Overview
- The prefectural board removed the Omagawakawa High boys’ volleyball coach for confirmed physical and verbal abuse occurring from April 2023 through September 2025.
- Investigators documented slaps with open hands and fists, kicks to the abdomen, and insults such as calling players “baka.”
- Interviews with 31 current players found 14 reporting corporal punishment, 13 reporting verbal abuse, and 11 reporting both.
- The principal received a reprimand and the vice principal an admonition, and records show Usami was formally warned for corporal punishment in 2016 with later tips in 2019, 2021, and 2023 not substantiated at the time.
- Usami, a 2008 Olympian and coach since 2014, had already been handed a one-year suspension by the prefectural volleyball association on October 6, while the team qualified for Spring High under a different coach for a 31st consecutive appearance.