小学生軟式野球人口の都道府県別の経年変化とその地域差に関する研究

抄録

The purpose of this study is to clarify the secular changes in the elementary school rubber baseball population by prefecture, where the number of playing players is decreasing significantly, and the regional differences. In this study, we analyzed the number of elementary school students playing rubber baseball by prefecture, changes in the number of elementary school rubber baseball clubs, and the ratio of the population to the number of elementary school students. As a result, it was found that there were regional differences in the decline in the number of elementary school students playing rubber baseball, with some prefectures not seeing a decline. Furthermore, the decline in the population could not be explained solely by urbanization factors. Additionally, the number of clubs is decreasing in the proportion to the decrease in the population, and it has become clear that the decrease in the number of clubs is related to the decrease in the population. Furthermore, as a result of measures taken to popularize baseball at the individual prefectural level, it was surmised that there may be a significant disparity in the decline in the baseball population. These results suggest that a future challenge would be to analyze regional factors in prefectures where the number of competitive athletes is decreasing significantly.