Child Abuse - Japanese Style

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Where is the child abuse?
it's a tongue in cheek comment, referring to a similar video of a Chinese girl which zeio posted recently. Piers Morgan and some other folks argued you can't do that to a child, laughable argument really.
 
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If the girls/boys in the video cry I'd agree However, they all look happy, smiling, laughing and genuinely having fun.

This is a better example of child abuse. All the kids in the video looked like they were forced to play and pretended like they were so happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl6f_XwMhMM
 
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yes , yes , yes, they enjoy it
 
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While our kidults flog a dead rubber in the WJTTC thread, Japan is wasting no time in learning from China.
Japan is even more aggressive than China now.
As I've pointed out numerous times, JNT is going about TT more and more like CNT by the day. To put it in context, now Japan wants to kick-start their kids at the age of 3, whereas kids in China usually start at 6, and receive expert training roughly at 10.

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20181206-00010000-jij-spo&p=1
日本は3歳、中国は6歳 卓球はいつ始める?

12/6(木) 14:08配信

水谷、伊藤が育った地で

 2018年11月29日~12月2日、静岡県磐田市で卓球のU-7特別強化合宿が行われた。参加したのは小学校1年生以下の有望選手男女各10人。全国レベルでこの年齢層の強化練習に取り組むのは「たぶん世界で初めてではないか」と、日本卓球協会の宮崎義仁強化本部長はいう。競技間の「子ども争奪戦」も激しくなる中、日本卓球界が世界王座奪還の核としてきた早期教育は、新たな段階に入った。

 ◇ ◇ ◇

 練習会場になったのは水谷隼(木下グループ)、伊藤美誠(スターツ)が育った磐田卓球場。前夜、市内のホテルに集合して説明などを聞いた選手たちは、30日から本格的な合宿に入った。

 同日午前中はまずオリジナルの卓球ダンスで体を温めた。EXILEのTETSUYAさんがプロデュースしたというダンスは、卓球の足の動きやスイングを取り入れながら、楽しくウオームアップをしてもらおうと考案された。「小さい子は準備運動をせずにラケットを握り、10代になって肩などの痛みを訴えることもある。今のうちからアップの習慣を身に付けるように」と宮崎本部長。中国には、全土統一のウオームアップ体操があるという。

 卓球練習では、メトロノームを1分間185回のピッチで鳴らしながら、コーチとラリーをした。ミスせず続けることより、メトロノームに近いピッチで打とうとすることに重点を置き、伊藤や張本智和(エリートアカデミー)並みの高速ラリーを体感させた。

 次に高速回転の打球を止める練習。マシンから毎秒150回転といわれる世界トップクラス並みの回転数のボールを送り、ストップで返させた。一流選手の球威を実感し、スピードと回転を殺すボールタッチの感覚をつかんでもらうためだが、ラケットを振ってしまう選手が多い中、柔らかく止めてみせる選手もいて、指導者たちから「ほお~」と声が上がった。

 午後からはリーグ戦形式のゲーム練習。3日間で全員1回総当りの3ゲームマッチを行い、1位になった選手は18年度のホープス(小学校6年以下)ナショナルチーム合宿に参加でき、19年度の同チーム選手となれる目標も与えた。

 参加者は2、3歳で始めた選手が多く、女子の松島美空(5)=田阪卓研=は「スマッシュの練習が楽しかった。将来は金メダルを取りたい」、男子の柴田優星(7)=STライトニング=は「普段のクラブの練習は年上(の選手)がいっぱいおるけど、きょうは同じ(年代)だから緊張しなかった。目標は張本選手」と話した。
3 for Japan, 6 for China - What Age to Start Table Tennis?
The Place Where Mizutani and Ito Grew Up

About how the competition in recruiting kids among different sports has intensified, and how early education, the key for Japan to get back the throne, has entered a new phase.

And how many kids do not warm up properly and complain about shoulder pain in their teens, so they want to get them into that habit early on, citing China as an example.

For the training, they put a metronome, set to 185 bpm, next to the table, and get the kids to hit with the coach at that speed, instead of keeping the ball in play without missing. They want them to experience the speed Ito and Harimoto play at.

Next, high spin training, where robot shoots balls at 150 rpm, and the kids have to stop them.

In the afternoon, it's league play. 1st in place will get to join the 2018 Hopes National Team training camp.

