The era of Sports Co-Creation

In Japan, the popularity of modern sports has grown by being politically incorporated into school curricula since the Meiji period. Community sport activities are called “social physical education,” and have been considered activities that serve to cultivate the “the sound development of mind and body of citizens and the formation of the bright and prosperous life of the citizens.”

However, the word “sport” comes from a Latin word, “deportare,” which is said to have meant initially “pleasurable entertainment, amusement, and diversion” in England, the home of modern sports.

Therefore, when it comes to sports, the British people are said to think more broadly than Japanese people think. For example, what we called “mind sports” such as card games and board games are also fine “sports,” for the British.

As modern sports moved further and further away from the initial meaning, they were rationalized and organized, aspiring to becoming competitive sports. While in the latter half of the 20th century, a type of sports called “new sport” was developed, intended for the casual enjoyment of sports as recreation without worrying about winning or losing. Examples of the new sport include gateball, ground golf and flying disc games.

Around the same time, “parasports” were also developed for persons with disabilities for their rehabilitation and recreation.

In the 21st century, “extreme sports,” such as snowboarding and freestyle skiing, have developed and gained popularity among the youth culture.

As just described, sports have been created or “hacked” (altered, refined) to respond to the needs of people and society. The rules of the existing traditional modern sports have also been changed and modified on a constant basis in line with the times.

Even so, the rate of adult involvement in competitive sports is slow to increase – This may indicate that the development and modification of new products are not keeping up with the needs of the people.

In other words, the reason for the low increase in involvement with sports may be that attractive competitive sports are not sufficiently available.

Although baseball, soccer, basketball, etc., are attractive enough and there are many people playing them, the power of appeal of such sports is limited.

We tend to think of the phrase, “promoting sports,” as increasing the rate of involvement in existing sports. Considering the fact that sports have indeed been developed by increasing the number of sporting events, even newer events and ideas may be needed.

Many of the regular Future Undokai participants have shared that their perspective on sports has changed.

A junior-high participant also agreed to this, mentioning that his attitude toward participation in school sports club activities has also changed – he has become more proactive.

Many of the participants in sports hackathon always liked sports while there are also participants who have not been good at sports and therefore did not care for physical education classes. But even those people think that they can participate in a sports hackathon. Bringing ideas has nothing to do with one’s physical strength or athletic abilities.

The Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) provides the sports hackathon program during the period for integrated studies at elementary schools in Yamaguchi Prefecture. A teacher in charge of this program explained that students who were once obscure in their classrooms have suddenly become openly active.

The teacher continued that children who are good at sports obviously enjoy participating in the program. However, the ideas of those children tend to focus on existing sports, and therefore will not be adopted. On the other hand, children who are smart but usually quiet, or are not very good at sports, start speaking up proactively, and come up with fun and innovative ideas, leading the sports hackathon, and it is impressive.

I think the potential of “Future Undokai” and Sports Co-Creation may be the proactive involvement of people who possess such fresh talent.

The development of sports will be stunted if all players become just “consumers.” If many more people start participating in Sports Co-Creation, and the idea that they can create their own sports and even change rules will spread, “sports” in Japan will be further enriched.

Let me add a few words to conclude. Recently a phrase, “Athlete first,” is often heard. But I see this as an acknowledgment that “athletes are consumers.” It is a shame, especially, that top athletes claim, “Athlete first.”

* The information contained herein is current as of January 2019.
* The contents of articles on Meiji.net are based on the personal ideas and opinions of the author and do not indicate the official opinion of Meiji University.