61770    First, did club activities exist for the supreme purpose of winning?

61771    Reportedly, the softball team at this junior high school is a strong contestant having won the championship at the Western Japan Tournament in the past.

61772    It seems that heavy-handed training was taking place to carry on the torch.

61773    The girl who committed suicide was one of the leading players, a catcher and the Assistant Captain of the team, but she was pulled out of a practice game for a throwing error and was ordered to practice sliding into base beside the field as punishment.

61774    Moreover, it is said that the coach told her, "Don't bother coming to play in the regular game tomorrow. Turn in your uniform number!"

61775    That triggered her suicide.

61776    There have been other incidents where students committed suicide over the coaches' merciless instructions given in the club activities

61777    In 1985, after having been beaten with a javelin until she had welts on her face because of her "poor performance," an eleventh grader at a public high school in Gifu Prefecture and a member of the girls' track and field team committed suicide, leaving a suicide note saying, "I have no other way out."

61778    She was the top javelin thrower in the prefecture and had shown great promise for the future.

61779    The coach also had a background where he won the first prize in javelin at an inter-college championship and had developed athletes at the national level.

61780    It is quite natural for sports clubs at junior high and high schools to push themselves to win.

61781    However, overzealous coaching must be restrained.

61782    Some sports psychiatrists are warning about athletes suffering from "over-training syndrome," showing mental and/or physical disorders developed by grueling training with no days off.

61783    As of next school year, the Ministry of Education will investigate the actual situation of after-school athletic activities at junior high and high schools and discuss what are the desirable ways for those activities to exist, but it is our hope that club activities will become an opportunity to develop skills in a sport that can be enjoyed throughout one's lifetime.

61784    Another concern about the latest suicide case is what the coach said.