The current research examined the successful experiences and challenges faced by charity participants in the Tokyo marathon. Constraint negotiation (Jackson and Rucks, 1995) served as a theoretical framework to guide this examination. Original data collected by the Tokyo Marathon committee from 2013-2019 was used for data analysis to investigate medium-term changes. A web survey of the past Tokyo Marathon charity participants was conducted to discuss their fundraising experiences and their attitude toward charity. As a result of medium-term analysis, it was found that most of the charity runners decided on their participation because of their ‘running’ motivation for Tokyo Marathon, but of a charity opportunity. The chance of getting into the Tokyo Marathon as a general participant is one in ten or twelve and this situation assists their decision making. Also, fundraising, which is increasing in popularity in the US and Australia, was still quite low in this context. Three factors of successful experiences were revealed from the web survey; one was related to the subject and content of the fundraising, and the second was related to place and tools, and the third factor was related to the way to utilize the general fundraising skill. Four challenges were revealed; challenges for the charity runner her/himself, discomfort in asking donation for donors and potential donors, difficulties about feelings toward the Tokyo marathon charity system, and the lack of a Japanese charity culture.

View full abstract

Various sports have started to use tablet devices and sports devices for training. The purpose of this study is to clarify the difference in the effectiveness of direct instruction and video-based instruction for improving tag rugby skills. Direct instruction consisted of demonstrations of passing and catching, and video-based instruction consisted of instructional videos and delayed videos of passing and catching. To verify the results, sports data from GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) devices was used. Since GNSS devices can easily acquire sports data (movement, speed, acceleration), we tried to check for changes in distance moved and playstyle as a result of improving passing and catching skills. From applying this study to about 130 third-grade elementary school students, we found that both direct and video-based instruction improved their motions, such as the shape of their hands when receiving a pass and the direction of their arms after passing the ball. In addition, there was a significant result in the number of accelerations per minute from video-based instruction.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine an improved model of sports coach commitment for teachers of athletic club activities by investigating the relationships between sports coach commitment, sport coach identity, and social support of workers. The participants were 189 middle school and high school teachers who coached sports for athletic club activities (male: 155, female: 34). They completed questionnaires (Sports Coach (Teacher) Commitment Scale, Sports Coach (Teacher) Identity Scale, Brief Scale of Social Support for Workers). In examining the relationships between sports coach commitment, sports coach identity, social support of workers by correlation analysis, it was found that there was significant correlation among all factors. Moreover, the results of path analysis showed that the hypothesized model demonstrated goodness of fit and validity of the original improved model of sports coach commitment. The results of this study indicated that the emotional support in social support of workers influences sports coach identity formation, and teachers of extracurricular sports activities forming sports coach identity have a high sports coach commitment.

View full abstract

Grit, the ability to continue to work passionately and persistently on long-term goals, has been attracting attention in recent years as a factor that contributes to life success. The Grit Scale consists of two sub-scales, “consistency of interest,” which is the passion to put effort into the same goal over a long period, and “persistence of effort,” which is the tenacity to continuously strive for the goal. Among several activities that may increase grit, we chose coaching style in a sports club. An online survey was conducted with freshmen from a university and a vocational school who had participated in sports clubs in the past, that is, until they graduated from high-school (n=415), and those who did not have such experience (n=88). Sports club members were found to have higher persistence of effort than those who did not belong to sports clubs. Moreover, among sports club members, the persistence of effort score was higher after controlling the five personality scores when the club was more active and when their coach was more task-oriented. Although a causal relationship cannot be determined because this was a cross-sectional survey, this study is significant as it shows the possibility of the positive effect of continuous participation in sports and the coaching style. In the future, it is recommended that studies use various samples and a longitudinal study design.

View full abstract

Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has become a global pandemic, causing various activities to be restricted in Japan. Thus, we investigated university swimmers’ perceptions of the COVID-19 restrictions and how they thought these impacted their sport, along with an exploratory identification of their psychological states. We asked 108 university swimmers (men 74 and women 34; mean age 19.82, ［SD 1.17］ years) to describe their psychological states during the pandemic. Data analysis involved collection of descriptions and quantitative context analysis or text mining using the KJ method with KH coder software. Following analysis, six categories emerged: “infection prevention and control,” “gratitude,” “preparing for the restart,” “uncertainly about the future,” “physical decline,” and “psychological decline.” In addition, results of the qualitative analysis confirmed the relationship between the words “swimming” and “feeling,” “feeling” and “can swim.” These results suggest that university swimmers consider their sport and themselves during periods of inactivity and that it will be useful for the sporting community to research the psychological states of university swimmers during the global pandemic.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the balance between extra-curricular activities and academics. For 222 junior high school students, regression analysis was performed on data related to academic grades, mock exam grades, time related to learning and sleep, compatibility of extra-curricular activities and school life, and satisfaction with school life. As a result, it was clarified that students with higher compatibility between extra-curricular activities and academics scored higher on academic grades and mock exam grades. In addition, it was clarified that the students with high compatibility had long study times, and early bedtimes and examination study times. Furthermore, it became clear that the satisfaction level of school life was higher for them.

