The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological process of Japanese athletes who were not reaching best performance in international competition held in Japan. Participants were 3 athletes (2 male and 1 female) who had participated in international competitions held in Japan and other countries and not able to perform their best in their own country. We conducted a group interview with them lasting about two hours. Verbatim data were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA), and the following psychological process was confirmed. The participants felt an “upsurge of their own country” that was increased by the people they cared about, supporters, and the media, which became stressors. They made them feel “social responsibility” and a “sense of duty” and strengthened “inability.” They fell into a “negative spiral” such that they could not cope flexibly and find solutions to their problems. In this situation, they constrained external events such as others and instruments and entered the vague situation of not finding a solution. They felt anxiety and strong pressure, which led to their suboptimal performance. The results suggested that coping with problems flexibly and concentrating on something they should do prevent not to reach one’s best performance. Future research is needed that carefully considers the relation between concept or category and personality traits. As research results accumulate, psychological support will improve.

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Talent identification & development (TID) has been positioned as an important measure of sport policy from the viewpoint of high performance sport. TID at the national level has been evolving in various countries including United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. Japan Sport Council (JSC) currently supports three TID models throughout the entire country: multi-sports, target sports, and transfer sports. A local TID (LTID) project on the multi-sports model was first introduced in Fukuoka prefecture in 2004. After 13 years, the LTID project has been expanded to 26 prefectures. The Japanese National TID (NTID) programme was strategically implemented by JSC in 2012 as a new national project. NTID provides opportunities and choices toward talented local athletes to create various Olympic and Paralympic pathways for potential medallists. Many countries establishing sustainable athlete development pathways highlight the need to continue being innovative and evidence-based in the approach to ensure that Japan stays at the front of this rapidly evolving field in high performance sport.

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We analyzed the skating trajectory and velocity in men’s 1,500-m and 5,000-m races in a speed skating international competition using a local position measurement (LPM) system. The aim was to identify the characteristics of these races and the association with skaters’ performance. Twenty-five 1,500-m contestants and 31 5,000-m contestants were captured at 60 frames/s with the LPM system, which can automatically identify the top of a skater’s head using 28 cameras mounted on the ceiling of the skating oval and a template matching method. Excess distance was defined as the difference between the actual distance, which was calculated by summing the travel distance at every frame, and the shortest course distance. The change in velocity was calculated for the straight and curve, respectively. The excess distance per lap was over 4 m in both the 1,500-m and 5,000-m races, and was mostly attributed to the curve. In addition, the individual variability of excess distance was large enough to replace the rank. The excess distance in the curve may not always be derived from inadequate centripetal force because some skaters passed more than 0.5 m away from the inner line, not only in the approach and exit from the curve, but also in the middle of the curve. In the 1,500-m race, skaters generally decelerated on the straight, and maintained velocity or accelerated on the curve. On the other hand, all 5,000-m contestants decelerated on the straight and accelerated on the curve. The decrease in velocity on the straight was significantly correlated with the decreased rate of the pace and the official time in the 5,000-m race (p<0.05). The results indicate that a smaller decrease in velocity on the straight was important in maintaining the lap time and achieving superior performance in long distance events.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the actual situation of cooling strategies used during competition or practice under hot environments among elite Japanese athletes. Participants (102 elite athletes, 20 coaches, and 4 scientific-support staffs) completed cooling strategies questionnaire that focused on the strategies they used in competition or practice. The participants played sports that fell into one of seven event categories: triathlon, women’s field hockey, cycling, men’s beach volley ball, women’s rugby sevens, fencing, and men’s soccer. The results of this study demonstrated that most elite Japanese athletes, coaches, and scientific support staff thought their athletic performance was impaired during competition or practice under hot environments (89% and 83%, respectively). Thus, under such conditions, the athletes, coaches, and other staffs strongly recognized the importance of cooling strategies in both competition and practice (100% and 95%, respectively). However, the implementation rate of cooling strategies, such as body cooling, was lower in practice compared with in competition (64% and 86%, respectively). Additionally, we confirmed that the most popular cooling strategy in both competition and practice was using an ice pack, however, no comment was made regarding ice slurry ingestion as a cooling strategy. Our results suggest that although elite Japanese athletes, coaches, and scientific support staff recognize the importance of cooling strategy during competition and practice, strategy engagement differed between competition and practice. Moreover, because no comment was made regarding the use of novel cooling strategies, information transmission was speculated as not always being enough for Japanese athletes. Therefore, more information regarding cooling strategies should be provided to Japanese athletes and coaches to optimize performance at not only competitions but also during practice under hot environments.

