Interview：Mr. Kentaro Kyuko（Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting）

At Deloitte Tohmatsu where I work now, they have been supporting sports business for 5 years, and as part of that business, I have been involved in the FC Imabari project. To put it in more detail, there is a definition that a sports experience is not only a spectator watching a game on the spot, but also a “holistic experience” combining a series of events such as traveling to the game, an event venue, and SNS. They find issues and solve them, in order to enhance the experience.

The job of consulting is to solve company issues. I thought it would be good if I could contribute to solving various issues, so I wanted to be a consultant and went on job hunting. No matter how baseball players change, unless the management side changes, I think the baseball teams and the baseball world will not really change. So I would like to study, too, in order to help the management to solve issues.

This is something I learned from sports, but I try to work backwards from my goal. For example, if you have a goal to throw a ball quickly, you should disassemble it first. First you have to throw in a good form that means you need to know yourself. Then, you can improve through training. This is the good cycle.

The same goes for my current job, setting a goal and breaking it into small pieces. I will clarify what is in front of me and accumulate efforts. Just like I’ve done before, it’s important to work backwards from your goal.

I quit baseball when I was 32 years old, 1 year ago, and then I imagined myself 10 years from now, 20 years from now, and I wondered what choice I would make now. And I thought, “Choose a path that is hard on you.”. That’s the standard when I make a decision. Hard choices will lead to a better future.

To be more specific, after a baseball player retires, there are quite a lot of jobs in the team. However, I chose to start job hunting from scratch. To be honest, when I made this choice, I had no idea where the 32 year-old former baseball player would end up.

But I thought it would be a good opportunity to start from the beginning again.

I think it’s because I have asked myself the same question since I was playing baseball. When you have to make a choice, imagine what you are going to say to yourself years from now, and then decide what you are going to do. You may want to choose an easy path, but which one you won’t regret.

Humans have many ideal images, but I think they can’t act unless they really want to materialize them. So I thought I had to put myself where I am really pressed to want to realize dreams.

When I joined the professional baseball league from the amateur baseball league, I wondered whether I should join the risky professional league or continue the stable amateur baseball that I can remain as an employee after retirement, but I chose the professional league because I didn’t want to regret it. I think I have been like that since I was a student.

There are 2 things, one is to do sports management and the other is to change “second career” fundamentally. It is not efficient support to make a path for sports players. I think real support is to help players to prepare themselves for the future even when they’re playing sports professionally. So, I want to create an environment where they can think about “second career”. That doesn’t have to be my main job, but I want to do it in the future.

The value of sports is difficult to define. If athletes can learn a lot when they are professional players and play an active role in society after they retire, I think the perception toward sports will change. So in a way, what they do after retirement is important to enhance the value of sports.

I went to see baseball several times this year, and when I was watching it right next to the cheering squad of Yakult fans, I realized it was amazing (laughs). People who used to heckle me when I was still playing professionally suddenly started to be kind to me. It was interesting to see the team that I had belonged to from a fan’s point of view.

I don’t really like to play baseball after retiring from professional baseball. You shouldn’t play baseball just because that’s what you have been doing, but you should think about what you liked about baseball. If you know whether you like to do things in teams or train yourself to be better, you can adapt that to other fields.

When I thought about what I liked about baseball, I liked it the best that I was able to do what I had not been able to do after training. I thought I could improve myself again if I started working in a different area and studied hard. So it’s fun even after baseball is over.

I often feel that my baseball experience is helpful in my work.
In sports, I think 70% are innate abilities and the remaining 30% are efforts. Most people probably can’t become professionals even if they try so hard. But the lack of ability makes ordinary people think about how to win. I feel that would be important in the society.

It is important to produce the results, such as becoming a professional or not, but trying your best to achieve a high goal is essential. I’m sure that will help you in the long run.

When you go to the next stage, there will be a day when you realize you have tried so hard, so I hope you practice seriously and don’t leave any regrets.

When I was playing baseball, I was stunned as a baseball player by former Hiroshima Carp player Mr. Kuroda’s book “decision”. We have a game every day and sometimes we take cheering for granted.

But the book says that if there is somebody who is really looking forward to the day, you should throw your best for them, and I think that was the phrase that inspired me when I was struggling.

Be tenacious with indefatigable spirit
I tried to quit baseball many times, but I didn’t quit until the end. That’s why I could fulfill my baseball life without regrets. It’s important not to give up.