The Education of Ichiro - Part 2

Second in a four-part series

Meiden

TOKYO — By the time Ichiro Suzuki entered junior high school in 1975, his father Nobuyuki had become so convinced his son possessed the ability to make it as a professional, he went to see the coach of the school’s baseball team with two requests: 

“Do whatever you want with my son,” he said, “but please don’t change his batting form. He has worked a long time to perfect it.” 

And then he added the kicker: “No matter how good Ichiro is, don’t ever praise him. We have to make him spiritually strong.”