The St. Louis Boys Baseball Association (SLBBA) and the International Baseball Association (IBA) World Baseball Tournament 2017 was held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in August 2017. Shota Kubota of Grade 6 at GIIS Tokyo was selected to represent Japan in the under 12 team. This is a major world baseball under-12 event. His team won 12 out of 13 matches and all the team members were applauded for the extraordinary valor and sportsmanship displayed during the tournament.

Shota delivered his best. Just the age of 10, he was amongst the top pitchers. He also broke his own personal records of 110 km/h. He received a trophy and a medal for this achievement at the event.

At school, Shota was awarded a medal and a trophy by the school Vice Principal, Mr Sandeep Singh, who praised Shota for his outstanding achievement.