Konnichiwa!
Alright, I was wrong about telling you my weekly schedule would sort of look like last weeks one… Here comes the schedule for March: http://www.minamo-ogaki.com/sub/sub1/indexSub1_2.html
This is the Ogaki Minamo website, where you can find my teammates, the staff and everything else. You might want to use Google Translate on the website, or just enjoy the Mascot and pictures.
As you can see we are playing quite some practice games! I am very excited about that since I have to learn how to play and communicate with Minamo, but also have to get familiar with the Japanese softball game style. For example today was a tough day at the plate, trying to find my way here.
Well, enough about softball….?! Time for some things that happen around the team.
On Monday we had a presentation from a former Japanese Olympic Volleyball player about doping. I wish I could tell you how interesting it was, but unfortunately my Japanese is not up to speed…. After about two hours I did hear the words Olympic, softball, some team names, doping and team.. but I am pretty sure she wanted to say, do not use doping, so that is definitely important.
After the meeting it was time to try on some clothing, where my long legs and smaller upper body surprised everyone. The way we wear our clothing in the Netherlands is definitely different from Japanese. I tried on a sweater, tried to explain I would like a smaller size, but instead, at first, I got an even bigger size because I am tall?
Speaking about long legs and being tall. I do feel like a giant sometimes! At dinner or lunch quite often we sit on the ground at a low table. This is a challenge for me. Probably a good exercise for my mobility, but so far I could't last the full dinner or lunch time. It does explain why even older people here are flexible and very sporty so it might be something we can apply in the Netherlands sometime?
Speaking about dinner and lunch, this week we had team dinners at one of the companies that support Minamo and Saturday night we had a dinner with local people from Ogaki and even the mayor attended. We played Bingo, which was a lot of fun.
Something else that is different from Dutch Softball is the media attention for softball here. During the training camp there were cameras and interviews, during the fan event and now also during the dinner. It went from one minute Dutch television when you become the National Champs with Olympia to cameras when you are eating at Minamo. I do like eating in private, but he I love softball more haha
Okay, back to softball, Step 8, about the use of your glove and glove arm. We all know that look good, feel good, play good, can make a difference, so the glove is very important ;)
Next week I will be away for a practice game tournament, so no Sunday blog. You can stay up to date with my instagram stories and I will try to post a picture here and there as well! It will be the first games where we will face some of the Pro League teams :) Next blog, planned for Tuesday or Wednesday next week (6/7)
See you then!
Eva
