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| The magnificent seven (2007 - 2008) |
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Perhaps I was ambitious when I described the team I inherited as a program; a handful of guys is more accurate. The previous season Johoku fielded a team of eighteen; out of the original eighteen, eleven had finished their eligibility leaving us with seven. In the 2007 - 2008 season we started out with seven players, grew to eleven players, and then fell back to the original seven.
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The show had to go on. Though only a volunteer I didn't dare miss a day of practice; the whole deal was a house of cards and I wasn't going to let it fall apart, not on my watch. Since we didn't have enough players to compete as a team we focused on individual skill and technique. For this group, seven guys at practice would be the new normal. The Johoku football experience had come to resemble that of martial arts dojo where the player's learned to work for work's sake; I pushed the kids hard and with purpose. To their credit they all bought in and broadened their concept of the football experience to include endless training and, occasionally, they lined up across from grown men. I'll never forget them.
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| .Myself and three of the original seven players a year earlier Hiroshima, Japan (2006) |
The "Eleven man" game...
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On this day, we faced a team with twenty-five or so players with just ten of our own. Our captain (#55) was injured so we asked one of our local Johoku alumni, who happened to live in nearby Kobe, to fill in as the eleventh man. Five of the six Johoku upperclassmen on the team had to play out of position that day because the youngest guys weren't up to the task. For the five new kids it would be their first and last football game. I was on the sideline alone; it hadn't occurred to me to suit-up myself.
.Johoku vs Sanda Shounkan - Hyogo (2007) Part - 1
.Johoku vs Sanda Shounkan - Hyogo (2007) Part - 2
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| .The players were filled with a sense of accomplishment after outplaying their own expectations. For the five beginners on the left this would be their first and last game. Hyogo, Japan (2007) . . |
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After outplaying their own expectations resulting in a 6 - 6 tie, the young guys are filled with a sense of accomplishment. Despite being out manned Johoku pretty much dominated. The game ended with our offense fumbling a snap on the opponent's three yard line as time expired. And the moral of this story? ...Take your pick.
.A happy six hour bus ride home
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The gamble...
It was early 2008 and the spring match-up with Johoku’s lone rival, Sotoku, loomed; it would be one of two bi-annual, scheduled, contests between
the two schools. As a result of our four beginners quitting the football team the prior December only the original seven Johoku players remained. Because the players were all seniors the spring match-up against Sotoku
represented their last opportunity to compete.
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Historically there'd been very little cooperation between Sotoku and Johoku, despite their being the only two high school football teams within three hundred miles. The two schools sit less than a mile apart as a bird flies. As a result of us forfeiting the prior game against Sotoku, due to injuries and a manpower shortage, it was probably assumed we’d forfeit again. Not this time. I couldn’t allow the only two teams in Western Japan go without playing. For months, the players at both schools had toiled in the dirt and inclement weather to prepare to test their mettle. I went out on a limb.
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Mindful there could have been a legitimate reason for the lack of cooperation between the two schools I approached Sotoku myself. I was clueless who was in charge there and knew things don’t always go down locally as they do in the United States. Armed with only "survival Japanese" language skills, and a desire to make myself understood, I initiated contact with Sotoku myself, unbeknownst to Johoku officials because I’d previously sensed reluctance on their part.
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I showed up at Sotoku's campus and quickly ran my Japanese language ability to the limit. I sat down with one of the Sotoku coaches and proposed that we play the football game with Johoku borrowing four players from a local college. Though using a handful of college players might sound like an advantage, the college football teams in western Japan are often in the same undeveloped state as the high school teams.
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Throughout the meeting I sensed a strange arrogance about the coach; he seemed unusually prideful, as if he had an inferiority complex. I'd go on the discover, he was the senior most OB coach at Sotoku as well as a local college. That would be my first encounter with a high school football coach that carried himself as if he sat on a throne.
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Historically there'd been very little cooperation between Sotoku and Johoku, despite their being the only two high school football teams within three hundred miles. The two schools sit less than a mile apart as a bird flies. As a result of us forfeiting the prior game against Sotoku, due to injuries and a manpower shortage, it was probably assumed we’d forfeit again. Not this time. I couldn’t allow the only two teams in Western Japan go without playing. For months, the players at both schools had toiled in the dirt and inclement weather to prepare to test their mettle. I went out on a limb.
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Mindful there could have been a legitimate reason for the lack of cooperation between the two schools I approached Sotoku myself. I was clueless who was in charge there and knew things don’t always go down locally as they do in the United States. Armed with only "survival Japanese" language skills, and a desire to make myself understood, I initiated contact with Sotoku myself, unbeknownst to Johoku officials because I’d previously sensed reluctance on their part.
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I showed up at Sotoku's campus and quickly ran my Japanese language ability to the limit. I sat down with one of the Sotoku coaches and proposed that we play the football game with Johoku borrowing four players from a local college. Though using a handful of college players might sound like an advantage, the college football teams in western Japan are often in the same undeveloped state as the high school teams.
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Throughout the meeting I sensed a strange arrogance about the coach; he seemed unusually prideful, as if he had an inferiority complex. I'd go on the discover, he was the senior most OB coach at Sotoku as well as a local college. That would be my first encounter with a high school football coach that carried himself as if he sat on a throne.
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Napoleon and I eventually agreed to have our teams play a game that would be meaningless in the record books with Sotoku, win or lose, advancing to the national football tournament. Surprisingly, the tone of our meeting didn't seem cordial. At one point, the Sotoku coach, sarcastically, proposed I should suit-up and play myself. Amused, I
declined. After experiencing the odd dynamic between the two schools I vowed not to take the local perspective for granted again.
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On gameday the Johoku players were all grins because it would be only their fifth, and last, chance to play against unfamiliar faces. The previous year they’d faced two college teams, one alumni team, and two high schools.
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Johoku performed admirably despite the circumstances; though out numbered three to one personnel wise it didn't show in their performance. Throughout the game Sotoku platooned three different personnel units against our thirteen players. It was a battle but, in the end, Sotoku eked out a 7 – 0 victory. The Johoku players and I left the stadium with our own interpretation of what went down.
On gameday the Johoku players were all grins because it would be only their fifth, and last, chance to play against unfamiliar faces. The previous year they’d faced two college teams, one alumni team, and two high schools.
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Johoku performed admirably despite the circumstances; though out numbered three to one personnel wise it didn't show in their performance. Throughout the game Sotoku platooned three different personnel units against our thirteen players. It was a battle but, in the end, Sotoku eked out a 7 – 0 victory. The Johoku players and I left the stadium with our own interpretation of what went down.
The original seven Johoku players after their last game
They'd endured having all of the new guys quit resulting in two forfeits.
Their last year they played a total of five games.
Koiki Koen - Hiroshima, Japan (2008)
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One last battle...
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| .The The young guys going out in a blaze of glory (2008) |
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