Baseball NSW welcomes the all-star team of high school girls from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, to New South Wales for the third iteration of the Australian tour, in January/February 2026.
Each year we welcome a team from Japan, with the first year being the Orio Aishin Girls High School team and the second, the Boys High School All Stars. The young women from Fukuoka will participate in training sessions and play exhibition games against our female representative players at the Blacktown International Sports Park.
In previous exchanges, some of our top NSW female baseballers travelled to Japan to play and train with the Kyushu Honeys, a professional women’s baseball team in 2023 and 2024. These include the likes of Claire O’Sullivan, Ticara Geldenhuis, Maddi Heath, Jordan Richardson, Isobel Lambert, Lisa Nakashio and Laura Neads as a Coach.
This year, the Fukuoka All Stars will be led by two decorated female Coaches. Notably their “Kantoku” or Head Coach will be Risa Nakashima, coach of the Japanese women’s national team who are also the world’s number 1 team in women’s baseball.
Coach Risa has also visited New South Wales before and has led coaching clinics alongside some of NSW’s best women’s representatives. She also led the Baseball NSW All Girls clinic held last February 2025 in Canterbury.
As a player, she has played four seasons of professional baseball in Japan and has competed in five Women’s World Cups, winning six gold medals.
This visit celebrates our international partnership with Fukuoka Prefecture in developing both Australian and Japanese players through mutual exchanges.
She will be joined by Yuki Kawabata, former Japan Women’s National team Captain and Kyushu Honey’s infielder. She has won three batting titles in the Japan Women’s Baseball League. Since retiring from playing, she has focused her efforts on building the next generation of female baseballers in Japan, through coaching.
Let’s welcome the Fukuoka All Stars back to NSW with open arms! We look forward to growing the women’s game here and abroad through intense competition and shared experiences.
Photos from Orio Aishin Girls High School Team Tour 2023
