Skip to main content

Physical Abuse of Students by High School Ekiden Coach Uncovered



It has come to light that a male teacher who serves as the head coach of a high school boys' ekiden team in the city of Kumamoto repeatedly used corporal punishment against team members. The team is one of the top ekiden programs, having competed at the National High School Ekiden Championships three times. Kumamoto City Board of Education Deputy Director of Education Fujio Hashizume commented, "We are very sorry."

According to the Board of Education, the 37-year-old male who coaches at Chiharadai H.S. has since April this year repeatedly verbally and physically abused multiple team members during practice sessions and during the team's summer vacation training camp. The allegations came to light on Oct. 16 when the Board of Education received an anonymous report about the coach's actions. After interviewing each team member as well as the coach the Board of Education determined that abusive behavior had taken place.

The coach, who has led the Chiharadai boys' team since 2010, admitted that he had used corporal punishment and agreed to immediately accept any judgment against him.

Translator's note: As is customary, the original article does not name the coach. Per previous articles on the Chiharadai H.S. boys' ekiden team, its head coach is Kentaro Uchida.

source article:
https://www.fnn.jp/posts/00426835CX/201911071155_TKU_CX
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...