View full abstract

Pacific league teams have been the champion teams in the NPB for the recent eight years, and ability differences among the relievers in both leagues have been noted. Major determinants of team wins during the regular season might be different between both league teams. To explore the determinants of win rate in each league, the current study analyzed team stats. Two major findings associated with baseball stadium size were found. First, central league teams can offset poor pitching performance by batting, although the effect of good pitching on team wins among central league teams is smaller, compared to that of pacific league teams. Second, increasing the number of stolen bases per game does not have a significant effect on team wins. Pitchers in the central league teams should improve pitch mix to reduce the number of home runs allowed per game.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to verify the validity and reliability of the enjoyment factors of the Japanese version of SCQ-2, which measures the enjoyment of “playing sports” and “supporting sports” for university students, and to clarify the relationship between enjoyment and activity status / experience. For this purpose, the validity and reliability of the enjoyment factor, which is a subfactor of the Japanese version of SCQ-2, was examined in Study 1 for “playing sports” and in Study 2 for “supporting sports”. As a result of the research, in Study 1, the validity and reliability were confirmed by translating the word “happiness” in the original version into “enjoyment”. In Study 2, it was clarified that the validity of the 4-item 1-factor structure was higher than that of the 5-item 1-factor structure. In addition, in both “playing sports” and “supporting sports”, university students who are currently continuing their activities or have experience in activities highly evaluated enjoyment as compared with the non-execution and the inexperienced group. In the future, we can contribute to the development of the sports environment by conducting research from the two perspectives of “playing sports” and “supporting sports” using the enjoyment factors of Japanese version of SCQ-2.

View full abstract

While professional sports clubs in Europe and the U.S. have attained marketability and a public nature simultaneously, many clubs in Japan are struggling to achieve either or both these two values. This study explores the businessization and localization strategies of professional football clubs belonging to the J. League, categorizes the clubs into several types, and examines their marketing dilemmas. A quantitative survey of 35 clubs was conducted from managerial and social marketing perspectives. The findings are as follows: First, through exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis, three factors were extracted as businessization indexes: stable supply of sport services, rationalization of management, and establishment of a management base. Additionally, two factors were extracted as localization indexes: building a platform for regional cooperation, and promotion of local sports activities. Second, using the geometric means derived from the businessization indexes (three factors, eight items) and the localization indexes (two factors, nine items), a correlation analysis was conducted. The clubs were classified into four types: Advanced club (Type-A), Business-oriented club (Type-B), Community-oriented club (Type-C), and Developing club (Type-D). Finally, from the viewpoint of the ABCD model, an analytical model for professional football club management is proposed. We suggest that there can be both synergies and trade-offs between businessization and localization.

View full abstract

In this study, we targeted multiple universities that conduct short-term study abroad in the field of sports using different methods in Japan, clarified the development process, and considered the ideal program to foster international sports human resources in Japan. The results indicate that in the current state of development of short-term study abroad in the field of sports, all three universities have the same idea towards “the credit of the short-term study abroad” and “the mechanism to reduce the financial burden on students participating in short-term study abroad.” Furthermore, it became clear that there are similarities and differences in the ways of thinking of management resources necessary for the development of short-term study abroad in the sports field. In addition, regarding the future of short-term study abroad in the field of sports, the training type of Sendai University and Teikyo University was recognized as the “Value discovery type” shown by Nakatsuka and Odagiri (2016), and the training type of the University of Tsukuba was “Exchange type.” It became clear that all three universities desired to evolve into a training type of “Problem-solving type” and “Knowledge sharing type” mentioned by Nakatsuka and Odagiri (2016) as well. In order to evolve the training type into “Problem-solving type” or “Knowledge sharing type,” it is important to have faculty members actively involved in the development process of the short-term study abroad while considering the students as the main body. And, instead of making the lecture one-sided or only inspecting the program, the necessity of the requesting side of the program to build a relationship that can be shared in both directions, such as creating new graduation research and joint research projects through the program, was indicated.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract