The USATT-Butterfly Dohjo Training Opportunity:

Four Top USA Juniors Train at the Butterfly Dohjo in Japan

Tokyo, Japan · July 9-30, 2002

By Barbara Wei

Shortly after returning from Japan, Barbara, 13, won Under 16 Girls’ Singles and Teams at the Junior Nationals, and Under 14 Girls’ Singles at the Junior Olympics. She is currently rated 1918.

U.S. Junior Team at the Dohjo in Japan: John Leach, Barbara Wei, Sergy Gutkin, Wendy Eav. Photo by Martha Leach ©2002.

On July 9, four U.S junior team members arrived in Tokyo, Japan after a twelve-hour flight, and anxiously awaited our bus ride to the Dohjo. We had heard from other people before the trip that it was a great trip so we were excited. Though a little jetlagged, we boarded the shuttle bus that would take us to where we would spend the next three weeks training. So began our visit to Japan, for myself (from Maryland), Wendy Eav and Sergy Gutkin of California, and John Leach of Colorado.

We owe a great thank you to USATT Treasurer Tong Lee, who initiated and negotiated the trip; to USATT’s Debbie Moya (Program Director), Dave Roberts (Elite Athlete Committee Chair), and Sheri Pittman (USATT President); to Chris Burner of Martin Kilpatrick; and to the sponsor, Tamasu Company (Butterfly), for making this trip a reality.

Once we arrived at the Dohjo, the Butterfly workers greeted us. They were very polite and showed us around. Later that evening, Ms. Konishi, our main translator and coordinator, treated us to dinner at Denny’s. She taught us a little Japanese, at least enough to introduce ourselves the next day. After dinner, she led us to the apartment where we would be staying during the trip. Wendy and Martha Leach (John’s mom) and I stayed in one room while John and Sergy stayed with two people from Chile, Juan Salamonka and Marcos Manos. The apartments included a full bathroom, and even a kitchen and refrigerator. We were very pleased. That night we slept soundly, awaiting our first day of training. Many of us had heard stories about the training and were anxious to start the next morning.

Barbara at Asakusa with pigeons. Photo by Wendy Eav ©2002.

When we woke up, Butterfly had a few surprises waiting for us. First, we used all the Japanese we knew to introduce ourselves to the workers there. Then, we did the morning exercises with them before going downstairs to get fitted with our new Butterfly clothes and other generous gifts from Butterfly. We didn’t know it yet, but we were to receive many gifts from them – more on that shortly. Later, we went back upstairs to begin the first of many days of training.

It was then that we met Yoshi. Before the trip we had heard what a great coach he was. The training proved this to be true. During the training sessions (9-12 AM and 2-5 PM), he would push us to our limit. He mostly focused on basic skills, footwork and practice matches. We worked hard to keep up with him. His multi-ball training was especially difficult. After the first week, we all noticed substantial improvement.

We were training with the Meiji University team and a local high school girls’ team. The people on the Meiji team served as excellent practice partners. They would do drills with us and even feed us multi-ball! However, when we played them in practice matches, they beat us most of the time. But by the end of our trip we could beat a few of them. Turns out the Meiji team had a very big tournament coming up and were training round the clock. Therefore, towards the end of the trip we had added another practice session, 7-9 PM.

We played matches against the girls’ high school team twice. They were a good way to test our improvement because we played them once at the beginning of the trip, and once near the end. They were a very enjoyable bunch and we had a great time. Though great practice partners, they were also great friends. From all this training, our team improved significantly.

We were delighted about receiving gifts from Butterfly. On the first day they gave us enough equipment to please us for the entire trip. But little did we know that they’d shower us with gifts throughout. It was very kind of them to give us so much and we are very thankful to them. To show our appreciation we tried to return the favor by being courteous and training hard.

