抄録
The Japanese professional soccer league, J-League, has organized and conducted annually a Rookie Transition Program since its inaugural season of 1993. In the 2004 season, rookie players were required to attend a 3-day-symposium, to pass an examination in the laws of the game and to do some voluntary work in the local community and at the stadium. The aims of the Rookie Transition Program are to make rookie players aware of what a professional athlete should be, to assist them to adopt smoothly a new life as a professional athlete and to make them appreciate the value of the J-League. After re-examining the J-League's previous programs and researching the Rookie Transition Program of the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, both of which are the most successful professional sports leagues in the U.S., the J-League came up with the following policies : 1) not to teach what the J-League wants to teach, but let them feel what players need to know, 2) to make each session short and entertaining, and 3) to deal with as many topics to learn as possible. This paper explains how the J-League planned and evaluated the 2004 Rookie Transition Program. The purposes of this study are to search for better methods for conducting the J-League Rookie Transition Program and to design a model for the rookie transition programs in professional sports leagues.
