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The SSF works closely with local governments to build Active Cities—one of the 12 themes identified in TAFISA Mission 2030 where physical activity is prioritized everywhere people live and work with the aim of promoting physical, mental, and social well-being.
The Sasakawa Sports Foundation advocates the establishment of Regional Sport Management Organizations (RSMO) to maximize the effectiveness of limited human, fiscal, and other resources in promoting local sports initiatives. The first RSMO to be established was Sponet Kakuda, which spearheads the Active Child Program (ACP) in the city of Kakuda, Miyagi Prefecture, to promote physical activity among preschoolers.
Kakuda is a small city some 270 kilometers northeast of Tokyo with an agriculture-centered economy and a dwindling population of around 27,000.
Kakuda is a small city in northern Japan, surrounded by mountains.
On February 1, the city’s Nakajima Nursery School hosted an ACP event, led by Kenji Harada, a professor at Sendai University specializing in physical education for young children. Two teams of four-year-olds kicked off the day with a “tail-capturing” contest in which children tried to pull off the ropes attached to the back of each other’s hips. When a rope is taken, it is placed in a box on one’s side, and the children whose rope has been stripped off return to their side and places any rope in their own box around their waist and reenters the court. The team with the most ropes in the box at the end of the game wins.
Members of two teams, identified by the color of their caps, try to capture the “tails” of others’ backs.
Counting the number of ropes in each team’s box.
“The aim of the contest isn’t simply to get kids to run around,” Harada explains. “They first have to understand the rules and work as a team, and that can be a big challenge for them. At the end of the game, we count out loud the number of ropes each team won. This is designed to develop their sense of working toward group goals.”
Sendai University Professor Kenji Harada.
Five-year-olds participate in mechabi (“fun-filled rugby”), with points awarded each time a team carries the ball to the goal and places it on a mat. Kicking and throwing are prohibited, as is sitting on the floor with the ball—since children could get hurt when others pile on top of them. When a child on the losing side began to cry, a friend consoled with a pat on the head, and everyone was smiling again.
Kids huddle around the ball in “fun-filled rugby,” left, with two adults watching closely to ensure their safety. A child breaks loose of the crowd, right, to score a goal for his team.
Shaking hands after the game. Sometimes, children on the losing side begin to cry, but they are consoled by friends.
“Being allowed to bump into your friends is what makes this ‘fun,’” Harada says. “But you also learn to control your body and emotions so you don’t hurt others, offering lessons in what you can and cannot do and how you can contribute to the team. This game requires adult supervision so that kids don’t do anything dangerous, like pulling on their friends’ clothes. If we clearly communicate the dos and don’ts, the children will understand.”
After the program, Harada held a briefing on the day’s events with the staff of the nursery school and officials from Sponet Kakuda and the city government. One preschool teacher asked about the dangers of kids hurtling themselves into a group huddled around the ball during rugby, to which Harada replied, “There are two lessons for the kids there. The first is that it can be dangerous. And the second, perhaps more important, is that there’s a limit to the impact one’s push can have—even if done with momentum—when there are so many people in a group.”
Harada continued, “We’re now going around various facilities in the city to introduce the ACP concept, but our ultimate goal is for the preschool teachers to conduct the program on their own. I believe it’s an excellent program that’s as much about learning to interact in group settings as it is about enjoying physical activity.”
“The best thing about ACP,” adds Chiharu Otsuki, a teacher at Nakajima Nursery School, “is that it gets the kids thinking even as they’re having a lot of fun. They really look forward to the ACP. It’s an excellent way of using play to learn about caring for others, which can be difficult to teach. The sight of children comforting their peers, for example, was a sign of emotional growth.”
Chiharu Otsuki, a teacher at Nakajima Nursery School.
Launching Sponet Kakuda in partnership with the SSF has had great benefits, feels Yasushi Kunii, responsible for operating the RSMO as a member of the Kakuda Board of Education.
“Like many places in Japan, Kakuda has an aging population, and the number of children is declining,” Kunii says. “We also have a need to develop young, sports-related human resources. The first step we took in creating an RSMO was organizing a series of meetings among the city’s sports officials, through which we agreed that we should aim to build a cheerful, healthy, and dynamic city through sports. Identifying this common goal was an important step that allowed us to make better use of limited resources.
“Among the issues we discussed was the need to promote sports among children. This was to address growing concerns that kids today seem to be physically weaker than in the past, that they can’t sit still, and that the environments in which they spend their free time have changed dramatically. We learned from talking with kindergarten and nursery school staff that there was growing polarization between kids who exercise and those who don’t. That’s why we decided to introduce the ACP. In the future, we hope to expand the program to elementary schools so that the children can engage in it on an continuing basis.”
Yasushi Kunii, a member of the Kakuda Board of Education.
Yoshinori Endo, who serves as a sports coordinator for Sponet Kakuda in his capacity as a manager of Sports Communication Kakuda (a nonprofit community sports club), thinks that the discussions held in creating the RSMO and coming up with the ACP program were well worth the time. “Exchanging views with people with different backgrounds and responsibilities was a truly valuable experience,” he recalls.
“One of the biggest advantages of the ACP,” Endo notes, “is that it can be implemented at all kinds of preschool institutions—nursery schools and kindergartens, both private and public. Another plus is that it provides opportunities for the representatives of these facilities to get together for discussions and training. The benefits for the children may become apparent only years later, but I think it’s important for us to steadily expand this initiative.”
Yoshinori Endo of Sports Communication KAKUDA.
Members of two teams, identified by the color of their caps, try to capture the “tails” of others’ backs.
Five-year-olds participate in mechabi (“fun-filled rugby”), with points awarded each time a team carries the ball to the goal and places it on a mat.
