Shugakukan High School: “Student Apologizes” for Video of Alleged Coach Violence

On April 21, a video of a coach kicking a student caused quite a stir at the Shugakukan High School soccer team in Kumamoto Prefecture.

I was surprised when I saw the video, which was taken by a student. An adult is kicking an unresisting child in the buttocks. I could even hear the sound of the adult punching the child in the back. As a parent of a child who belongs to an athletic club, I felt my heart tighten.

On the following day, the 22nd, a shocking incident occurred. The third-year club members released a “video apology” for the incident. The video is 2 minutes and 20 seconds long. The captain of the club spoke first, followed by the student who was assaulted explaining the situation, then the two students who took the video and posted it on SNS, and finally the 11 members on screen bowed deeply and “apologized” for “the disturbance.

At first glance, all I can say is that it is tragic.” The students have shown their faces and appeared in this video with their names. Why must they do this? Regardless of the reason, there is no such thing as ‘teaching’ through violence. It is an act that would not be tolerated in a normal school, and yet the students affected by it apologize…” (Teacher at a metropolitan high school)

Was this a voluntary act by the students? Some say that someone may have forced them to do it.

Some say that someone may have forced them to do this, but “for them, their own careers are at stake. The “advancement” of high school soccer players depends on the feelings of coaches and other instructors. It is the students who will suffer if their path to college is cut off because of this. They may be in a panic because this has unexpectedly turned into a big deal.

Shugakukan is a “prestigious” sports school. The soccer club has more than 200 members, including both men and women.

“ Shugakukan High School once had a ‘sign-stealing scandal’ by a player in the baseball team at the 2016 Senbatsu. When I learned of the latest violent incident, I thought, oh, Shugakukan. It is a strong school that has produced professional baseball and soccer players, so students come from all over the country. I think of it more like a training institute than a school.

The students should not complain about such “guidance” because they want to pursue higher education in sports and connect it to their future careers… Perhaps the students “voluntarily” made and released an apology video with this thought in mind.

However, I wonder if it was right to let these children do such a thing. As one of the parents said at the beginning of this article, “When I saw the video, I cried.

I cried when I saw the video. I have a son who is now absorbed in athletic activities, and I really thought, “I don’t want him to be in such a world.

The world is being shaken by a great war of violence. Those who initiate wars have “their own reasons for violence.

It is his own will to choose his life. We can only hope that the students of Shugakukan who “apologized” in the video to the world, as well as children in similar circumstances, can make better life choices.