The Paris Olympics and Paralympics are just about to start. The world’s top athletes will be competing in these two games, and athletes coached by JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteers will also be competing. We interviewed two coaches from Vanuatu and India about their coaching and their thoughts on the Games.
Photo: Hethers/ Shutterstock.com
First, a first-round breakthrough! Vanuatu Table Tennis Women’s Athletes’ First Challenge in 16 Years
Located approximately 1,800 km east of Australia, Vanuatu is an archipelagic country with 83 islands stretching approximately 1,200 km from north to south. From Vanuatu, at the age of 33, Priscilla Tomey, a women’s singles table tennis player, competed in her second Olympics (Olympics) after 16 years since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, Satoshi Takashima, who coached Tomy to the Olympics, will be dispatched to Vanuatu in April 2023 to coach the Vanuatu national team.
Priscilla Tomey and Satoshi Takashima (from left). Mr. Takashima was a member of the table tennis club at junior high school, high school, and university (University of Tsukuba), where he was active as an athlete. After graduating from university, he spent a total of eight and a half years coaching in the UAE and Bahrain as a sports instructor dispatched by the Japan Foundation. After working for a company in Japan and retiring at the age of 60, he worked as a JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, coaching the national team in Jamaica from 2017 to 2019 and the national team in Vanuatu from April 2023
Tommy won a gold medal at the Pacific Games (Oceania’s regional Olympics, held every four years) in November 2023. He also won the Oceania qualifier for the Olympics held in May 2024, winning all four of his matches to successfully qualify for the Olympics.
Tommy’s success was due in large part to the efforts of Mr. Takashima, who put together a unique training program for the tournament and provided guidance based on data analyzed from past playing videos of players from other countries.
He is a smart player who analyzes his game and corrects it,” said Takashima. Tommy, who is praised by Takashima, did not even qualify for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics due to childcare and other commitments, and for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo due to the Corona disaster. In fact, in Vanuatu, which consists of 83 islands, Tommy lives on an island without a ping-pong table, about 400 km north of Efate, where the capital, Port Vila, is located. Because of the Corona disaster, he has not been able to practice since November 2019. Two months before the Pacific Games, he stayed at his cousin’s house in Port Vila and filled in the blanks by practicing daily with Mr. Takashima.
He said, “The reason I can fight so well despite not having practiced is because my fundamentals are solid. He is a defensive cutter, which is rare in Oceania, and his strength is that he has very large arms and legs. I think one of the reasons for his strength is that he is honest enough to faithfully follow the practice program I have put together for him.”
However, Mr. Takashima says that the table tennis environment in Vanuatu is not good. We don’t have a dedicated practice hall, but rather a gymnasium with four table tennis tables where we practice along with other sports. The windows and ceiling of the gymnasium were damaged by two huge cyclones in March of last year, and the wind and rain are getting into the gymnasium.
Mr. Takashima instructing Tommy in the practice area of the gymnasium with four ping-pong tables.
Although there is a table tennis federation in Vanuatu, there is no office, there are no coaches other than Mr. Takashima, and the staff are volunteers. Aneurin Lulu, Tommy’s cousin and a table tennis player who competed in the London Olympics, is the president of the Vanuatu Table Tennis Federation and also serves as Tommy’s manager. Even in this environment, Mr. Takashima provided enthusiastic coaching and helped create a training environment by asking the vice president of the Japan Table Tennis Association to donate balls for the matches.
Tommy has achieved excellent results in the two tournaments he has participated in. In the past, he was reluctant to change his style of play when Mr. Takashima recommended it, saying, “I’m winning,” but after qualifying for the Olympics, he accepted Mr. Takashima’s advice and has been practicing more aggressive play and using different types of racket rubber (front and back) in order to compete against stronger opponents. He is now practicing more aggressive play.
First of all, I want him to make it through the first round. In addition to his expectations for Tommy, Mr. Takashima is also looking forward to accompanying him as his first Olympic coach.
Shaking hands after the game with Tommy, who won the final match of the Oceania qualifying round for the Olympics and qualified for the Olympics.
Members of the Vanuatu National Team under the guidance of Mr. Takashima. Tommy is second from the left, and Lulu is fourth from the left. Mr. Takashima says he hopes to focus on training young people, which is a major issue for the remainder of his term.
Absolute confidence in medals! Indian Judo for the Visually Impaired, Prime Minister Modi also takes notice!
Kapil Palmer, a male visually impaired judo player, and Coquila, a female player, both representing India at the Paralympics, are competing for the first time. Their coach, Mr. Soma Nagao, a JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, has been coaching the national team since March 2022 with the Indian Judo Association for the Visually Impaired.