Many of the participants started at the age of 2 or 3.

10代バックハンド革命の始まり

 早期教育の始まりは01年だった。世界選手権大阪大会の男子団体で13位に終わり、卓球日本は落ちるところまで落ちたといわれた。同年10月、宮崎さんがナショナルチームの男子監督に就任する際に出した条件の一つが「小学生のナショナルチームをつくること」。12月に1期生ができ、「フォアでできることはバックでやろう」を合言葉に、早期教育とともに日本型卓球の大改造が始まった。

 折しも、数年前から注目を集めていた福原愛が01年にはもう中学1年で国際試合に出ており、子どもたちの大きな刺激と目標になった。そこから水谷や岸川聖也(ファースト)、松平健太(木下グループ)、石川佳純(全農)らが台頭。早熟ぶりだけでなく、柔らかいボールタッチ、フォアと同等にバックを振るスタイルが、日本再建の方向性に確信を持たせるものとなった。

 そしてここへきて伊藤、平野美宇(日本生命)、張本ら10代選手が革新的な超高速攻撃卓球で中国勢を慌てさせ、常勝中国の背中が見えるところまで来た。彼らはいずれも2歳か3歳でラケットを握っている。

 中国と日本で代表になり、現在は東京都西東京市で「羽佳(はねよし)卓球倶楽部」を営む羽佳純子さんは「9年前にここを始めた頃は、5歳の子を募集しても年に1人か2人だった。今では募集しなくても4歳からの希望者が来る」という。

 早期教育を重視する理由を、宮崎本部長はこう語る。「医科学的に人間の敏しょう性、反射神経は12歳が頂点で、その後は誰でも緩やかに落ちていくといわれる。12歳までにそれらが最大限に開発され、12歳の時の頂点が高くなれば、下がっていっても他国の選手より能力は高くなる」

 ボールを自在に操る巧緻性を身につけるには、ボールに触れている時間の絶対量が物を言うことも、以前から指摘されてきた。「毎秒150回転するボールを、普通にラケットに当てれば上に飛んでいく。相手コートに入れるには下に向けないといけないが、初めから下へ向けてはボールに当たらない。当たってから押さえる。この感覚は18歳からでは身につかない」

 現在では32年五輪を目標に、有望な小学生を試合結果や学力テスト、体力測定などで選抜し強化するシステムが稼動している。

 ただ、小学校1年以下の年代は卓球協会として手付かずだった。この年代用の、通常より10センチ低い高さ66センチの卓球台を多数そろえるのが難しいなどの事情もあったという。そこへ、元日本代表監督でスヴェンソン会長の兒玉圭司さんが理事長を務めるKODAMA国際教育財団から申し出があり、同財団が「U-7卓球選手育成事業」を発足させ、その第1弾として実現したのが今回の合宿だ。
BH Revolution of the Teens Has Begun

About how the early education started in 2001, the year when Japan finished 13th at the WTTC, their worst-ever result. Miyazaki assumed the post of director for the men's team in October that year with the condition that "a national team made up of elementary school students" be formed. In that December, for the 1st class, the slogan was "whatever you can do with FH should be doable with BH as well." And so, the Japanese-style table tennis reform begun.

How the excitement brought about by Fukuhara since 2001 led to the emergence of Mizutani, Kishikawa, Matsu-ken and Ishikawa. How their early growth spurt, delicate touch, and balanced FH and BH style give them the confidence they're on the right track.

And now Ito, Hirano and Harimoto with their revolutionary super high-speed offensive table tennis are giving China grief. They all picked up the racket at 2 or 3.

Haneyoshi TT Club owner Junko Haneyoshi(AKA Li Jun, CNT coach Li Sun's sister) says when they started 9 years ago, they could recruit only one to two 5-year-old kids. Nowadays, they get 4-year-old kids enrolling without breaking a sweat.

Miyazaki explains the emphasis on early education, citing that human reflex peaks at the age of 12, backed by medical science, and tapers off after that. So, they want to tap into that as much as possible before 12, such that given the higher threshold, they'll be faster than other foreigners even if they slow down later in life.

With the 2032 Olympics as the target, the system in which promising elementary school students are culled by match results, academic tests, physical fitness tests etc. is set in motion.

