“WCA 2023” Academy started out in the morning!

For the first time in nine years since the Academy first started, the lecture started out in the morning on the first day so that there would be time for more lectures this year. 25 participants from all over Japan and 10 WCA alumni gathered at the venue in Karuizawa with the signs of autumn.

During the ice break time which has become a warm-up session every year, the participants' voltage rose to an unprecedented level. The participants introduced themselves, sympathized with one another, and commented over the previous person’s comments which evoked laughter and smiles in the room, making everyone feel relaxed to start the first lecture.

Trajectory and Future of Women in Sport

As an introduction to the Academy, Executive Director Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara gave an overview of the women in sport movement and its background.

As a notable topic in the history of women in sport, she mentioned about the U.S. women's soccer team winning the equal pay in May last year which they had fought for many years, and talked about the worldwide trend to not tolerate unfair events that have been crying themselves to sleep until now.

As the IOC promotes gender equality, Japan was lagging behind before Tokyo 2020 concerning the promotion of women in sport. However, she introduced the process of the accelerating efforts related to women in sport in Japan in the recent years. She also touched on the purpose and significance of this Academy and said, "I hope that you will connect with various people and develop your abilities to create a new sports culture. That is why the WCA is for." and started the three-day Academy.

The Necessity of "Anchors" for women leaders and coaches

Ms. Marlene Bjornsrud, who turned 70 this year, began her lecture by reflecting on her life on how she has been able to succeed in women's sports because she had an "anchor". She explained that doing sports can sometimes be a stormy and difficult time. As an example, she cited the fact that the U.S. national team, which has been the winner for FIFA Women's World Cup every year, lost the tournament this year. She explained that during difficult times like this, an “anchor=where we can stay” is necessary.

Using a variety of keywords and phrases, she spoke calmly as she gave insight to all women struggling in the world of sports.

When learning about team culture, she questioned to the WCA alumni at the back of the floor what they felt about WCA. After understanding that the alumni feel the “sense of safety” in WCA and seeing how they talk about the importance of coming back to join the Academy, she said to the participants in loving words, “This is the concept of an anchor. The reason why we are here is to support each other. Let's connect with each other from here for years and years to come."

Diversity and Inclusion can be promoted in sports

Dr. Kanae Haneishi, a new WCA lecturer from this year, has coached Women's Soccer for 13 years in the U.S. as the first Japanese female coach after playing soccer in Japan and the U.S. She has also been involved in many international activities such as the "Bridge" project, which bridges Japan and U.S. Women's Soccer which is promoted by herself and Ms. Miyuki Kobayashi, and a project concerning 2011 Women's Soccer in the Republic of Kosovo.

In this lecture, she generously shared her experiences on diversity and inclusion and how to promote it in concrete terms, including her latest ideas on inclusion.

She shared that in the U.S. where she currently lives, the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s fight for equal pay has inspired not just women in sports but also many women in other fields to take action. She said, "We, taking part in sports, can lead the world to a social change by promoting inclusion and diversity and making changes. Sports has the power to change society", and encouraged the participants.

The increasing number of women active in sports leads to
the future of children

In her lecture, Dr. Kaori Yamaguchi, who has served as JOC Director and Chairperson of the JOC Women Sports Commission, provided information on what is necessary for women to be active in the Japanese sports field, and the efforts made so far and the expected leadership of the JOC Women Sports Commission.

Dr. Kaori Yamaguchi, who has been a leader in the world of judo, spoke about diversity, inclusion, and gender by saying, "We are now in an era where people agree with me in general terms, but not yet in terms of specific issues". Through her lecture, she mentioned about the difficulty to make the changes and the challenges on how to pass this message on to the younger generation who will carry the future.

She also stated that just like how the children who watched basketball and rugby World Cup this summer felt that "the world is not worth fearing", she thinks that "if more women are active in sports, it will definitely affect the future of our children", and inspired the participants to think about what they need to do to achieve this and to take action to achieve it.

Motivating peers toward a vision

Ms. Lisa O’Keefe, who became the Secretary General of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport last year, showed a gender gap graph of sports participation in England, and began to explain about "This Girl Can".

"This Girl Can" was implemented by her former occupation Sport England in 2015 to promote sports participation by women. She explained what factors contributed to the success of this campaign which has been a hot topic in more than 110 countries around the world, and explained about the data on behavior change within England. She also explained about the leadership and collaboration that Ms. Lisa O'Keefe demonstrated at this time.

She also introduced the purpose of bringing the 2026 IWG Conference to Great Britain, her vision as a Secretary General, and the numerous collaborations she is implementing to achieve her goal. While sharing what she values as a leader, she encouraged the participants to "be courageous to share your potential, make friends and motivate them to work together toward our vision which is the job of a leader".

