Education Through Baseball in Ghana and Its Effects: The Keio Baseball Club's First African Expedition

Photo: Teaching Baseballership® on the field (Photo by Shunya Tomonari)

In August 2024, while the Olympics were being held in Paris, 10 current members and alumni of the university baseball club conducted educational and research activities through baseball with a total of 140 elementary and junior high school students and coaches in Ghana.

Three years ago, I had the opportunity to hear an interesting story from Shinya Tomonari (Class of 1988), a baseball club alumnus who has spent about 30 years promoting baseball in Africa with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). I suddenly remembered a theme song that George Tokoro had created for the team when Ghanaian baseball was featured on a TV program. The detailed history of that time is recorded in the book "Africa and the White Ball" written by Mr. Tomonari.

In 2019, Mr. Tomonari established the Japan-Africa Baseball & Softball Foundation (J-ABS). Based on "Baseballership®" (a coined word combining baseball and sportsmanship) as a Japanese-style baseball education where one can learn discipline, respect, and justice, he is promoting the "Africa 55 Koshien Project" to spread these activities across 55 African countries.

Among the activities so far, I was impressed by stories from local teachers about how children who acquired Baseballership began to keep time strictly, greet others properly, and even improve their school studies. These are known as "non-cognitive skills," which are related to the research themes we conduct in our lab.

By having baseball club members participate in this activity, we aimed not only to provide a new opportunity for "learning while teaching, teaching while learning" but also to verify through psychological surveys what kind of impact education through baseball brings. Regarding the collaboration with JICA, it took nearly two years due to the remaining effects of COVID-19 and the lack of a reception system within Keio. However, on July 25, 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding for the dispatch of Overseas Cooperation Volunteers was signed between JICA and the Keio Research Institute at SFC Baseball Lab.

The members of the first Ghana dispatch included 10 people selected as JICA Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers: current students Naoto Ogawa (Graduate School of System Design and Management, 1st year Master's), Takuto Kudo (Teacher Training Course student), Taiga Hagiwara (Commerce, 4th year), Kento Okada (Economics, 4th year), Ryuga Ishiko (Environment and Information Studies, 3rd year), Shozo Kamada (Letters, 3rd year), Hideaki Takahashi (Law, 3rd year), Riho Minegishi (Policy Management, 3rd year), Mako Naito (Economics, 2nd year), and alumnus Kenichi Ishibashi (Class of 1993). Shunya Tomonari (Policy Management, 3rd year, who is also Mr. Tomonari's son) and I accompanied them for the lab's research. Immediately after the 19-hour flight from Japan, we were interviewed by Ghana's national television station at the airport in the capital, Accra. We also visited the JICA office, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, the Minister of Youth and Sports, and officials from the National Sports Authority. Press conferences were held one after another, and I felt the high expectations of the local people. In particular, in the office of Ambassador Hisanobu Mochizuki, who is also a Keio University alumni, the calligraphy "Jigo Sakko" (We create our own history) was displayed, and I felt encouraged knowing that the spirit of Keio is alive even in this distant land.

On-site, we collaborated with coaches belonging to the Ghana Baseball and Softball Federation. In the first half, we held workshops to think about the best way to teach Baseballership®. Since they had to speak in English, the students initially seemed reserved, but encouraged by Mr. Tomonari's strong leadership and the passionate feelings of the Ghanaian coaches, they ultimately gave wonderful presentations in their own style. In particular, it was wonderful to see them rediscover and try to convey the meanings of discipline, respect, and justice within the actions they usually perform as a matter of course, such as "Why must we bow and greet before a game?", "Why must we play catch while thinking of the other person?", and "Why does each person have a turn at bat?"

Afterward, we split into four regional groups—Dodowa, Cape Coast, Tema, and Koforidua—to provide practical guidance to local children. There were environments that cannot be experienced in Japan, such as being packed into shared vans called "tro-tros" and traveling for nearly an hour on unpaved, bumpy roads, staying in hotels where the showers naturally only provided cold water, and playing on fields scattered with stones and weeds. However, the students greatly enjoyed these real-world settings. From experiences that can only be gained by actually playing baseball on-site—such as meeting children touching a ball for the first time or seeing children grow remarkably due to their natural physical abilities—they seemed to understand the true meaning of diversity.

Finally, the 1st Ghana Koshien Tournament was held in the capital, Accra. There is a "Koshien" field here that was rebuilt through crowdfunding. Over a dozen Ghanaian players and coaches selected from various regions gathered for a tee-ball tournament. Throughout the games, Baseballership® was seen everywhere—respecting opponents, trusting teammates, and encouraging everyone. The students were deeply moved, especially seeing a player who narrowly lost break down in tears.

It is difficult to notice while playing baseball in Japan, but it is very significant to recognize that everyday activities actually have deep educational meanings, and by practicing them, non-cognitive skills are naturally acquired, positively impacting character building. In the future, I want to further deepen research to verify this. Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mika Kunieda, an expert in African studies, as well as to JICA, J-ABS, and all the stakeholders who supported this activity.