Height Doesn’t Actually Matter—Thoughts from the Father of Togashi, Former U-16 Japanese National Team Head Coach

Ideally, the point guard should also be 180 cm. ……

Japan’s men’s basketball team, which qualified for the Olympics on its own for the first time in 48 years, would have won the qualifying league game against France on July 30 had it not been for a “questionable call”. The two point guards of the Japanese national team are Yuki Togashi (167 cm tall) and Yuki Kawamura (172 cm tall).

When I was active, competing on the world stage was a dream come true. I thought it would be a miracle if I could win this tournament, but I am amazed that I am competing on equal terms with the world’s best. I am amazed.

Hideki, Yuki’s father, said after watching the match against France.

Yuki’s performance makes me think that height is no longer a factor in becoming a basketball player.

No, I think Yuki resents his parents. Both of his parents are small” (Hideki Togashi, hereafter).

Hideki himself started playing basketball in the first year of junior high school, and after graduating from university, he coached basketball teams at four different junior high schools. After graduating from university, he coached the basketball teams at four different junior high schools, all of which became regulars in national tournaments and were twice ranked No. 1 in Japan.

He also served as the head coach of the Japan U-16 national team, and when he became the basketball coach of the basketball team at Kaishi International High School in Niigata Prefecture, which opened in 2002, the 170-cm-tall, highly skilled coach won a national championship in just five years.

Hideki’s wife was also a basketball player, but she is 155 cm tall. He was also a member of a working team, so does height have anything to do with basketball players?

No, no, I was a member of the third team all through my college years, and I thought that being taller had an advantage. I still think so.

When he shoots a 3-point shot, I think he can’t see the ring. I don’t know how he gets it in. As a team builder, I want to have as many big players as possible. This is my true intention.”

Who is the point guard on the Kaishi International High School team that you are currently coaching?

He is 165 cm. He is small, but he is fast, can play defense, and is a good shooter.

For some reason, many point guards are small. What’s this?

I believe that point guards need special skills. If you don’t have experience playing point guard before middle school, you can’t do it after high school. It’s totally different from other positions in terms of how you use your eyes and your head.”

In basketball, it is the bigger players who are the point getters. Therefore, small players are often given the position of point guard from their mini-basketball days, which is the situation in Japan today. Hideki says that experience is necessary for a point guard, who reads the flow and development of the game, gives instructions to his teammates, and creates the game.

I would like to see a point guard of about 180 cm grow up, but looking at the current situation, it is very difficult.

Yuki has been leading the team since junior high school with ideas that surpassed his father’s.

Because of his small stature, Yuuki has also played the role of point guard since his mini-basketball days.

I was very small,” he said. Even when I entered junior high school, I was 148 cm.

But he had a great sense of basketball. He played mini-basketball in elementary school, but even then he stood out from the pack.

When I was in the fourth grade, I was competing with players in the sixth grade. Seeing Yuki back then, I was convinced that he would become a top-notch player in the future.”

Later, Yuki entered a junior high school coached by Hideki, where he was a regular player from the first year, but Hideki rarely coached Yuki.

Yuuki was beyond my imagination,” Hideki said. So I didn’t have much to teach him. I just told him, ‘Don’t slack off’ (laughs).

He was not afraid of anything, had a broad perspective, and always calmly assessed the situation. Where did he learn these skills?

When I was watching NBA videos at home, Yuuki would watch them with me. He probably watched them even when I wasn’t around. Maybe that is how he studied things. He must have been a child who could embody what he saw in the videos. I think she was a genius.

If he had been as tall as he was, he might have been active in the United States by now,” says Hideki. I wonder if he made any dietary changes to increase his height.

I don’t think he would have eaten even if I had. I don’t know because we live apart now, but when I was a child, I was a picky eater, and my staple foods were meat, potatoes, and ice cream (laughs). I never ate vegetables.

I was not an easy child who would honestly listen to my parents. That is probably why he was able to graduate from junior high school and go to the United States by himself.

Until now, Yuki has never consulted his parents about his future. Even when he was going to the U.S., he went to visit an American high school with a friend, and when he returned, he had already decided to go.

Hideki’s dream as a coach is for his students to become “the point guard of their lives.

Hideki was previously assigned to a public junior high school that lost in the first round of a city tournament. In his second year, they won the prefectural tournament, and in his third year, they became national champions. How does one take an unknown public junior high school and turn it into a national championship contender?

Hideki says, “To become stronger, you have to change your perspective.

At the first junior high school I was assigned to, we didn’t win at all. I asked Mr. Kazuo Nakamura, who was leading Kyodo Oil (now ENEOS Sunflowers) at the time, what I should do, and he told me, ‘Aim to be the best in Japan. Hearing that, I changed overnight.

When you set your sights on becoming No. 1 in Japan, your daily practice changes from when you were aiming to make it past the first round of the city tournament, and your mindset changes as well.

The most important thing is the passion of the coach. I believe that the children followed the coach’s passion to make the team stronger and to make it stronger. I think the Japanese national team also feels Tom’s passion.

Yuki Togashi is the pride of Japan’s point guard. What are your expectations for your son?

Even though he is short, he is able to play so well. I hope he will be able to give dreams and hopes to children.

What would you like to say from the standpoint of coaching high school students?

I tell my students to be the point guard of their lives. Instead of waiting for instructions, become a person who can give instructions. I want them to become adults who can think for themselves, act for themselves, and take responsibility for their own actions.”