<figure id="attachment_359820" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359820" style="width: 2464px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2bda58c3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/6c0514645e640b6d8f997ae4ae45088f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359820" class="wp-caption-text">Kataoka, who founded the women&#8217;s team</figcaption></figure>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> Kataoka, who founded the women&#8217;s team, said, &#8220;It&#8217;s natural, but courtesy and greetings are important. We are members of society before we are baseball players.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> Ayumi Kataoka, 37, the manager of the Ibaraki Golden Goals (GG) baseball club team, explained the team policy in her own words to each of the women she met with.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> Kataoka founded the GG women&#8217;s team, and seven female players, including a former member of the Japan national team, participated in tryouts held on January 28 in Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, where the GG is based. All were accepted after knocking, free hitting, and an interview with Kataoka himself. Kataoka reflects on his thoughts on a women&#8217;s team and the difficulties of coaching a team, where he lost 5 kg of weight and his trademark smile immediately after taking over.</span></p>
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<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> I had been thinking about creating a women&#8217;s team for a long time,&#8221; Kataoka said. I wanted to be involved in women&#8217;s baseball. But I kept thinking, &#8216;Someday, someday,&#8217; and the days just went by. It was at the end of last year that I decided to give it a try.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> We play baseball with the support of Inashiki City and our fans. That is why I told the players who accepted the tryouts, &#8220;First of all, let&#8217;s be strong as human beings so that they will support us. When I reported to Kin-chan (Kinichi Hagimoto, the TV personality who created &#8220;GG&#8221; in &#8217;05), the advice he gave me was, &#8216;Polish your words. I know it&#8217;s tough to coach both the men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s teams, but I&#8217;m going to talk to each one of them as much as I want to,&#8221; he said.</span></span></p>
<h2> Dialogue is the heart of a team.</h2>
<figure id="attachment_359821" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359821" style="width: 2464px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="632fca40"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/bdeef0b51cc94bf94665b8f766bb345d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359821" class="wp-caption-text"> He is passionate about being a good member of society before being a baseball player.</figcaption></figure>
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<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> As Kin-chan advised, Kataoka values words. When a player makes a good play, Kataoka praises him without exaggeration: &#8220;Seriously good, that was really cool! and praise to the point of exaggeration. When a player is negligent, Kataoka sometimes shouts at him, &#8220;I usually tell you to think and practice, but you don&#8217;t, so this is what happens! He sometimes shouts out loud.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> I think dialogue with players is the key to a team. I change the way I talk to them depending on the person and the situation. Sometimes I give one-on-one attention to a player individually, and sometimes I dare to scold him in front of all the players. What is important for a coach is to create an environment where the players can play to their heart&#8217;s content.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> Today, Kataoka is a leader with his own style and ideas, but he says he faced a series of hardships immediately after taking over as manager of &#8220;GG&#8221; from Kin-chan. It was January 2011 when I officially took over as director.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> I was in my early 20s at the time. Kin-chan told me, &#8216;I told the reporters that if I quit, you would take over as director. I was puzzled. It was like an ordinary employee suddenly becoming president without any coaching experience. The people around me were all older than me. In the beginning, I was told, &#8220;Please do this or that. I was giving them instructions in honorific form, saying, &#8216;Please do this or that.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> One day, at a pre-game meeting, one of the players suggested, &#8220;Let&#8217;s watch the ball until strike two today. Kataoka felt reluctant, but agreed to his face. Then, during the game, a veteran player protested, &#8220;Why do we have to wait for two balls! and left the bench. Kataoka was frustrated with his inability to organize the team.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" He decided to quit baseball and return to his hometown."></div>
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<figure id="attachment_359822" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359822" style="width: 5184px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="90fc9423"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/6168146602776f220b26846c702115b8.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359822" class="wp-caption-text">His trademark energy and smile (photo taken November &#8217;14).</figcaption></figure>
