3月末にS2Oと福岡のTHE CLUBHOUSEのイベントが自由が丘のリバティヒルクラブで開催された。久しぶりにテニス好きの人たちと交流した。
最近はジュニア中心のテニスなので、テニス好きの大人とのテニスは新鮮だった。
レッスン時間も短いので何かやりたい事と尋ねると「ボレー」との即答に、
ボレー中心のレッスンを行った。
ボレーは考え方次第で一番簡単に上達が見込めるショットだ。以前アメリカではボレーからレッスンをスタートさせると言われていた時代もあった。
スウィング自体が小さいので簡単という考え方だが、バックボレーは中々難しい。
追々技術的な話はするとして、イベント後にTHE CLUBHOUSEの高田さんが昔の雑誌ポパイを持参。テニス特集号を手にして話す内容に世代間ギャップを感じた話。
テニスボーイという増刊号は1978年創刊。一冊丸ごとテニスの話。
海外テニス事情、テクニックの話、テニスグッズ、テニスファッション、テニス環境、大学テニス同好会と、テニスの話が満載。その後、年に二回くらいはテニス特集号が組まれ、通常号にもテニスレッスンの掲載をしたりとテニスは一般的に注目されていたスポーツだった。
その雑誌を見ながら可愛いテニス女子の知人がデカラケって何ですか？と尋ねてきた。エッ、デカラケ知らないの？と多分60歳以上のテニス愛好家は驚くはず。でも20代30代の人は始めた時から既にデカラケがスタンダードだからデカラケという愛称に疑問を感じても不思議ではない。
デカラケはポパイの編集長だった木滑良久がプリンスラケットを見て作った造語だが、それが一般的に使われた。ポパイでデカラケ特集をやって、それがきっかけでデカラケが日本で流行り始めたのは事実だ。このデカラケブームについては後程詳しく書こうと思う。
勿論ラケットが木製だったことも知らない。
デカラケがきっかけでラケットの素材が木製からコンポジット素材になり、木製ラケットが消えた。
ラケットを小脇に抱えて街に出るのがファッションだったなんて、お笑いのコントかと思うかも。
80年代、今から40年ぐらい前はテニスが盛んだった事にびっくりするはずだ。
あまりにも長くなりそうなので、時代背景やラケット、テニスファッション、テニスシューズ、テニスイベントやテニス番組の話など、古き良きテニスの時代を振り返ってみたいと思う。
文 宮本 恵造
At the end of March, S2O and THE CLUBHOUSE from Fukuoka held an event at Libertyhill Club in Jiyugaoka.
It had been a while since I mingled with fellow tennis lovers. Recently, I’ve mainly been coaching juniors, so it was refreshing to play tennis with adults who genuinely enjoy the game. Since the lesson time was limited, I asked the participants what they wanted to work on. The immediate answer was “volleys.” So, the lesson focused on volleys.
Volleys are actually one of the easiest shots to improve—depending on how you approach them. In the past, there was even a time in the U.S. when lessons were said to begin with volleys. The thinking was that they’re easier because the swing is short. But in reality, the backhand volley can be quite difficult.
I’ll write more about the technical side later, but after the event, Mr. Takada from THE CLUBHOUSE brought out an old issue of Popeye magazine. As we chatted while flipping through this special tennis edition, I really felt the generation gap.
The special issue, titled Tennis Boy, was first published in 1978. The entire magazine was devoted to tennis. It was packed with stories—tennis overseas, techniques, gear, fashion, the tennis scene, university clubs, and more. After that, tennis gained a lot of attention in Japan. Popeye started publishing two tennis specials a year, and regular issues even included tennis lesson features.
While we were looking at the magazine, a pretty young acquaintance—an avid tennis player—asked me, “What’s dekarake?” I was surprised. “Wait, you don’t know dekarake?” Anyone over 60 who loves tennis would probably be shocked. But for people in their 20s and 30s, dekarake rackets were already the standard when they started playing. So it’s understandable that they might not recognize the nickname.
The word dekarake was coined by Yoshihisa Kinameri, then editor-in-chief of Popeye, after seeing a Prince racket. The term caught on and became widely used. It’s true that a Popeye feature on dekarake helped spark their popularity in Japan. I’ll write more about the dekarake boom in a later post. Of course, I personally don’t have experience with wooden rackets. But dekarake was the catalyst for the shift from wooden rackets to composite materials, which eventually led to the disappearance of wooden frames.
You might think it sounds like a comedy skit now, but back then it was actually trendy to walk around town with a racket tucked under your arm. It might surprise you, but tennis was incredibly popular in the 1980s—about 40 years ago. Since this could easily turn into a very long piece, I’d like to take some time to look back on the golden age of tennis—reflecting on the era’s culture, rackets, fashion, shoes, events, TV programs, and more.
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