Learning to Think for Themselves High-altitude Training in Tokyo Softer Face for Greater Distance Special Column

The world’s first boat and canoe testing site equipped with several tanks simulating both calm waters and ocean currents. The ocean-current tanks are built so they can simulate currents of varying strength, and the system includes functions for collecting and analyzing data on boating and canoeing athletes’ techniques.

Records are for breaking, they say. New records are made and broken repeatedly in the world of sports, very often thanks to the power of science. Scientific advances in diverse fields have significantly enhanced our athletic capabilities, and unceasing technological innovations have led to incredible advances in sports equipment and tools. Our article looks at the world of sports from a scientific perspective.

Learning to Think for Themselves

Thud, thump! The sound of bodies hitting the tatami mats echoes throughout the gym. Heavy breathing punctuates a tense atmosphere in which quiet and noise alternate as women judoists work out. This is the Setagaya Dojo of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited’s Women’s Judo Club. With just one month to go before the Athens Olympics, the women are practicing long and hard every day. Today’s menu: Running in the morning and an hour of weight training in the afternoon, followed by more than three hours of judo practice at the dojo. By the time they finish, it is after 7pm and the women are clearlyworn out. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance’s Women’s Judo Club, with only nine members, is small, but it packs a punch: Eight of them rank among the top members of the All Japan Judo Federation, and two—Masae Ueno and Yuki Yokosawa—are on this year’s Japanese Olympic team. And a former member, Yuko Emoto, won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. So the club is world-famous despite its small size. We found a clue to the club’s phenomenal strength in the way its members practice. The women worked out in pairs, but we noticed that once in a while they would stop for discussion. We asked Head Coach Hisashi Yanagisawa what they were talking about. “At a big event like the Olympics, the athletes are completely on their own during the 5-minutes of judo competition. They’ve got to be able to think for themselves and not panic. So I make them think for themselves during practice and figure out their own moves. The really good ones get very creative.”

Judoists break in the middle of a practice match to discuss techniques.

	Highly Effective “Idea” Machinesy
	The weight training program is based on a circuit-style regimen with workouts for each muscle group in the legs, arms, and back. Follow the program correctly and results are guaranteed. The women judoists don’t leave everything up to the machines, though. They think about what they are doing and discuss the best ways to get the most out of the program. This is what makes their practice more intense and of significantly higher quality than that of the average women’s judo club. Head Coach Yanagisawa, who devised the practice program, teaches at the University of Electro-Communications. Not only is he a teacher with a black-belt, seventh dan (grade) in judo, but he is also a leading researcher in the field of mechanical engineering and intelligent systems. Says judoist Ueno: “Here our training is grounded in scientific principles; it’s a far cry from the free form of training we had back in high school.” As she says, something is definitely different about how the women practice at the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance judo club. A focal point is a set of unique training equipment that the club began using in the spring of 2004. These four machines were all devised by Head Coach Yanagisawa. One has a pole with a weight at one end. A metal handle on the pole can be rotated 360 degrees so that the wrist of the hand holding the pole can be twisted in several directions as one lifts the weight in very close approximation of real judo handholds. “In world-class competition, you’ve got to have strength as well as finesse. This equipment was designed by my university staff in line with specific requests from athletes to replicate real judo moves and handholds. Each woman in the club uses the equipment in the way that best suits her particular skills and needs,” explains Yanagisawa.	The load to be lifted is adjusted to the individual’s needs with 2kg weights. The loose handle makes this machine exercise much more difficult than it seems.	Judoist Masae Ueno won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics, a feat she attributes to her long hours of training using scientifically developed methods and equipment and her confidence in her own abilities.

An Ideal Environment

Corporate support is another reason for the strength of this judo club. The Setagaya Dojo is 368 m2 (176 tatami mats). It also has a fully-equipped training room, locker rooms, and a bath. Each member has her own air-conditioned room in the club dormitory, and meals are prepared and served by a qualified dietician. Says Head Coach Yanagisawa: “I don’t think there is any club in the world with such complete facilities.” “When the club was first formed, we went through a long losing streak. Our budget was tight and we kept reminding the members that they needed to be cost conscious. But we never once considered disbanding the club. We consider it a facet of our corporate citizenship and an integral part of our corporate culture,” says Terumasa Tsukioka, Manager of Support team for Athens Olympic athletes at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance’s Human Resources Division. All the Women’s Judo Club members are fulltime corporate employees with regular jobs in the company that they come to every morning. Their coworkers are enthusiastic supporters. When one of the athletes loses a match, her coworkers get even more depressed than she does, and when she wins, they are overjoyed. It’s this kind of camaraderie and support that helps to make the club so strong.