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<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> I reflected on the situation. I thought everyone agreed with the policy once it was decided, but that was not the case. I also had my doubts.&#8221;</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> He was troubled and could not sleep. He vomited every time he ate and lost nearly 5 kg of weight. Before long, his trademark smile disappeared.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> It was really tough. &#8230;&#8230; I even thought about quitting baseball, which I loved so much, and returning to my hometown in Kumamoto.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> He was at the end of his rope. Kataoka gathered the players together and spoke honestly about his feelings.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="strongInContent"><span class="s1"> I thought I shouldn&#8217;t be taken advantage of because I was younger than him, so I suppressed my emotions. I thought I would be crushed if I didn&#8217;t do something about it, so I honestly told them about my problems. I honestly told him my problems and said, &#8220;Please help me. You have more life experience and a better baseball career than I do. Please let me hear your opinions. The players told me, &#8220;Ayumi is the manager, so do whatever you want. Don&#8217;t think things over by yourself, but talk to me about anything. That was after that. I felt more at ease.</span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> Kataoka began to talk with his teammates without hesitation. He does not make decisions alone, but consults with those around him about practice menus and other matters. He does not hide his emotions on the bench or on the field. He values communication with his teammates, smiles consciously, and frequently asks, &#8220;How&#8217;s it going with your girlfriend? He is now frequently asked, &#8220;How&#8217;s your girlfriend? Kataoka, a &#8220;director who values words,&#8221; was born.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1"> In &#8220;Part 2: Ayumi Kataoka&#8217;s Confession: Overcoming Two Miscarriages and Giving Birth to Her First Son,&#8221; we will introduce her unexpected date with her husband, a former professional baseball player, and the trials and tribulations leading up to the birth of their first son, now one and a half years old.</span></p>
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<p><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/359829">Part 2: Ayumi Kataoka&#8217;s confession of her happy ordeal of overcoming two miscarriages</a> and giving birth to her first son.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Kataoka&#39;s Unexpected Goals Written on Colored Paper"></div>
<figure id="attachment_359824" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359824" style="width: 5184px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="432fb8a0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/1ab924a8b9cafc7fe348cbc56f331abc.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359824" class="wp-caption-text">At the beginning of his tenure as director, he was constantly troubled and his smile sometimes disappeared (photo taken in November &#8217;14).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_359825" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359825" style="width: 5184px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="657dd496"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/683d421bea7edf6ca4373ca53d10319f.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359825" class="wp-caption-text"> He values communication with players (photo taken in November &#8217;14).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_359826" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359826" style="width: 2464px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="959f3e25"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/a8884788f20d1f60e8fe76b7fadce323.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359826" class="wp-caption-text"> Goals written on a piece of colored paper during this interview</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_359827" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359827" style="width: 2464px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="47687cb1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/e8271cc42d0e40f3905e3fc84b916dda.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359827" class="wp-caption-text"> Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of playing in the Koshien Stadium as a player.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_359835" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359835" style="width: 1417px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="25638194"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/25de5624fce5ccd958b1cae197fb62e2.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359835" class="wp-caption-text"> Former professional baseball player and her husband, Kota Kobayashi (photo taken in January &#8217;17)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_359838" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-359838" style="width: 2464px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="131ebe97"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/ad99ced95b521237cd564c8e9c2e09bc.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-359838" class="wp-caption-text"> She tells her teammates, &#8220;I want you to be aware of your status as a member of society.</figcaption></figure>


 Shinya Nishizaki, Shinji Hamazaki, Hiroyuki Komatsu

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 Ayumi Kataoka is the manager of the Ibaraki Golden Goals, a women's team he founded. She went through many trials and tribulations on her way to great success. In the beginning, she was troubled with insomnia and vomiting, and lost 5 kg in weight. In her personal life, she suffered two miscarriages. She talks about her tumultuous life (Part 1).

Ayumi Kataoka talks about the difficulties of coaching baseball and her thoughts on founding a women’s team.

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