「6歳からでいい」王者・中国

 王者・中国の事情はどうか。1980年代、元中国代表で70年代に活躍した許紹発さんが指導者研修のため来日した際、「卓球は何歳で始めたらいいか」と聞くと、「6歳。それより早くても遅くてもよくない。中国では結論が出ている」と即答した。その後、新たな研究が行われたかどうかは不明だが、今も中国選手の競技開始年齢は下がっていない。

 04年アテネ、08年北京五輪金メダリストの張怡寧は6歳。朱雨玲、王曼◆(日の下に立)は5歳。王は「中国ではだいたい5歳か6歳。もっと早く始めた方がいいという話はあまり聞かない」という。

 4月に来日した73年世界チャンピオンの※(ノギヘンに希)恩庭さんも同じだった。「あまり早いと骨が固まっていないから、関節を痛める危険がある。正しい動きも身につかず、悪い癖がつく恐れがある。せいぜい5歳から、必ず軽いラケットを使って遊ばせるぐらいでいい。ボールに触る程度でも感覚は身につく」

 張本の父、宇さんにも聞いてみた。「5歳で遅くはないと思う。今はどうか分からないが、中国では近所にやる場所もあまりなかった。智和も(日本で)親の仕事場が卓球場だったから連れていっただけ。最初は遊んだりボール拾いをしたり。早い方がいいと思って始めさせたわけじゃないです。ただ、ボールの感覚やリズム感を覚えるには、早い方がいいかもしれない」

 中国代表として88年ソウル五輪男子ダブルスで金メダルを獲得し、来日後に全日本選手権で3回優勝した偉関晴光さんも言う。「6歳より前は、やってもフォームが固まらない。ボールの扱いはうまくなるかもしれないが、うちのクラブ(偉関卓球ランド=東京都北区)にも、親が焦って3歳から始めさせたいと言ってくるから、幼稚園の年長組からでいいですよと言う。飽きちゃう可能性もあるから」

 しかし、卓球が国技で、人口13億9000万人の中国には、広大な裾野と強固なシステムがあり、そこから選ばれた子どもたちを緻密な訓練で鍛え上げる。安定したラリーを続けるためのフォームづくり、体づくりを徹底し、試合に勝つためのサービスや戦術はそれから。

 ミスをしない基本技術、体幹など体の強さ、激しい競争を勝ち抜いてきた精神力、それらを土台にした対応能力など、多くの面でまだ日本は及ばない。

 磐田合宿に、プロジェクトの委員長として参加した59、63年世界チャンピオンの松崎キミ代さんは、中国が日本を目標としていた時代の選手だ。子どもたちに、しっかり体を使って打ち、膝のバネで動く基本の大切さと、勝負に臨む態度のあり方を説いた。松崎さんは61年世界選手権北京大会では団体で優勝し、シングルスは3位だったが、勝っても負けても微笑みを絶やさない姿が、周恩来首相から称賛されたエピソードも残っている。
"Fine to start at 6" China the Champion

Now onto stuff about China. In the 80's, Xu Shaofa was invited to Japan as a consultant and asked "what is the best age to start table tennis?" He answered, "6, not early, not late, just the right time. This is widely accepted in China." China still follows that principle to this day.

Zhang Yining started at 6. ZYL and WMY at 5. For WMY, "In China, kids start roughly at 5 or 6. I haven't heard much about the benefit of starting earlier."

Xi Enting visited Japan in April 1973 and held the same view, citing concerns of joint damage and bad habits from poor strokes.

Yu Harimoto, Harimoto's dad was consulted as well. "Starting at 5 is not late. Tomokazu started by picking up balls. Not because I thought about starting early, but it might be better to learn the touch and pace. The sooner the better.

Ex-CNT player Seiko Iseki(formerly Wei Qingguang) said "Starting before 6 wouldn't help solidify the style. Many Japanese parents are anxious, having their kids start before the age of 3. I say that's not necessary. Starting in the last year of preschool is just fine. Kids might grow tired of playing if they start too early."

