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High school baseball team manager forced players to run naked for 'mental training'
OKAYAMA -- A former manager of a high school baseball team forced his players to run naked around a field as part of their "mental training," it has been learned.
The 35-year-old man, whose name is being withheld, became manager of the baseball team at Okayama Sanyo High School in Kamogata, Okayama Prefecture, in July 2002.
He ordered club members to undress when they ran, mostly during night practice sessions.
The manager reportedly insisted that running naked was part of the students' mental training.
School officials initially turned a blind eye but later surveyed baseball club members about the controversial practice.
"We were forced to run naked once last year and another time in June this year," one of the students said.
Officials at the school admitted that they knew what was going on, but didn't take any measures to deal with the issue.
"We thought that players and their parents accepted the method," one school official said.
The school's principal is now saying that running in the nude should have been stopped earlier.
"I heard about it three years ago," the principal said.
After the club failed to report players' cigarette smoking to the Japan High School Baseball Federation in June, three members of the club were banned from the local eliminations of the annual national high baseball tournament.
In response, the school dismissed the manager from his post, and he began working as career advisor for students.
He quit the school on Sept. 1 after hitting a third-year student who ordered younger players to clean their dormitory. (Mainichi)
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