Though going to Japan was primarily a training trip, we couldn’t help but do a little sightseeing and shopping. On our three days off we chose to go to three famous places: Akihabara (Electronics Street), Disney Sea, and a tour of downtown Tokyo. Our first top was Akihabara where we spent the day shopping. That was our first time on a subway train in Japan and we happily found our way to our destination without getting lost. Once we arrived we saw a street filled with new gadgets. Though we had a nice time, none of us bought anything on this excursion. Our second stop was Disney Sea. This would be our favorite of the three. We went on all the rides, and had a very good time. Luckily most of the lines weren’t that long. At the end of the day we enjoyed a wonderful American dinner, which Butterfly treated us to. By the end of the day we were exhausted, especially knowing that tomorrow would be another day of hard training. On our final day off we went on a Tokyo City Tour. This tour took place on the day before we left and showed us the big city of Tokyo. We started at the Japanese World Trade Centers and moved on to other famous landmarks in Tokyo, including the Ginza shopping district and Asakusa temple. At Asakusa we did some shopping and saw the temple. One of my favorite moments was when we went to feed the pigeons. They weren’t shy at all and even flew onto our arms and shoulders, even ate out of our hands! After Asakusa, we went on a boat ride under many famous bridges ending right before Rainbow Bridge. After this tour we can truly say that we’ve seen Tokyo! Though we thoroughly enjoyed the training, these days off were really appreciated.

John Leach moonwalking with one of the local high school girls. Photo by Martha Leach ©2002.

When we didn’t have a day off, we still had fun. Everyone made friends with the university and girls’ high school teams that we trained with. They were great companions, both on and off the court.

The food was great, although we usually ate western food. Occasionally we would try the Japanese food. Our main places for meals were Denny’s and Mo’s Burger. Usually we would eat breakfast either at the Good Morning Bakery or Mister Donut. At the end of the day we would sometimes all walk down a small shopping district and go to Baskin Robbins (31 flavors!). That brought us closer to home.

We were honored to take part in many exhibitions during our trip. During the first weekend we saw a teaching course and learned about the numerous ways to do physical training. There was a ladder, a form of hopscotch and even jumping over barriers! We had fun that afternoon and I’m sure the spectators were very amused by us. It wasn’t until later that we realized we were in the presence of a famous coach, “Mario.” Later in our trip we were honored to meet two of the world’s top players: Chiang Peng-Lung (Chinese Taipei, world #11, but previously as high as #3) and Petr Korbel (Czechoslovakia, world #25). We were very happy to get to see an exhibition by them. We even got to play practice matches with them. We witnessed something interesting during the exhibition. Perhaps it was a Japanese custom, but we had fun. They had us play rock-paper-scissors with the exhibitor. If you lost or tied the exhibitor, than you lost and sat down. Sadly none of us won anything but the people who did were thrilled. After the exhibition we had the chance to watch Chiang as he did a photo-shoot. Petr also talked to us after the exhibition. Being able to see these exhibitions and meet these famous people was a great honor.

On another occasion we got to meet Ai Fukuhara, Japan’s 13-year-old child star. She even trained with the university team and us. We played some matches with her. Though we all lost, some of us got a game or two. We were amazed at her training schedule and how she does so much in so little time. Nine hours a day of training and school! Wow! We were impressed, not only with her playing but her sportsmanship also.

L-R: Coach Yoshi (top), Martha Leach, John Leach, Sergy Gutkin, Petr Korbel, Barbara Wei, Wendy Eav, Masamichi Kubo (former U.S. college student once rated as high as 2500, who now works for Tamasu). 

On July 30, though sad to leave, we departed from the Dohjo to return to the U.S. We wished we could have seen how the Meiji team did in their tournament coming up the next week. Before we left, we went to say goodbye to the Meiji team, Yoshi and all the Butterfly workers we had met. We will always miss the sounds of Yoshi’s multi-ball and the laughter of the Meiji team. Our enjoyment there was phenomenal, and if invited again we would all go back. They treated us with respect, generosity and exceptional politeness. We waved good-bye to our friends on the van to the hotel, where we would take a shuttle to the airport. Though glad to be home, we will always miss Tokyo, Japan and the people and the training at the Dohjo.

Below: a large group of players at the Dohjo!