Abstract
By describing the life history of Yutaka Demachi, a member of the volleyball team at Nippon Kokan K.K. (NKK), this paper will uncover the kinds of work experiences these top athletes underwent within the context of the kinds of sports careers they enjoyed. Based on these conclusions, this paper will attempt to explore not only the significance of life history studies in discussing the future of corporate sports but also working environments and employment models for regularly employing top athletes as useful human resources.
Top athletes accepted the labor management scheme that established the system of lifetime employment and seniority payment, and they played a role in stabilizing the relationships among full-time employees by avoiding special treatment. In addition, through status mobility, they built positive self-images of committing themselves to the workplace as a seamless extension of positive self-images of themselves being able to handle both work and sports during their youth, the period in which they acquired their vocational skills.
To study labor environments and employment models for employing a corporate athlete as a full-time worker, it is necessary not only for a company but also for multiple entities to become involved. Such entities in this context include community sports clubs, which have been the focus of many recent discussions. That is, such studies involve identifying the various social values of athletes who are members of a community sports club who aim to improve their athletic abilities while working for a company as a full-time worker.
To fulfill these goals, it is not enough for Japan’s sporting world to extend support solely for competitive sports; it should also consider providing support for athletes so that they can enter the workforce while also demanding improved laws and systems pertaining to labor environments, wages, and the taxation system, thereby constructing mechanisms for providing athletes with incentives. Therefore, the ideal labor environments and employment models for Japan’s athletes must be discussed as an area within “sports labor studies”.