To be healthy and ready to compete in full strength
The Art of Conditioning

Dr. Natsue Koikawa, who is also an active coach, said that it is a role of a coach to help female athletes "stay healthy so that they can compete at their best". In addition to information based on research evidence, she proceeded with her lecture by mixing her actual experiences from the field of coaching.

She explained that although there are people who know about the "FAT (Female Athlete Triad)" which female athletes are prone to fall into, there are still few people who can explain this to athletes, and emphasized that coaches in Japan need to know about this. Then, she shared what FAT is and the role of coaches to protect athletes from FAT, including the screening methods to recognize it at an early stage.

Maintain your own performance with Sports Nutrition

Due to changes in the food environment from the proliferation of convenience stores and other factors which are influencing a drastic change in the way we capture about food, the question of how to eat and maintain good health has become a familiar issue. In such an era, Dr. Shihoko Suzuki explained that Sports Nutrition advocates the introduction of the concept on "how to maintain one's performance through nutrition" in order to stay healthy and live as one wishes.

Her lecture covered a wide range of topics such as the basic concept of eating a well-balanced diet at every meal, nutritional intake for athletes, and even the concept of energy intake of junior athletes.

In particular, she discussed the significant impact of energy deficiency in junior athletes during their growth and development and explained that it is important to consider according to the stage of development and not according to age, and that it is also necessary to adjust the amount of exercise. She also introduced the fact that in the U.S., a weekly exercise time has already been set during the growth period and stressed the necessity of using tools to check the degree of growth of each individual while providing guidance.

Learning what it takes to stress the mind

Dr. Miyako Tanaka-Oulevey, who has experience as a top-class athlete and currently provides mental training to a wide range of athletes, explained about stress coping. She also clarified the purpose of stress coping in athletes and lectured on specific methods of coping.

She also shared the stress that had occurred at milestones in her own life and how she coped with them. When she finished, she said, "Please look back and see how you have coped with your stress. I am sure you have many treasures".

Just like how you stress your muscles in muscle training, you learn something by stressing your mind. Having witnessed athletes grow and develop through mental training in numerous settings, Dr. Miyako Tanaka-Oulevey's lecture was a time of new insights for the participants.

Using data to make a difference

The Tucker Center at the University of Minnesota which is an institution in the U.S. similar to the Japanese Center for Research on Women in Sport, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Dr. Nicole La Voi, who currently serves as the Director of the Center, generously shared her past research findings and data with the participants and gave a lecture on why it is important to show data, and how to use data to make changes.

The participants shared their experiences with each other about the so-called double standard, where you are evaluated and ruled differently after doing the same thing, and deepened their understanding of how the current system affects women. She stated that one of the reasons for the Academy's existence is to understand that we are living in this system and to think about how we can support each other.

Finally, Dr. Nicole La Voi showed a photo of her first coaching session. She shared that when she runs into a wall, she goes back to her roots and think about why she is doing her job and shared her "power pose" that she always does. The audience was filled with power as they posed while shouting, "I Have Power!"

“Behavior” can be observed, realized, and changed

Ms. Liz Masen, CEO of Athlete Assessment which has a wide range of clients from professional and national teams to college students and kids of all ages, told the lecture participants, "Your CoachDISC Profile Report is not just a result of yourself. When you understand yourself by using DISC, you can also understand others".

The DISC represents a "behavioral" style, and not a personality or character. Behavior can be observed and realized. Once realized, behavior can be changed. You cannot say to an athlete, 'Change your personality,' but you can say, 'Let's change our behavior and approach to achieve our goals,'" said Ms. Liz Masen.

In addition, sharing DISC with the staff around you will deepen mutual understanding and facilitate team relationships. Furthermore, she explained the significance of using DISC in coaching, such as identifying the DISC type from the behavior of others and adapting oneself to the required image of a coach to lead the team in the best direction. Through this lecture, the participants realized the importance of observing and understanding "behavior" in various relationships.

How to communicate with others to encourage their growth

After the participants understood the DISC in Ms. Liz Masen’s lecture, Ms. Maki Moriya gave a practical lecture to enhance adaptability so that it can actually be used more concretely in the field.

First, she gave a lecture on the key points when giving feedback to players with various behavioral styles. Feedback is intended to provide awareness to help them face their current situation and promote their growth by communicating the results of their observations. To this end, specific skills were taught for each of the types indicated by CoachDISC on how to communicate in a way that the other person is more likely to accept the feedback.

