39-year-old new coach of the Waseda University rugby club talks about "how to build an ideal team"

At the summer training camp held in Sugadaira Kogen, Nagano Prefecture, the top team won consecutive victories in practice matches against powerhouses Teikyo University and Meiji University. Results are beginning to appear (photo by Kaori Matsumoto)

With Saga Technical High School, Waseda University, and Yamaha Motor Jubilo, they have achieved brilliant results with one of the strongest teams in Japan. He was also selected for the Japanese national team, and participated in official international test matches seven times. It's truly the elite of the elite. Former Japan national rugby team member Tsuyoshi Hirao talks about his discomfort with the coverage of the Olympics. “At Saga Kogyo, 15 of the 20 students who started playing rugby in high school were beginners. Even if Waseda has 20 members, there aren’t even 5 people recommended for sports. Of course, Yamaha is the same, so I don't feel like I've been a strong team for a long time." At Waseda, he won the top spot in Japan in his junior year, but finished second in his senior year as captain. finished. In 2009, the sixth year after joining Yamaha, the company faced a crisis of near closure due to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Tatsuhiko Otao (39), the new head coach of his alma mater from this spring, said, "All my experiences have made me who I am now. When I'm making, I don't think it's superficial," he says. “If I had won the match, I might have been more successful as a player. In a good way, there was a gap between what I expected and what I expected.” On the other hand, in an era where everyone can easily access cutting-edge information, even experienced former top players can easily see through the theories they have borrowed from students. So, this spring, after clarifying the factors behind the complete defeat to Tenri University in the finals of the university championship last season, I started by grasping the real feeling of growth through actual play. “What players expect from a new manager is rugby. I thought it would be better to let him have it, so that the conversations after that would resonate.After the spring season, I feel that the players are convinced and are following us.” Looking back, he said, "I was so worried that I would never have the time to worry about it." Practice time and budgets were significantly reduced, and many players left the team. The experience of overcoming such hardships and winning the first Japanese Championship in 2015, five seasons later, will be a valuable asset in my role as a manager. "Until then, it was all about 'addition'. The idea was to have a unified team and add the power of each individual to fight. The only thing I had to do was to “multiply” everyone’s strengths.The newcomers who had just entered the company knew that they would fail, but they made them fail, and made them understand that “This one is better.” That way, you can increase the number of players who can think for themselves and entrust them with roles.By setting only one direction and leaving the rest up to each individual, you can create something that exceeds your own frame.Even if it seems that you are sharing the same work We built a relationship of trust that was incomparable to the teamwork we had had up until that point.” Some of the members of the club were at the top of the national championship when they were in high school, while others came from an unknown school that had lost the first round of the prefectural tournament. some Some have been ronin for years and joined the club to play rugby at Waseda. Coach Otao says that such an environment, which is extremely rare in top-level clubs, is the greatest attraction of Waseda University's rugby team. “People with various backgrounds collide with each other and form a team toward a single goal. I think this is the really interesting part of Waseda, and it’s something I don’t want to change.” How will the 39-year-old new director guide young people with diverse personalities? Looking forward to the season opening on September 12th. From the September 24, 2021 issue of "FRIDAY"

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