Koshien-winning coach prioritizes covering for teammates' mistakes

"Baseball is a game of mistakes. What matters is how players cover for their teammates' mistakes." Coach Jin Nakatani of Chiben Wakayama High School, which won Japan's premier summer Koshien tournament this year, identified a surprisingly simple standard for what makes a great team. He said the ability to cover for a teammate's mistakes matters more than the number of elite players. Nakatani recently met with coach Lim Won-su of Gyeongju High School to discuss the coaching philosophies and player development methods of high school baseball in both countries. The two coaches quickly found common ground through their shared interest in baseball despite their different nationalities and languages. Gyeongju High School and Chiben Wakayama share many similarities. Both schools operate with small rosters of 12 to 13 players per grade and are located in baseball hotbeds — Korea's Gyeongsan region and Japan's Kansai region. However, Chiben Wakayama won the summer Koshien championship this year while Gyeongju High has not won a national championship in several years. Lim asked how a team with s