Before the championship game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Shohei Ohtani gathered his teammates in a huddle and delivered a now-famous message.
“Let’s stop admiring them.”
The words were directed at the Japanese national team as they prepared to face the United States, a lineup filled with some of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars.
But this mindset did not appear suddenly.
It was rooted in lessons Ohtani had learned much earlier in his life.
One of the reasons Ohtani chose to attend Hanamaki Higashi High School was the presence of Yusei Kikuchi, a dominant left-handed pitcher who had become a national sensation.
When Ohtani was in his third year of junior high school, Hanamaki Higashi reached the runner-up position in the Spring Koshien tournament and advanced to the semifinals of the Summer Koshien. Kikuchi’s performances electrified the entire prefecture of Iwate.
Seeing how the region united around baseball inspired Ohtani to enroll at the same school.
When Kikuchi graduated and Ohtani entered Hanamaki Higashi, head coach Hiroshi Sasaki felt both excitement and a strong sense of responsibility.
During Ohtani’s development, Sasaki emphasized an important principle.
It was not enough to simply admire great players.
True competitors aim to surpass them.
In sports—as in art, entertainment, or any competitive field—admiration can easily lead to imitation.
But progress comes from respecting those who came before while striving to go beyond them.
Years later, just before leaving Japan for Major League Baseball, Ohtani was asked during a press conference at the Sapporo Dome to share a message with young athletes.
His answer reflected the lesson he had carried since high school.
Rather than simply dreaming of becoming like someone they admire, he encouraged them to work hard enough to surpass that person.
For Ohtani, admiration should never become a limit.
It should become a starting point.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
Shohei Ohtani: Challenge, p.1