“Women Sport Leadership Conference 2015” Event report
On February 14, 2015, speakers from abroad and prominent panelists were invited to hold the “Women’s Sports Leadership Conference 2015”. The venue with a capacity of 130 people reached full occupancy, and those who could not enter the venue were invited to attend the conference from another venue.
The conference started with a video message from Moya Dodd who was involved in the process of proposing and adopting the “Women’s football-10 key development principles” which was adopted at the 64th General Assembly of the International Football Federation (FIFA) (2014). She explained the process up to the adoption of the “10 key principles” and defined the contents in detail.
Part 2 panelist Miyuki Kobayashi (Manager/Coach at Jeff United Ichihara Chiba Ladies, Match Commissioner at Asian Football Confederation) visited Sydney to meet Moya Dodd to shoot this video message. She introduced an episode from the meeting where she was impressed by Dodd’s following message: “Women have made progress in social empowerment but it is still difficult for women to become a decision-maker, and they are usually in the supporting position to give some advice. The manager is the decision-maker of the team. There must be more women in decision-making roles and not in the supporting positions”.
Part 1 Information Provision
First, in Part 1, Ms. Marlene Bjornsrud (Executive Director, Alliance of Women Coaches) introduced the curriculum and management principles of the “WCA” in the U.S. She described that the Academy aims to strengthen the “voice” and “presence” of women in coaching positions, and makes efforts in cooperation with organizations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to retain women in coaching positions and to increase the number of women in coaching positions.
Dr. Anita White (first Co-Chair of International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG), former Development Director of Sport England, and Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester) introduced an overview and the current situation of “Women’s Sport Leadership Academy” in the United Kingdom, which aims to provide a unique learning environment effective for developing leadership skills. She also shared the guidelines that were prepared for the establishment of the Women’s Sport Leadership Academy.
At the end of Part 1, a video image was shown where Karin Lofstrom (Executive Director at the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS)made a speech. She explained that the CAAWS program initially offered three contents which were Influential change, Communication strategy, and Conflict management, but two additional contents which were Life work balance and Networking were added according to the needs of the participants and described each content in detail.
Themes which were in common among the contents of these overseas programs included “Establishing Your Identity”, “Improving Communication Skills”,” Improving Your Skills”,” Life-Work Balance”, “Gender Equality”, and” Networking”. It was invaluable information for the establishment of the “WCA” in Japan.
Part 2 Panel Discussion
In Part 2, a panel discussion entitled “Thoughts on Women in Sport Coaching -What is necessary and the potential applicability and implementation in Japan-” was held following the content of Part 1. In the discussion, the Panelists who have wonderful experience and vision encouraged the participants with convincing words.
Deputy Director of the Japanese Center for Research on Women in Sport and Senior Associate Professor Natsue Koikawa of Juntendo University Faculty of Health and Sports Science served as the coordinator of the discussion.
An impressive panel of women leaders such as Ms. Fusako Sugiyama (Representative Director, Institute of Next Generation SMILE Association / Principal, Palm International Sports Club), Ms. Ai Sugiyama (Sports commentator, former professional tennis player), Ms. Yoko Zetterlund (Director of Kaetsu University Women’s Volleyball Club, Sports commentator), Ms. Sachiko Yamashita (Director of Women’s track and field club at the Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited, 4th place in Barcelona Olympic Games Women’s Marathon), and Ms. Miyuki Kobayashi (Manager/Coach at Jeff United Ichihara Chiba Ladies, Match Commissioner at Asian Football Confederation)had an active exchange of opinions.
Deputy Director of the Japanese Center for Research on Women in Sport and Senior Associate Professor Natsue Koikawa of Juntendo University Faculty of Health and Sports Science served as the coordinator of the discussion.
An impressive panel of women leaders such as Ms. Fusako Sugiyama (Representative Director, Institute of Next Generation SMILE Association / Principal, Palm International Sports Club), Ms. Ai Sugiyama (Sports commentator, former professional tennis player), Ms. Yoko Zetterlund (Director of Kaetsu University Women’s Volleyball Club, Sports commentator), Ms. Sachiko Yamashita (Director of Women’s track and field club at the Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited, 4th place in Barcelona Olympic Games Women’s Marathon), and Ms. Miyuki Kobayashi (Manager/Coach at Jeff United Ichihara Chiba Ladies, Match Commissioner at Asian Football Confederation)had an active exchange of opinions.
