Starting off WCA 2016

The WCA started off with an ice breaking activity where all the participants and lecturers were involved!

After reducing the tension, all the participants including the lecturers and staff introduced themselves to one another who were going to spend the next 3 days together. Then, Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara, Executive Director of JCRWS, explained the history of WCA, making it an inspiring opening where the participants were motivated before the upcoming sessions.

Interactive Round Table, Beyond Sports and Positions

All participants and lecturers gathered after dinner to share their stories and opinions with one another beyond their own sport and positions.

Increasing Self-Awareness and Developing Coaching Philosophy
Understanding the Stress Pattern to Understand One's Emotion and Mind

A theoretical explanation was given to explain about mental training which is necessary to train the "spirit", and how coaches should establish their own coaching philosophy and discover the factors that prevent athletes from realizing their successful performances. Participants were able to learn the necessity of self-awareness where they were able to get an answer to the question "Who am I?", and visualize how they portrait their past self at present. Then, the lecturers presented the reasons why controlling emotion is important, and performed a workshop where the participants were able to sort out their self characteristics according to different stress patterns. Participants were able to learn the important elements that are necessary in order to enhance their coaching skills to cope with their athletes.

Challenge Something No One Has Ever Done

Ms. O’Keefe gave out a powerful lecture concerning a campaign called “THIS GIRL CAN” implemented by Sport England. She used data to demonstrate how this brand new campaign was welcomed by many women and spread worldwide in such a short period time through the social network system. In addition, Ms. O’Keefe shared the process in which how she thought and acted as an Insight Director. Her five messages that she gave out to the participants at the end were very encouraging and can be applied to anybody in any position.

Leadership Theory Applicable to Coaching

Dr. Ogasawara introduced what leadership is based on the historic change of leadership theory. Leadership is to attract team members, learn how to adapt one's own original style according to different situations, and to motivate the members by influencing them toward pursuing individual and team goals. She also lectured on a multi-dimensional model of leadership, emphasizing that the action of a leader can affect the result such as performance of a group and satisfaction of its members. Dr. Ogasawara pointed out to the participants who are active coaches today that leadership is something that can be acquired and can be practiced in their career.

Set Your Goal, Plan Backward, and Just Move On!

Coach Imura talked about the responsibilities that coaches should fulfill, her determination and beliefs that led her team and duet to win a bronze medal in Synchronized Swimming at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Participants listened carefully to her lecture in order not to miss a word from a coach who accomplished a remarkable achievement where her national teams won medals at all 9 Olympic Games.

Reflecting on her coaching experience at foreign countries where cultural differences existed, Coach Imura firmly stated, “Set your goal, plan backward, and move on!" Her team building involves listening to the goals of each athletes, and providing thorough coaching needed in order for the athletes to accomplish their goals. She said, “I am only here to assist the athletes to accomplish their goals.", however, she also mentioned that a job of a coach is "to be responsible for the athlete's valuable time of life", saying that she is second to none regarding her determination for this responsibility.

What is Diversity in the Sports World
What we learn by facing one another

Dr. Rieko Yamaguchi and the lecturers explained that in the sports world where performance is considered to be the top priority, issues such as gender gap (e.g., opportunities, wages, and work conditions), sexual harassment, physical punishment and sexual minorities had been ignored until now. The lecturers introduced the new efforts that started from the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics to protect the athletes from sexual harassment and abuse, and explained the necessity of diversity management to ensure that everyone can participate in sport. Lastly, the participants experienced a workshop called “Coming out Star ” where they were given the chance to reflect on themselves and explore their relationship with others.

The progress of women's sports in the world and Japan

The history of women's sports was introduced with various domestic and international episodes including the International Conferences on Women and Sports to discuss how the world and Japan have walked along until now. Bringing about changes in organizational culture, and creating a sports culture where women can acquire the greatest possible participation in sports were stated to be necessary in order to establish a sustainable support system for female athletes. In conclusion, Dr. Ogasawara sent out a strong message to all the participants of this academy: "Now that a worldwide movement is taking place elsewhere in the world, you all undertake a role to change the sports culture. Let us all take advantage of both the domestic and international networks to bring about the changes."

Towards the Future

Lecturer:
Ms. Sachiko Yamashita, Head coach of women's track and field team at The DAI-ICHI LIFE insurance group
Ms. Lisa O’Keefe, Director of Insight at Sport England
Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara, Executive Director, Japanese Center for Research on Women in Sport (JCRWS)

Lecturer:
Translator, Ms. Miyuki Kobayashi, General Manager of JEF UNITED Ichihara, Chiba Ladies

First of all, Ms. Sachiko Yamashita shared her background on how she became a coach after experiencing an athlete herself, and gave a lecture by including various episodes concerning how she has put in efforts to establish a support system along with her staff until now.

Then, Ms. Yamashita, Ms. Lisa O’ keefe, and Dr. Ogasawara took the rostrum, and a discussion was held under the theme of "towards the future", where they also responded to the inquiries from the participants. Not only the panelists but also other lecturers joined the discussion, making it a productive discussion from a global perspective.