保護者の意識も課題

 早期教育をいかに打倒中国へつなげるか。女子ホープスナショナルチームの野中直広監督は「女子は体が小さいからドライブを掛けられず、スマッシュになる。基本はドライブ。どこかの時期で、しっかりドライブを覚えなければ」という。同男子の松下雄二監督も「小さい時から始めれば慌てることはない。基本をしっかりやって、凡ミスの少ない選手に」と、基本練習の重要性を指摘する。

 ただ卓球に限らず、早期教育の加速で保護者が目先の勝利にこだわる傾向が強まり、強化の現場を悩ませている現実もある。ナショナルチームへの選抜基準が、公平を期して試合結果中心になるためやむを得ない面はあるが、磐田合宿では宮崎本部長が「リーグ戦で応援が熱くなり過ぎないように」と呼び掛けた。最終日、水谷の母・万記子さんから、保護者たちに体験談を話してもらったのも、保護者のあり方を考えてほしいからだった。

 歯磨き講習も行った。宮崎本部長は「15歳ぐらいで虫歯になって、卓球に影響する子が多い。日々の生活や自己管理をきちんとできるのが一流選手。歯磨きもその一つ」と狙いを話す。ともすれば親世代が不規則な生活に慣れており、「こういう場で言わないと親が気づかない」と明かす関係者もいる。

 羽佳さんは日中の違いを踏まえて言う。「小さい時から始めればたくさんの経験ができる。焦って負けたり守りに入って負けたりして成長する。日本の選手は小さい時から試合が多いから試合が上手。中国は基本練習を大事にするけど、最初は試合に慣れていない。どちらがいいと単純に言えない。でも最後は基本。2、3歳からやれば時間がある。基本もサービス練習もできる。時間をどう使うか」

 8月の全国ホープス大会の男子で優勝したT.Cマルカワ(岡山)の丸川真一監督も、「早く始めたからといって特別有利なわけではない」という。「どれだけ早く子どもが卓球を好きになり、自分からやりたい気持ちになるか。やらせるのでなく、そこへ持っていって伸ばしていくのが私たち」

 どこを目指し、いつ何をするか。器用さや理解力、体格や体の成長具合、目指す戦型などによって上達のカーブは違う。宮崎本部長は「統計はないが、幼い時は体格の小さい子の方が早く上達し、体格のいい子はやめてしまう例も結構ある」と惜しみ、野中監督は「高校生ぐらいで芽が出ても間に合う」という。早熟選手の高速攻撃だけが卓球ではない。

 卓球は、100分の1秒単位で時間を御することが勝利を生む競技。未来のメダリスト育成には5年、10年単位でいかに時間を御するかが、成否のカギを握ると言えそうだ。(時事通信社・若林哲治)
Parental Awareness Also An Issue

About how parents could get in the way. Though not limited to table tennis, parents tend to emphasize on short-term victories, which poses a problem on site. During league play, Miyazaki had to ask them not to get too heated when cheering. On the last day, Mizutani's mom Mikiko-san appeared as guest to share her experience and stories with the other parents.

There was also a tooth-brushing course. Miyazaki noted that many children who play table tennis are bothered by tooth decay around the age of 15. Top players should manage their lives properly, one of which is tooth-brushing. It's mentioned some parents have weird habits.

Haneyoshi-san points out the difference between Japan and China. Japanese players are good in matchplay because they play so many of them since a young age. OTOH, Chinese players focus on fundamentals and thus are not as good at first. It's hard to say which approach is better, but it still comes down to fundamentals.

Shinichi Marukawa, director of TT club Marukawa, says "starting early isn't necessarily advantageous. It's how kids become attached to table tennis and feel they want to play it themselves instead of making them play it."

Miyazaki points out that many factors can affect the growth curve, "there's no stats, but there is plenty of cases where kids with a smaller stature reach higher heights but kids with better physique quit later on."
 
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The girl at 0:35 blasting those forehands is Miku Matsushima, Sora Matsushima's younger sister. She's 5.5 years old now. Crazy!!

Nice timing. Was going to post about them. For those unfamiliar, Matsushima is one ambitious table tennis family. They have an impressive family tree. Both dad Takashi and mom Yumi are former players and now coach at Tasaka Takkyu Kaikan. They have 4 kids, Sora, Toa, Miku and Aira.

If I'm not mistaken, that's his dad Takashi feeding in the video.
cdOQnox.gif


@5:26, you get to see more child abuse, in case you missed it the last time I posted.
<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/110302_d27450e_ttsmash31" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's rather mild compared to Morizono.

 
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Yes, I was a little torn between admiring the dedication (he must have thought it was "for your own good", and of course Mori didn't do half bad) and thinking I'd kick him in the balls, if I was his son.
Who realised, ten years into the game, that it could actually be enjoyed...

