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Yasushi Sakaguchi Retires as Chugoku Denryoku Head Coach - "I Was Blessed With the Right People for 35 Years"



Yasushi Sakaguchi, who guided the Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team to the peak of its power as its head coach and later executive head coach, retired from the team at the end of June. Appearing at his final race on June 29, he said, "It all went by in a blur. I was blessed with the right people for 35 years."

Sakaguchi helped co-found the Chugoku Denryoku team, working to build the team up from zero and becoming its head coach in 1994. "We started with the basics, and built Chugoku Denryoku up into a well-known powerhouse in athletics," he said. Sakaguchi's coaching style encouraging the independence of his athletes helped produced Olympians, World Championships medalists and national record breakers like Shigeru Aburaya, Tsuyoshi Ogata and Atsushi Sato. In the team's golden era it even won the New Year Ekiden national title.

Asked what athletics has meant to him, Sakaguchi answered, "I got to experience the world, and to see it in all its best. I was lucky to see and experience things I never would have without it." All throughout his 35 years watching over the athletes he works with, Sakaguchi has hoped more than anyone for them to succeed. "I've always liked the athletes who go their own road more than the ones who follow," he said. "They're the ones who grow."

Another key component of Sakaguchi's coaching style has always been communication with his athletes. After every race he goes to each of them and talks one-on-one, telling them they have the chance, that if they stay consistent then things can change for them for the better. "When you work with athletes for a long time you learn their lovable side," he said. "I really want them all to achieve their best."

Although he is leaving after 35 years of working alongside his athletes, Sakaguchi still hopes to give back to the sport of athletics. "A lot of people helped me get where I am," he said. "I'd like to do the same for those who are just getting started."

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