'Coaching is a Service Industry': The Origin of a Director Who Traveled the World

Sure, my profession is a volleyball coach. In that capacity, I was invited to the International Budo University five years ago, and now I am the director of the women's volleyball team.

For example, in university, there are spring and fall leagues. So, when the league season starts, the main tasks become analyzing the data of the next opponent and editing videos. During periods other than the league season, I usually go around to various high school tournaments to scout for good players, and also, I have to polish my own skills and knowledge, so I read a lot of literature. Now, international tournaments can be watched on TV or the internet, so watching them is also a major part of my work. Yeah, there's a lot of desk work too.

I teach coaching English and sports English, so that our students can properly instruct when they go overseas, and I'm in charge of English conversation classes used in sports settings.

When I graduated from university, I was actually supposed to be hired as a teacher, but as a senior in college, I was coaching at a strong school in Chiba Prefecture. During a team camp at a corporate team, the manager of that corporate team scouted me and asked me to work with them. That's how I got into this world. I didn't intend to stay long, but for several reasons, around the age of 30, I began to think that this job was the one where I could provide the best service to people, and since then, I've been seriously committed to this work. I was aiming to be a teacher. All my relatives are teachers. I kind of felt I wasn't suited to be a teacher. I'm not very good at taking care of others. Also, I wanted to think about volleyball and coaching 24 hours a day, so this job felt more fitting.

Well, when was it? I'm 60 years old now, and the head coach, which is what we call the director in Japan, the first time I was a director was in Indonesia. That was when I was about 33 years old. So, 37 years ago.

There were times when I couldn't get a contract. Financial hardships were always around. At my level, I wasn't getting a high contract fee, and there were times when my contract ended, and I had to return to Japan and work as a dispatch, which was tough on my family. Also, when I was young, I was quick to fight, especially when I went overseas, I often got into fights. That was a problem.

The Indonesian Volleyball Association asked the Japan Volleyball Association to send the director of the women's national team. I was studying in the U.S. the year before, or maybe two years ago, and I think I was chosen because I could speak English, but I was also happy. Also, I wanted to challenge myself and stand alongside world-renowned directors. I was the director of the national team in Indonesia and also the under-18 director in South Africa.

I don't think there are many people challenging themselves now. Players are going overseas quite a bit, but Japanese coaches are not going overseas much. So, at coaching seminars, since many players are now going overseas, we're urging coaches by saying, 'Now it's your turn.'

I don't really feel much difficulty. Well, at first, it's fun everywhere you go. After about three months, the food becomes a problem. In Indonesia, at first, I was excited to eat all kinds of things, but after three months, the coconut oil started to bother my nose, and I was only eating porridge-like things. Thanks to that, I lost 10 kg. Then, when I went to Egypt, the food suddenly suited me, and I gained 10 kg, so it was a back-and-forth situation.

It was a negative experience for me, but when I was assigned to Denmark, there was something that happened. At that time, it was a club team. There was some kind of Danish championship, and when I first went there, the club's GM told me, though it wasn't in the contract, that if we could win the championship in three years, that would be great. However, that year, it was suddenly decided that the championship would be held in our city, Odense, which is the third-largest city in Denmark, and I was told to win the championship. The domestic league usually starts around October, but the championship tournament was progressing simultaneously with the domestic league. The previous year, the club had won the championship, and all the winning members had been bought by a Swiss club, so no one was left. So, I had to promote some players from the same club's lower categories and, through an agent, get some American and Canadian players, and also, a former Japanese national team player who had helped me before joined the team. Gradually, we started winning, and in the end, I was told to win the championship. However, the ace position was a bit weak, and the club brought in a good player from somewhere else. But at that time, I was using a 15-year-old player I had promoted from the under category, who I thought would become great in the future, so I refused. That was the week before the final. A week before the final, there was a dispute for a couple of days about whether to use her or not, but I insisted that even this 15-year-old could win, but the club didn't trust her and wanted to use the veteran player they suddenly brought in, so I said, 'Okay, I'll use her.' But this was no longer my team, so I decided not to be on the bench. In the end, the match itself went to a full set, and we won the championship. My wife and daughter were at the stadium to watch the match, and at the moment the final spike was hit and the game was set, the camera showed the players, and then moved to the stands, and at that moment, my wife was crying. I think there were various complex feelings, but that scene is unforgettable. I was watching it at home. I was at home from the morning of the day, drinking whiskey while watching. I drank a whole bottle of whiskey.

