The present day of the famous general who returned to Koshien as the manager of Soshigakuen.

Keiji Monma, 54, who led his alma mater, the prestigious Tokai University Sagami of Kanagawa, to four Koshien championships in spring and summer over a 23-year period, will return to the holy land again to lead Soshigakuen of Okayama.

After leaving Tokai University Sagami, he chose Okayama as his new home, saying, “I had no connection with the place and had never been there before. What was the deciding factor?

What was the deciding factor? I will do my utmost to protect you, so let’s give it our all. Human beings are weak creatures. Because we are weak, there are times when we feel as if we are about to collapse. I think it is very important to have someone to support you in such situations. Having someone to support you in difficult, tough, and painful situations gives you a sense of security. I think this “security, not stability,” is the most important thing for human beings.

This “I will protect you” is synonymous with “I will support you. If you are looking for “stability,” it is probably safer to live in the Kanto area, where you can make use of your local knowledge and personal connections. However, Monma felt a greater sense of “security,” and was attracted to the environment in which he would be able to once again aim for a national championship under the guidance of a person who was willing to cooperate with him.

The official appointment of the new manager came on August 10, 2010. The Soshigakuen Baseball Club was founded on August 10, 2010, right after the team led by the former coach finished its first appearance in the summer tournament in four years at the Koshien Stadium.

The Soshigakuen baseball team was founded when the school opened in 2010, and under the leadership of its first manager, Hiroyuki Nagasawa (now manager of Sasayama Sangyo High School), the team grew rapidly. Starting with the “fastest ever” appearance in the Spring ’11 Senbatsu tournament, the team had by this point made the leap to become a regular participant in the Koshien tournament, boasting a total of six appearances in the spring and summer.

Without taking this background into consideration, it would be wild to use words like “strengthened from scratch,” but Monma’s skill shone through immediately after he took over.

In the summer of 2010, three sophomores were on the bench at Koshien. The pitching staff was completely replaced. In the Okayama Tournament in the fall of that year, their first official game in their new home, they fended off their opponents’ attacks by pitching in succession and suddenly came in second place. In the following tournament in Chugoku, a fielder who had been placed on the bench after a registration change just before the start of the tournament hit a homerun to tie the game.

Last summer, however, the team had to endure the ordeal of losing its first game, something it had never experienced when it was Tokai University Sagami. In the summer of 2011, 57 teams participated in the Okayama tournament, while his predecessor in Kanagawa had 167, the second highest number in Japan.

I think the fact that there are not as many teams means that there are more opportunities to play against strong schools in the early stages of the tournament. I have only been here for a short time, but I have heard that there are many traditional public schools and strong schools, so it is scary to have to play against those teams early on.

In their first game in the summer, the team lost 5-8 to Okayama Minami. Coincidentally, it was a “traditional public school.