NEXON SUSTAINABILITY

AM09:15 Assembly & warm-ups

Thank you for letting us use the very spacious and well-maintained Chiba Lotte Marines’ indoor practice facility this year as well.

Everyone engaged in warm-ups energetically. Warm-ups were done thoroughly to prevent injury.

AM09:50 Orientation

Starting off with an orientation quiz session. The kids were quizzed on important points regarding how to play online games safely, as well as on Nexon and the Chiba Lotte Marines.

10 questions were answered without a definite winner, so it came down to a rock-paper-scissors match! The winner was presented with the Nexon Award.

AM10:30 Kids’ Baseball Class

The Kids’ Baseball Class finally kicked off. Each player took on one of the three areas -pitching, fielding, or batting- to instruct.

Yuji Nishino, the Chiba Lotte Marines’ young protector, gave instructions for the pitching section. Nishino carefully taught the kids how to pitch so that they could learn by example.

Yoshifumi Okada, who mesmerizes fans with his brilliant fielding, gave instructions for the fielding section. Okada taught the kids in a very friendly way.

Shogo Nakamura, the 1st pick of the 2014 draft, gave instructions for the batting section. Nakamura answered a lot of questions from the kids about difficult points on batting.

The participating kids started out a bit nervous about getting direct instructions from the professional baseball players they admire, but soon enough they were listening to their advice with serious expressions and giving it their all to shout out and play.

AM12:20 Players’ comments / Special autograph session

After the class, we featured the Player’s Award this year. It was awarded to excellent players specifically chosen from the group of participating kids by the three professional players themselves.

Nishino’s award was given to two sets of twins. The kids who won the award were all so delighted.

Players’ comments

Yoshifumi Okada
“I was surprised at how good you guys were. Please listen well to your coach and practice hard so that we can play together as professionals in 10 or 15 years.”

Yuji Nishino
“You were quick to learn, so it was very rewarding to teach you. Baseball players are like textbooks full of the basics, so please try and copy them a lot.”

Shogo Nakamura
“I oversaw the batting practice and I think you were hitting well. Having fun is the greatest trick for getting better at baseball, so please continue to practice hard while having fun.”

Special autograph session

The kids also enjoyed interacting with the players during the autograph session after the players gave their comments.

AM12:55 Group photo shoot / Farewell to players

The players and all the kids took a commemorative photo together. This year, six teams (about 60 people) were chosen by a random drawing from the numerous applicants.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us at Nexon x Chiba Lotte Marines Kids’ Baseball Class. Let’s root for the Chiba Lotte Marines together with Nexon going forward!