Japan Tour 2018 - Blog #5

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

"Hanami" is a tradition in Japan of welcoming spring.  We had our own hanami celebration last night.  Ryoko and Kiwa did some secret leg work and brought in several helpers from Shigakkan’s elementary school to put on a special evening for our girls. 

It started with a group of kindergarten students performing a few songs for us before practice.  They made origami necklaces for each of us and we took a large group picture.  The children were excited to practice their English on real Americans.  After practice, the girls hustled back to the dorm where there was a crew of women waiting to assist in their preparation.  They got their hair done and put on kimonos.  It took them almost two hours to get ready.

We ate sushi, took some pictures and then went outside for the cherry blossom viewing.  We sat on benches and drank matcha (green tea).  It was a lot of fun and our girls really felt special.  I’m happy that they were able to participate.

Cherry blossoms are a big deal in Japan right now.  They literally seem to be everywhere.  People organize trips and vacations around the blooming of the “sakura.”  They’re stunning, but short lived.  We didn’t plan our trip based on the cherry blossom season, which usually occurs the first week in April, however, we are extremely lucky to be here during this season.

Japan Tour 2018 - Blog #4

Monday, March 26, 2018

We’re halfway through our Monday here in Obu.  This morning the girls participated in a conditioning practice on the track.  They started out with some running and then did a variety of new drills and exercises.  I took several notes and have a lot of ideas that will be implemented immediately to our training back home.  It’s not an accident that this group of women is as successful as they are.

Yesterday was an off day for the Shigakkan athletes.  Kiwa (Ryoko’s daughter) took care of us.  She opened the wrestling room (dojo) for us and we spent a solid hour working on our motion and experimenting a bit.  A couple of our athletes had a breakthrough in a specific problem area that we’ve been focusing on for quite some time.  I’m really excited to see it in action at tonight’s practice.

Following our mat practice, we went to the mall to look for some souvenirs and to eat in the large food court.  The mall was very similar to a traditional American mall, so there was no culture shock there.  However, there was a bit of a cultural clash at the end of our shopping experience.  We showed some of our true American colors as one of our gracious hosts waited for the group to arrive at the meeting spot on time.  I had a lengthy conversation with her about cultural difference.  She said that Japanese teenagers are never late (I haven’t confirmed that with anyone else, but I certainly believed her).  It turned into an important teachable moment when we got back to the dorm and then again this morning. 

Some of our girls were convicted and felt bad.  As I chatted this morning with Morgan (Gabby’s brother who joined us on this trip), I told him that “feeling bad” is a luxury that we take for granted.  If we’re disrespectful, directly or indirectly, we can move on quickly from the shame by covering it with “feeling bad.”  Almost like we take privilege to forgive ourselves.  It relieves us of our regret/shame, but it doesn’t address the missed opportunity to respect or honor someone who is serving you.  It’s complicated, yet so simple.  Do what you’re supposed to do, be where you’re supposed to be and be on time and you are respecting and honoring others.  It adds value to both parties.  It’s having empathy for them and understanding they also have a schedule.  It’s putting others before yourself and making sure that your desires aren’t always the center of attention.  That’s uncommon for American teenagers, isn’t it?  We have to reverse engineer our thinking, don’t we?

In the US, we tell high school students that they are the most important thing on the planet.  We bend over backwards to individualize and differentiate everything they do.  We give them a smorgasbord of choices and empower them with many decisions.  We make it our mission to reassure them that they’re special, unique, privileged, etc.  There’s great intention in this freedom and potential for incredible growth and understanding, however, there are sometimes unintended consequences, too.  We can have our cake and eat it, but we also must have caution when doing so and never lose sight of the big picture.  Other people matter and we can’t forget that.  We must be mindful of others’ schedules and lives.

C.S. wrote, “humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Think on that for a while…

I know I have been.

Japan Tour 2018 - Blog #3

Sunday, March 25, 2018

We had a great day at Shigakkan University yesterday.  We arrived in the afternoon after riding the bullet train from Kyoto to Nagoya.  We got on another train that took us to the Kyowa Station in Obu, Aichi Prefecture.  A final taxi ride took us to the university in time for an afternoon that was sure to leave an indelible mark on us all.

I’ve been in some pretty incredible wrestling rooms in my lifetime, but nothing can match this one.  It’s dripping with humility and prestigious power.  There are only two mats surrounded by wood and adorned with pictures of great champions like Yoshida, Icho, Sakamoto-Obata and Tosaka.  As a women’s wrestling coach, it’s a bucket list item.  The wrestling room at Shigakkan University has won more gold medals than any other wrestling room anywhere in the world.  To say it’s primed to make another elite run with a new crop of talent in an understatement.  Kazuhito Sakae sat in a comfortable chair matside bundled up in a Japan warm-up and Saori Yoshida ran around the mats during warm-ups with her nieces and Sakae’s youngest child.  The two of them didn’t miss anything that occurred during practice, though, and whenever they said a word, the athletes clung to it as if their life depended on it. 

Cadet and Junior World Champions rolled around with current Japanese National Team members who just returned from winning another gold medal at the World Cup.  This time in Tokyo.  Gold medalists Eri Tosaka and Haruno Okuna stayed after practice and did their own foot work drills.  Talk about high level wrestling.

The 2016 Japanese Olympic team left Rio with 3 gold medals and a silver medal.  All four athletes are from Shigakkan University.  In fact, 6 of the 6 Olympic Team members for Japan had trained in Obu at Shigakkan.

If this doesn’t stir the hearts of our high school girls, nothing ever will.

What’s even more impressive, though, is following practice, we ate with the resident athletes in their dormitory.  They served us and picked up our dishes and washed them by hand.  World champions on the mat and servants off the mat.  Moments like that are what we live for as coaches.

It’s a way of life in this country and the quintessential recipe for sustained international success.  It is such a stark contrast to the “entitled” athlete we’ve become so accustomed to in the United States.  And this isn’t the equivalent to a varsity high school kids rolling out or washing mats.  These are Olympic and World champions serving high school kids.  It was refreshing to see.

It’s only been one day, however, I hope the take away from this trip is much more than single and double leg takedowns and practice structures for our girls.  I hope the discipline, honor, humility and respect is what transforms us on the inside so that we can have even more success on the outside.