うたぴょんスポーツThis one isn't race day. It's the day before — Uta had an ekiden (a road relay where team-mates pass a sash) coming up, and instead of resting, we spent part of the afternoon on something completely different: the softball throw.
It's one of the events in Japan's shintairyoku, the 'new fitness test' every elementary school kid does each year. Running is her main thing, but throwing is part of the test too, so we figured we'd get a session in.
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How the day went
Uta is 9, born in early 2016, so she's right in the middle of her elementary school years. With the ekiden the next day, I didn't want a hard session, so softball throw practice felt like a good way to move without tiring her legs out. She hadn't thrown in a while — it's not something we drill often, since her focus is the 1000m — so I wasn't expecting much.
She warmed up the way she usually does before any kind of throwing or running work, nothing special, just her normal routine. The mood was light. No pressure, no stopwatch for this one, just a kid messing around with a ball before a bigger day tomorrow.
The throw itself
This is where it got interesting. The first few throws were about what I expected — a little rusty, arm not quite warmed into it. Then something clicked. Her distance jumped, and it wasn't a one-off; she kept producing longer throws than either of us thought she had in her.
I don't have a number to put here — we weren't measuring with a tape, just watching the ball land — but the difference from throw to throw was obvious enough that I grabbed the camera. For a kid who hadn't picked up a softball in months, it was a genuinely surprising result.
What I took from it
The honest takeaway: kids carry more raw ability around than we give them credit for, even in things we never train. Uta's whole year has been built around the 1000m — she was ranked 10th nationally in her grade for that distance in the 2024 school year — but this reminded me that athleticism shows up in places you're not looking for it.
For the ekiden the next day, I didn't change anything. We didn't turn this into extra training, and I didn't tell her to try to throw far again. I just let it be what it was — a fun, low-stress afternoon before a race that actually mattered.
If anything, I want to keep doing more of these odd little sessions. Not because they'll make her faster, but because a kid who's relaxed and enjoying herself the day before a race is usually in a better place than one who's been drilled all week.
The ekiden itself is a separate story for another post. For now, this is just Uta, a softball, and a surprise.
Video: 【新体力テスト】久々にソフトボール投げしたら凄かった❗️