My balance is extremely bad. It's mostly work. I'm working except when I'm sleeping.

I've been on the field for a long time, but I'm thinking that I need to change my role a bit from now on, even though I want to continue to be involved. I think I need to play a role in coaching education, athlete development, training camps, creating a training environment, and conveying to athletes and coaches what's happening overseas and what research has been conducted and discovered. Because there are no people who are truly doing that now. So, I'm considering starting a business to do that. So, right now, apart from volleyball, I'm spending a lot of time preparing and studying for that startup.

I'm considering that too. Denmark was my last assignment overseas, and when I came back, I was honestly tired, but somehow, I've regained my energy, and I have the thought that I'd like to go again.

The compensation is low, I think. However, it's not about the money. But, looking at high schools and junior high schools, not just universities, there are a lot of non-regular employments, and looking at the trends of graduates, I have the impression that people in the education industry are being exploited for low wages. That's right, talking to people doing the same job, I have the impression that they are being underpaid.

I think that good coaches really take a long time to think about what words to say to encourage their players, and when they see even a little progress, they are incredibly happy. In volleyball, even if a player is not good, thinking about how to teach them for three days and then seeing it work is an exciting feeling, I think. Especially in sports, I think that's the case.

The origin of the word 'coach' is a seat or a carriage. In the U.S., long-distance travel is by bus rather than by train. There's a famous company called Greyhound, and even on long-distance buses, it's written 'coach.' So, originally, a coach's job is to take customers to their destination, and that's the origin of the word 'coach.' If you think about it, the coaching profession is a service industry. I often say this at coaching seminars, so I think it's a perfect service industry.

I always talk about sportsmanship. When you talk about sportsmanship in the athlete's oath, if you ask what sportsmanship is, I don't think there are many players or coaches who can answer. So, when I was overseas, especially in the U.K., which is the birthplace of sports, where it was first systematized, I often had discussions about this with people there and in Europe. It's mostly hearsay, but what I talk about in Japan is that over there, they teach sportsmanship first. When children start playing sports, they have to understand what sportsmanship is before they can truly grow as athletes, and this is something that Japanese people don't know. So, at seminars, I always make sure to talk about sportsmanship. When playing sports, there's an essential element without which you can't start playing sports, and that is respecting your opponent, the referee, and the rules, and having the attitude to create a nice game with your opponent, and that's what sportsmanship is.

As a social issue in the city of Katsuura where I currently live, it's a tourist destination, and there are many ryokans and minshukus, but the owners are getting older, and there are more and more places where they can't provide meals even though they can provide accommodation. So, it's because there are no successors. I would like to be the president of a company that can solve the problem of successor shortage, perhaps by managing accommodation facilities. Also, as I said earlier, to grow the business, I have to increase my income and profits, so I think I'll be in the real estate business too. And, based on the lessons I learned when I was running a club in Hamamatsu, I deeply regret not being able to create a trustworthy team, and I regret that I was exhausted by doing everything by myself. Now, instead of doing everything by myself, I want to be able to connect with professionals in each field. When I say creating a company, it's not a tall, vertically integrated company, but a company that spreads horizontally like that. So, I think I need to study a wide range of knowledge, not just in-depth knowledge in a specific field, but I want to work with people who have deep knowledge in their respective fields. So, I want to create such deep knowledge and such companions and delegate tasks to them.

I would like them to keep studying. And I would like them to see what's happening in the world. So, I would like them to go out into the world, and instead of copying what they see, I would like them to apply the knowledge and lessons they have gained to their own team in a tailor-made way, and I would like them to maintain that attitude.