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Establishment of the Athlete Development System (ADS) has been positioned as an important effort of the success in high performance sport. The review paper summarized the initiatives of the gov-ernments and national sport organizations to establish the ADS after the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. Also, we analyzed the current situation of the ADS in Japan. As a result, the definition of the ADS has changed from explaining a direct relationship between training volume/intensity and performance to taking a systematic approach incorporating many factors related to the ADS. Since 2010, each na-tional sport organization has formulated a medium to long-term strategic plan. However, we need to reaffirm that the current strategic plan is focusing on the final stage of achieving medals at major competitions. We suggest that the quality and effectiveness of each of sport organization is positioned as an important effort of the success in high performance sport. The review paper summarized the initiatives of governments and sport organizations’ youth programs, which are the foundation for the success at the senior level. If the national sport organizations were not able to improve their athlete development pathway program, it would not lead to the sustainable ADS in the near future. Therefore, looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, each sport organization needs to establish a unique Japanese athlete development framework by considering the background of Japanese society.

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Athletes are required to be able to make certain essential movements in their sports in order to perform well and to prevent injuries. Not only strength, power, speed, and agility but also posture and movement pattern are very important component to improve their performance. Applying movement screening test and analyzing the movements are essential for athletes to determine what they need to improve. High Performance Gym (HPG) at Japan Institute of Sports Sciences (JISS) has been providing Functional Assessment for Athletic Body (FAAB) to the Olympic athletes and Paralympic athletes since 2013. FAAB includes 9 movements, and each movement is filmed with three cameras from front (or back), side, and above. The picture from above is very useful to detect the dysfunction of the movements on horizontal plane such as pelvic rotation. We analyzed the posture and thoracic rotation movement in sitting of three Paralympic cross-country skiers with unilateral arm impairment. They have a tendency that their scapula on affected side are sitting higher and more forward and that the thoracic rotation is limited on affected side compare to the unaffected side. Those dysfunction coming from their impairment may affect their movement and performance. Specific exercises and training might be required to improve those asymmetry and inefficient movements. This report mentions that how we assess and analyze their posture and movement, and how we apply those results in order to provide the training programs for Paralympic athletes.

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This paper reports the efforts undertaken to provide nutritional support for the Japanese National Paralympic Alpine Ski Team from the 2015/2016 season to the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. According to the team coaches, increased fatigue and reduced performance was observed around the end of a season. They attributed this to deficient fluid intake during training sessions and deficient food intake after exercise. At first, we examined the dehydration status and body mass variation of the athletes during the 2015/2016 season. Dehydration is usually detected by measuring the subject’s body weight both before and after exercise, but body weight measurement during ski training may be difficult for paralympic alpine skiers. We tried to assess the hydration status of the athletes by measuring urine specific gravity (USG) on the first morning and checked urine color using a color chart as well as measured the body weight. Both parameters were monitored for 7days in the early 2015/2016 season. Some athletes had high USG (≥1.030), and showed body weight loss during the examination. We were concerned about dehydration on the first morning and body weight loss during the long season. Preventing dehydration and maintaining body weight during the season was crucial for the team. However, drinking large volumes of water on snow is difficult. Therefore, we encouraged fluid intake after a training session or competition so that they could be rehydrated by the next morning. Furthermore, consuming a snack (for example, bread, banana, and energy bar) after exercise would help in preventing energy deficiency, even if the athlete missed a meal. Additionally, we encouraged the athletes to regularly self monitor their body weight and urine color until the 2017/2018 season. With the establishment of these routines in the team, the athletes were able to maintain body weight and prevented dehydration.

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