In the latter half of the session, participants were divided into groups to do an exercise to discuss how to respond to various cases. When the groups presented their results, Ms. Maki Moriya played the role of an athlete, and the participants acting as coaches gave feedback, to which the other groups offered various opinions and empathy. Participants who experienced various case studies with "DISC" in mind seemed to be able to acquire the basis for applying DISC in their field.

Not just a women's issue
Considering it as a problem of social structure

At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Rieko Yamaguchi asked the participants what comes to mind when you hear the term "gender". She explained that although "gender" is an international term, it is a rather complex concept, as there were times when it was not spoken in Japan, and "gender equality" was replaced by words such as "women's activities" and " cooperative participation by men and women". Therefore, she first organized topics related to gender in Japan, and then reviewed gender issues and women's physical activities in the world, introducing historical background and events in the sports field. She also explained the difference between gender equality and equity. She stated that when considering gender, it is necessary to think of it as a problem not only for women but also as a problem of the social structure.

She also introduced examples of sexual harassment and clarified the issues from various angles such as that of perpetrators, organizational structure, and the secondary damage.

Toward the end of the lecture, group work was conducted to help participants feel LGBTQ issues in their hearts. To the somewhat mystified participants, Dr. Kaori Yamaguchi concluded, "I hope you will continue to be sensitive to and think about gender and sexuality issues".

Taking what we learned with our peers to the future

Navigating the Future for Women Sports Leaders is a session to apply the lessons learned at the Academy to the future. This time, the session took a different approach than in the past.

At the beginning of the session, Executive Director Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara, who served as the coordinator, explained the meaning of the session: "As the title suggests, we want to make this a session that will help you navigate toward the future". She introduced the coaching policy of Ms. Mayuko Fujiki, who is a Japanese coach for artistic swimming for the Spanish national team and led the team to victory at the World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023 this past July. Ms. Mayuko Fujiki and Executive Director Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara have been friends for 30 years, and after their episodes and videos from the past were shared, the participants watched a message from Ms. Mayuko Fujiki to the WCA.

The participants' reasons for joining the academy varied such as to learn coaching or to find an opportunity to change themselves, but as they each shared their current feelings about joining the Academy, the audience was filled with a sense of relief that they had already connected with one another who shared the same thoughts and feelings.

The lecturers generously shared their own career setbacks and how they overcame them which were not discussed in the lecture so far, and shared words of inspiration for the future with love. Ms. Marlene Bjornsrud said, "In sports, the value is often determined by who wins or loses, but here at WCA, everyone is accepted as they are". The entire venue was filled with a warm aura.

“I Have Power!” “We Have Power!”

Ms. Miyuki Kobayashi started off the session by sharing some topics from the football world where she is based. She talked about topics such as the current situation of female coaches and trainers in the WE LEAGUE (Japan Women's Empowerment Professional Football League) which is now in its third year, and the "Health and Exercise Project for Women" by the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).

During this time, the participants faced themselves by recalling the sessions and words that triggered the change between who they were before they participated in the WCA and who they are now after participating, and what actions they will take as a result of this change.

At the end of the session, everyone posed with a power pose as Dr. Nicole La Voi did a count down by saying, "I Have Power!”, "We Have Power! The entire venue was filled with power, which strongly pushed the participants to move forward.

“It's just the beginning. Let's stay connected!”

At the last closing ceremony of the academy, the "Best Leader Award" was presented to a participant who was selected by all the participants. The award was given to Ms. Chihiro Kitada, who led her peers throughout the lecture. When the presenter Dr. Rieko Yamaguchi awarded her with a plaque, Ms. Chihiro Kitada expressed her joy by raising it high. The participants applauded for her cheerful power to lead the group and congratulated her.

The lecturers, who had watched over the participants for the past three days, gave strong words of encouragement to the participants who were about to embark on their careers. Then, the participants were presented with certificates by Executive Director Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara to honor the completion of the WCA program. In the communication space, all the participants enjoyed hugging one another which was restricted last year due to infection control measures but lifted this year, allowing the participants to feel a strong bond with their lecturers.

As the conclusion of the three days academy, Executive Director Dr. Etsuko Ogasawara expressed her gratitude to her fellow 9th graders by saying, "WCA is a place where even lecturers want to participate and return here, and this atmosphere was created by everyone who has participated in this Academy so far ."

She then told the audience that an incredible 275 people have joined the WCA in the nine years since it started in 2015 and said, "First of all, I would like you to strengthen your network among the 9th graders, and I would also like you to connect with past alumni. This will make you do more things". The WCA2023 was completed with her message about her hope that the participants will become more and more powerful by utilizing the connections they made at WCA.

Having created various chemical reactions and solidified their unity, the 9th WCA students have become a part of the WCA Crew, a group of people who are taking on the stormy seas with bright, positive hopes in their hands.