Kapil Palmer (third from left), Coquila (second from left), and Munema Nagao (far left). Mr. Nagao began judo in elementary school, and competed in the Osaka High School Championships from Rimushoja High School, where he placed third individually, and served as captain of the Setsunan University Judo Club. In his third year at university, he taught judo in India through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Sports Diplomacy Promotion Program, and was impressed by the hunger of local athletes, which led him to apply for a JICA overseas cooperation mission to India. In addition to coaching the national judo team for the visually impaired, he also coaches able-bodied people at the dojo.
Palmer, 23 years old, is tall and has long arms and legs, making him good at the naregi-koshi style, in which he applies his feet from a distance; Coquilla, 20 years old, is small and has a judo style in which he dives into his opponent’s pocket. Mr. Nagao coaches the players so that they can make the most of their characteristics and specialties.
When I first saw the national team players practicing, I honestly thought, “Is this how I’m going to make it to the world championships?” I honestly thought, ‘Is this how I can compete in the world championships? That’s how little they understood the basic movements of the game. I thought I had no choice but to teach them from the basics, not only the technical aspects but also the mental aspect.”
In India, the number of able-bodied people who practice judo is not large in relation to the population of the country, and “karate and judo are combined,” says Nagao. The history of judo for the handicapped is also short, and the Judo Association for the Visually Impaired was established about 14 years ago. There were no high-level instructors. Against this backdrop, Mr. Nagao patiently and repeatedly taught the basics.
Palmer in the dojo where he teaches judo to the visually impaired. In judo for the visually impaired, matches are always held in a kumiai position. The dojo where Mr. Nagao teaches for the general public. He teaches 20 to 30 people from the first grade of elementary school to 20 years old.
However, some of the national team members expressed dissatisfaction with the repetitive practice of the basics. The players’ motivation to practice was low, and they felt like they were being forced to do it. When he first arrived, he was more excited about the new place and experience, but after a while, his impatience and anxiety about the players’ attitude toward practice began to overtake him. Teaching judo to the handicapped was also a new experience for Nagao, and he was groping his way through the process.
I was in tears and asked the association, “Don’t be in such a hurry,” “This is India,” he said. When he consulted with the association in tears, he was told, “Don’t be in such a hurry,” and “This is India,” which made him change his mind and realize that he must respect the way Indian players think and approach their training.
Under Nagao’s guidance, Palmer and Coquila improved dramatically both technically and mentally, and in December 2022, Palmer won the Tokyo International Open Tournament, an international judo tournament for the visually impaired, held in Tokyo, Japan. This was a great accomplishment for the Indian Judo community, including able-bodied people, as the first winner of an international tournament. In this tournament, Coquila also achieved a runner-up finish, and in the following Asian Para Games in October 2023, Palmer was runner-up and Coquila was third, so that both men and women can achieve brilliant results. Expectations are high in India, with Indian Prime Minister Modi posting words of praise and encouragement for the two athletes’ successes on social networking sites.
Every time I win a medal, I am happy to hear that it was thanks to Nagao,” says Nagao. This is the first time he will be accompanying the Paralympics as a coach himself. When asked about his goals for the Games, he replied, “Kapil (Palmer) will definitely win a gold medal. Coquila will definitely win a medal, too. He spoke with a smile, expressing his absolute trust in his athletes.
Palmer won the International Federation of Qualified Sports for the Disabled (IBSA) Judo Grand Prix competition in April 2024. Coquila also placed fifth, giving him momentum ahead of the Paris Paralympics. Nagao will continue coaching in India until December of this year, a nine-month extension from his original term. During the remainder of his term after the Paralympics, he plans to lay the groundwork, including the development of teaching and training methods, to accommodate the visually impaired judo ranks that will change from the next Paralympics.
For a world where all people can enjoy sports
In this way, JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteers also coach and train top athletes who compete in the Olympics and Paralympics in developing countries, but that is not all. JICA provides opportunities for everyone to participate in sports fairly and equitably, including beginners, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and especially the disabled and JICA provides opportunities for participation in sports as a place to enhance self-esteem to promote social participation of women and people with disabilities in particular.
Sports have the power to connect people beyond language, race/ethnicity, age, and disability. With the help of such sports, we are also engaged in peace-building efforts to promote exchanges among ethnic groups and communities that are divided. We will continue to promote cooperation utilizing the “power of sports” to expand people’s potential and realize a peaceful society.
© Source JICA
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