3-III. High Performance Measures for Paralympic Sport (Disability Sport)

The Japanese Para Sports Association (JPSA) listed “Strengthen the system for promoting a virtuous cycle that disseminate para sports and improving their competitive strength” as an issue in the JPSA’s 2030 Vision: For the achievement of vigorous, inclusive society (2022). The Japanese Paralympic Committee (JPC) formulated the JPC Strategic Plan (2022) to promote integrated activities for improving athletic performance and the Paralympic Movement and to clarify its mission.

1. Review of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games

Under the policy to support the enhancement of high performance sport announced in October 2016, a joint team was established based on a decision by the Strategic Headquarters of the High Performance Sport Center of the Japan Sport Council (JSC). The JPC has been conducting collaborative consultation on the medium- to long-term strategic reinforcement plans formulated by each national federation and has been providing advice and verification on their planning and implementation. In collaboration with the JSC and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), the JPC has provided advice and cooperation on the management of the National Training Center (NTC), including the NTC East which began operation in September 2019, and has also worked to put in place the foundation from intangible aspects, such as the appointment of national team staff, arranging athlete subsidies and employment of athletes. The JPC concludes that increasing the budget for reinforcement initiatives has led to the improvement of athletic performance, and that enhancing the government’s reinforcement support program has led to positive results. Future challenges are to maintain the budget for reinforcement initiatives, further improve the environment for athletes and coaches and identify and develop athletes, including women, to further enhance high performance sport and strengthen the governance of sports organizations.

2. Mission of the Japanese Paralympic Committee

The missions of the JPC are as follows: (1) identify, develop and strengthen para-athletes who can demonstrate world-class athletic performance and resourcefulness, including from the perspective of setting dual and second career paths; (2) send the Japanese national team to the Paralympic Games and other events to help the Japanese national team athletes demonstrate top performance; (3) publicize images of para- athletes who excel in the world to society to increase para-sports fans and encourage people to change their perceptions of disability; and (4) instill in the country the appeal of para-athletes and the value of para- sports, which can make people realize that everyone can be on the same starting line if they recognize diversity and use ingenuity. To achieve these missions, measures will be implemented in collaboration and cooperation with national federations, the government, businesses, welfare and medical institutions, research institutions, educational institutions, media organizations and others.

(1) Strengthening top athletes

The goal is to maximize the number of gold medals, total medals and medal-winning sports at the 2028 Summer Paralympic Games and the 2030 Winter Paralympic Games. Steps will be taken to maximize outcome by setting the following initiatives as pillars of the strategy: provide support for sending athletes to international competitions, strengthen medal winning in high-priority sports, and strengthen medal potential athletes (MPAs).

(2) Identifying and developing athletes

In order for Paralympic sports-related organizations to identify and nurture athletes based on pathways and numerical targets, the goal is to have at least 70% of Paralympic sports organizations engage in this effort by 2025 and all Paralympic sports organizations to do so by 2030. Athletes will be identified and developed through constructing JPC athlete development pathways and national federation athlete development pathways, developing female athletes, and examining measures for growth in MPAs.

(3) Strengthening the organizational strength of JPC-member national federations

In order for JPC-member national federations to achieve the management indicator targets newly set, efforts will be made to strengthen organizational capabilities so that 70% of JPC-member national federations can achieve the targets by 2025 and all JPC- member national federations can achieve them by 2030.

3. Assignment of Coaches and Staff to Supervise Reinforcement Activities

Coaches and staff who are able to supervise the overall reinforcement activities based on the medium- and long-term strategic reinforcement plans of national federations are assigned to the national federations for the Paralympic Games and the JPC to effectively promote the development and strengthening of athletes. Positions such as high-performance director, national head coach, national team coach and national team staff were established based on the policies to enhance international competitiveness, the annual business plan and individual annual achievement goals (quantitative and qualitative) formulated by national federations. The high-performance director is responsible for overall athlete development activities, including planning, drafting and formulating medium- to long-term strategic reinforcement plans, and serves as the chairperson of the reinforcement committee, general manager of the reinforcement department or such like as the person in charge of reinforcement. The high-performance manager, who is in charge of athlete enhancement at the JPC, will share information and collaborate with the high-performance directors of the member national federations to effectively promote the reinforcement initiatives and carry out activities aimed at improving international competitiveness.

4. J-STAR Project

The J-STAR project was launched in 2017 as a way to identify and develop the top athletes of the future who will excel in world- class competitions such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the beginning of the project, only five Paralympic sports were covered, but since 2020, the Japanese Para Sports Association (JPSA) has coordinated the project to cover all 28 sports that are part of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. After applying for entry, potential athletes take part in a basic measurement session held in each region and are checked for basic athletic skills as well as the type and degree of disability. In Paralympic sports, athletes are allowed to participate in different sports and classes depending on the type and degree of disability, but during the basic measurement session, they will be able to discuss which sports they can participate in with the expert members of the JPSA Medical Committee’s Classification Committee and will also be given the opportunity to consult with the National Governing Bodies of Sport. Persons selected through the subsequent process will be able to participate in a verification program run by instructors of the National Governing Bodies of Sport. Athletes who are deemed promising in the program will have the opportunity to continue their training in each national federation’s reinforcement and development courses. Over the past five years (2017 to 2021), the total number of entries in the Paralympic sports came to 889. The results of the J-STAR project are steadily showing, with four participants in the Tokyo 2020 and nine participants in the Bahrain 2021 Asian Youth Para Games, winning nine medals including four gold medals.