliated international school operators and other establishments that know much about baseball in and around the Philippines to participate in the championship.

Under the plan, the competition will start within a year. The schedule was determined on the grounds that the date can be pushed back unless a clear target is set.

Shibata said he often recalls the smiles Filipino children made while taking baseball instruction from him.

“I typically think about things in a reasonable manner, but seeing children’s faces forces me to empathize too much with them,” he said. “Once I made up my mind to organize a tournament, I will be creating a really nice one that will continue for good.”

This dream is giving Shibata new hope to lead the rest of his life.