The 36-year-old would have been captaining Japan at her third Olympics this summer, but the Games were postponed to between July 23 and August 8 of next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, she has been doing promotional work on behalf of the team.

Yamada earned Olympic gold with Japan at Beijing 2008, hitting a home run in the final against the United States to solidify her position as a star performer during the tournament. 

She also claimed bronze at Athens 2004. 

Baseball and softball were then dropped from the Olympic programme for London 2012 and Rio 2016, but are set to return at Tokyo 2020.

The International World Games Association awarded her the athlete of the month title to "honour an outstanding softball player".

Softball, one of the founding sports of the World Games, was contested at the maiden edition in Santa Clara in 1981. 

The sport once again is due to feature at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham. 

As the next scheduled edition of the Women's Softball World Championships has been pushed back to 2023, the multi-sport event in Alabama will double up as a World Championships.