From time to time the experts in various fields provided valuable information, and the panel discussion was overflowing with enthusiasm.。
Presentation Overview of “WCA”
After the panel discussion, Director Etsuko Ogasawara made a presentation to explain the overview of “WCA”. The outline is as follows.
The curriculum framework of “WCA” includes providing high-quality coach education (training), offering the latest teaching material on women’s coaching based on scientific research, providing support for career development, preparing opportunities to build a strong network, and introducing mentors from various organizations both in the country and overseas beyond the sports field. Details are still under consideration, however, while referring to programs preceded by Western countries, it aims to incorporate contents that are suitable for the Japanese sports culture and to the characteristics of Japanese women.
At the starting stage, the education will be targeted at active female coaches (especially female coaches at the university level) and former top athletes who have high potential as coaches, and it would be experimental and would also include research purposes. Evenually, it would develop to target all women who aim to become leaders in sports (organizations). The first WCA2015 will be held from September 15-17, 2015 (3 days and 2 nights) at Karuizawa Prince Hotel inviting about 30 participants. Participant qualifications will be announced on May 1, 2015, and the application will start on June 1. In response to this announcement, the participants of the conference were already excited and saying, “I will participate!”
Furthermore, Chairman Kazuo Ogura of Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center Paralympic Research Group commented, “We would like to include the issues concerning female coach development to the support program of sports associations which is also under consideration in para-sports. We are planning to work together with this academy.”
The curriculum framework of “WCA” includes providing high-quality coach education (training), offering the latest teaching material on women’s coaching based on scientific research, providing support for career development, preparing opportunities to build a strong network, and introducing mentors from various organizations both in the country and overseas beyond the sports field. Details are still under consideration, however, while referring to programs preceded by Western countries, it aims to incorporate contents that are suitable for the Japanese sports culture and to the characteristics of Japanese women.
At the starting stage, the education will be targeted at active female coaches (especially female coaches at the university level) and former top athletes who have high potential as coaches, and it would be experimental and would also include research purposes. Evenually, it would develop to target all women who aim to become leaders in sports (organizations). The first WCA2015 will be held from September 15-17, 2015 (3 days and 2 nights) at Karuizawa Prince Hotel inviting about 30 participants. Participant qualifications will be announced on May 1, 2015, and the application will start on June 1. In response to this announcement, the participants of the conference were already excited and saying, “I will participate!”
Furthermore, Chairman Kazuo Ogura of Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center Paralympic Research Group commented, “We would like to include the issues concerning female coach development to the support program of sports associations which is also under consideration in para-sports. We are planning to work together with this academy.”
In the end, Director Etsuko Ogasawara of the Japanese Center for Research on Woman in Sport expressed her gratitude to all the participants who attended the academy, overseas speakers, and panelists from abroad who gave wonderful presentations, and to the two interpreters who performed perfect simultaneous interpretation, and thanked the staff who organized the conference.
There were a lot of impressions about the conference from the participants and panelists which included comments such as, “It was a lot of fun!” “I got a lot of energy and courage!” Those words and expressions reflected the expectations toward the new project that will be launched in Japan.
There were a lot of impressions about the conference from the participants and panelists which included comments such as, “It was a lot of fun!” “I got a lot of energy and courage!” Those words and expressions reflected the expectations toward the new project that will be launched in Japan.
During the conference, a “Childcare Room” was set up in the facility where specialized staff members were there to take care of the participant’s children so that female coaches and staff with small children could also attend the conference without anxiety.
Friendly Network
After the conference, Friendly Network was organized at a different venue where a peaceful interaction over generation, gender, and organization took place. Participants were able to chat with fellow participants who did not have a chance to talk to during the conference and some were able to find out unexpected similarities with people they met for the first time.
Dr. Anita White who was a speaker in Part 1 said, “Let’s all work together to increase the number of women in powerful positions! We can prove that we can do it because the whole world is paying attention!” Ms. Marlene Bjornsrud also said, “Let’s help each other with passion and dreams, and let’s energetically change the world!”
At the very end, all the participants got together and closed the conference with a strong call of “Go! Women!!!”.
Dr. Anita White who was a speaker in Part 1 said, “Let’s all work together to increase the number of women in powerful positions! We can prove that we can do it because the whole world is paying attention!” Ms. Marlene Bjornsrud also said, “Let’s help each other with passion and dreams, and let’s energetically change the world!”
At the very end, all the participants got together and closed the conference with a strong call of “Go! Women!!!”.