At some point you have to wonder, as a parent, what success really means.
 
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Good education, that.
Force the exceptional out of your kid while his brain is developing, give him a cush life and a profession. Those people will lack for nothing in life. At best they could be phenoms in their field and at worst they could be extremely sought after coaches and teachers.
It's one of the world's greatest shames that not all parents put their children through this 'abuse', and I'd be ashamed had I not been working with my kids the same way.

It's the same thing Susan and Judith Polgar's dad did with his daughters. He forced them to become chess prodigies. Judith became the best female chess player of all time, not even bothering with the womens field in chess and beating the men grandmasters left and right, which was at the time and still is pretty much unheard of.
It's the reason we have Ma Long, FZD and the huge majority of all top 100s
 
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Yes the Polgars are a good example, as are many others. Speaking honestly, I wish I had received a tenth of that attention from my own father and may have found more sense of achievement in some things down the line, hence the first part of my answer.
But is there no way to do that without the humiliation?.. Not sure the Polgar sisters had chess pieces thrown at their faces?
 
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Yes the Polgars are a good example, as are many others. Speaking honestly, I wish I had received a tenth of that attention from my own father and may have found more sense of achievement in some things down the line, hence the first part of my answer.
But is there no way to do that without the humiliation?.. Not sure the Polgar sisters had chess pieces thrown at their faces?

That's a good question lol.
Not everyone is equally competent an educator.
I think in this regard that deliberate humiliation is the weakest tool, and envy/competition (also a kind of humiliation) is the strongest tool.

But I'm not a professor of psychology or whatever daddy Polgar was when he ran his experiment on his daughters. He was checking to see if it's possible to create actual genius through incredibly hard work. But any genius in their field would already tell you than yeah, genius is the result of extremely hard work :>
 
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Fair enough.

Still, at some point, the will has to come from within. Giving kids a push, yes, by all means, but if many years into it the only driving force is external pressure, there'll always be a lack of creativity and that "extra" factor. Take Ma long, Timo Boll, Xu Xin, Vladimir Samsonov... These guys would play for free, or at least for their own sense of enjoyment, achievement and glory. They look like naturals, and have instantly recognisable styles. I feel this could be the difference between Miu Hirano and Mima Ito, in recent times. "I have to win" only cuts the mustard up to a certain point.

The counter-argument would be that the overall level might fluctuate more depending on the player's own motivation and state of mind, if you take someone like Pitchford who can beat almost anyone on his day but can also have a bit of a fragile mind. As always, it is a matter of balance and having someone like Liu Guoliang ready to give you a shove and send you to the basement can be pretty handy, on slower days. The important point is that LGL's good intentions and caring are evident even when he is being tough, something that wasn't all that clear with Morizono's father (will leave him the benefit of the doubt..). And if he couldn't see your inner will, Liu wouldn't let you anywhere near him in the first place.






Pushing the chess analogy, take the last world champs. On one hand you have Caruana (not saying he doesn't like chess - I honestly can't picture his frame of mind all that well) with quite likely the highest level of preparation ever achieved, "drills" taken to the next level and blitzing out moves well into the middle-game against the strongest player there ever was, in absolute terms.
Carlsen on the other hand seemingly bored to death with what the classical time-control game is turning into (I know he was also annoyed with the format), doing his best to get off the beaten path at the first opportunity and to salvage a little spark in all this. Not to mention, shutting up naysayers by wilfully going into tie-breaks when he likely could grind out a win in classical, in the last game. At which point, he murdered Caruana in shorter time-controls and came out with panache. Which would you rather have?

Just to be clear: Carlsen is no Mikhail Tal in style and he can rely on his fair share of preparation too (there isn't a single sport or game where "innate talent" will do these days, as you said), but he's always been encouraged to take things into his own hands and follow his intuition.
I know his father has been by his side his entire life. But it has always been a case of "nurturing" rather than "forcing", Skandinavian style, and you couldn't take him off the chess board as a child, unless he didn't feel like playing and you'd probably be facing the opposite. Reminds me of Timo Boll, and his alleged aversion to formal training (now I am also thinking of the Finland vs Korea education excellence debate, but this post is probably long enough..). Carlsen has been described as "arrogant" quite a few times, but what I see is "confident", due to the above.

Does this make sense?
 
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