3-IV. The Nippon Foundation Parasports Support Center (Disability Sport)

1. Overview

Following the decision to host the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the Nippon Foundation established the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Study Group in June 2014 with the aim of broadly considering how to handle the Paralympics. One of the issues raised was the management structure of national federations. Established by the Nippon Foundation in May 2015, the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center (“Parasapo”) aims to strengthen the foundation of national federations for Paralympic sports by providing various types of support. Parasapo provides a co-working office with Paralympic national federations in the Nippon Foundation Building, grants for administrative staff costs and funding for increasing public engagement in sports as well as a promotion and marketing budget. It also provides shared back-office services, such as accounting and administrative processing, to strengthen organizational management. It was renamed as “The Nippon Foundation Parasports Support Center” in January 2022.

Furthermore, under the slogan of “SOCIAL CHANGE with SPORTS”, an education program “Asu-Challe! (Challenge for Tomorrow)” with para-athletes serving as instructors is held across the country in an aim to realize a diversity and inclusion society. This “Asu-Challe!” program is designed to target students in primary, secondary and special-needs schools as well as provide training seminars for businesses, organizations, communities and universities, in both cases with para-athletes or persons with disabilities serving as lecturers. By 2022, more than 3,800 programs had been hosted, with over 400,000 children and adults having participated in Japan and abroad.

2. Operation of the Nippon Foundation Para Arena

The Nippon Foundation Para Arena, which opened in June 2018 as a dedicated gymnasium for para-athletes to improve their training environment, is used for training by club teams and individuals belonging to the Japanese national Paralympic team and para-sports national federations. In April 2020, the arena was offered as part of the Nippon Foundation Disaster Crisis Support Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed operation in April 2021. With input from para-athletes, the entire facilities were universally designed for use by everyone and the total number of users has exceeded 40,000 to date.

3. “I’mPOSSIBLE” (Japanese version)

In collaboration with the Japanese Paralympic Committee (JPC) of the Japanese Para Sports Association, Parasapo produced a Japanese version of “I’mPOSSIBLE,” a global Paralympic education program developed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and distributed it to schools throughout the country as part of its promotion activities in Japan. Parasapo also contributed funds to support the IPC in establishing the “I’mPOSSIBLE Award”, which is presented to schools and Paralympians who have made significant contributions to achieving an inclusive world through the Paralympic Movement. The award ceremony was held at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 in September 2021. The promotion activities of these materials by Parasapo were completed in December 2021, and the JPC is currently in charge of the promotion activities for teaching materials.

4. Dissemination and Awareness of the Paralympics and Academic Research

With the aims of expanding interest in Paralympics and para-sports and increasing the number of para-sports fans, the attractive features of sports and athletes, and information about competitions and events are disseminated through the website media “Parasapo WEB” and official SNS.

Parasapo also conducts academic research and social surveys on Paralympics and para-sports, publishes a journal to announce the results of such research, and holds symposiums in collaboration with universities and research institutes on a regular basis.