Toward the Establishment of Keio University-style Sports Integrity

2022/02/17

The Keio University Athletic Association was founded in 1892 with seven clubs as a pioneer of student sports in Japan. As of 2022, the Athletic Association consists of 59 sections across 43 clubs. In recent years, the number of members belonging to the Athletic Association has hovered around 2,700, which accounts for 10% of all Keio students.

Article 2, "Purpose," of the Keio University Athletic Association Constitution states: "The purpose of this association is for Keio students who wish to devote themselves to sports and contribute to the development of the Juku to cooperate, under the guidance of senior Keio University alumni, to refine their skills, improve their physical condition, cultivate their character, and fulfill the true purpose of student sports."

What is the true purpose of student sports specified here? The Board of Directors of the Athletic Association discussed this many times during the 2021 academic year. Members of the Athletic Association tend to become completely absorbed in their daily club activities. With the hope that these members will once again consider and practice the significance of being involved in student sports as models for Keio students, we decided to place sports integrity at the core of the Athletic Association.

Integrity generally means honesty, sincerity, and nobility. The Board of Directors of the Athletic Association believes that Keio's sports integrity is not an abstract concept but is derived from the basic philosophy of the Juku. That is to be a "source of honorable character" and "a paragon of intellect and morals for the entire nation." Based on this philosophy, Shinzo Koizumi left the famous words "Practice makes the impossible possible" for the members of the Athletic Association. Furthermore, Koizumi said, "A genius is a person who can make an extraordinary effort." This can be said to be the attitude required of Athletic Association members, including players, managers, and staff.

In the summer of 2021, while the Board of Directors was discussing sports integrity in this way, we received a designated donation to the Athletic Association through Give2Asia, a non-profit organization, from Mr. Tsuyoshi Yokota (a 1966 graduate of the Faculty of Economics, or as he puts it, a graduate of the Equestrian Club), a senior alumnus of the Athletic Association Equestrian Club.

Mr. Yokota began equestrianism during his time at Keio Senior High School and trained daily at the Hiyoshi stables. He lived his life with horses, literally covered in bruises, and was a winning member of the 8th All Japan Student Championship during his fourth year of university. After graduating, he studied as a member of the first graduating class of the Keio Business School and served as the director of the Equestrian Club for two years starting in 1975. He moved to the United States in 1978 and founded the educational organization "Intrax" in San Francisco in 1980, developing cultural exchange and educational programs between Japan and the U.S.

After 42 years of living in the United States, Mr. Yokota now lives near the Mita Campus. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Yokota in person twice at the end of last year. Despite his small stature, he spoke with great passion when it came to the Athletic Association. He said that he was raised by the Athletic Association and that it became the foundation of his subsequent life. The Athletic Association exists because of the Juku, and each club exists because of the Athletic Association. He urged us to rediscover the "newness" of the Fukuzawa spirit as an Athletic Association and to create an environment where members can take pride in being models for Keio students. History and philosophy are important. Love for the Juku and love for the Athletic Association overflowed from his words.

At the same time, based on his life experience, Mr. Yokota emphasized that in the "present" digital age, human connections are becoming increasingly important. To that end, he encouraged the Athletic Association to realize this through club activities and to clarify what it should be for a new era. He also gave us some tough advice, saying that the Athletic Association needs to improve its ability to communicate externally to achieve this. By promoting the appeal of the Keio University Athletic Association, its existence should be recognized not only by Keio students and Keio University alumni but also by society. He pointed out that our efforts in this area are insufficient. I felt that this point accurately struck a sore spot for the Athletic Association.

Using the donation from Mr. Yokota as capital, the Athletic Association decided to provide education on sports integrity starting from the 2022 academic year in cooperation with various departments. A working group (WG) was formed for this purpose. The team is led by Toshiaki Sakai, Associate Professor at the Institute of Physical Education (Vice Director of the Athletic Association, Director of the Athletic Association Tennis Club), and includes Hiroyuki Ishida, Professor at the Sports Medicine Research Center (Dean of the Graduate School of Health Management), Mitsuhiro Umezu, Professor at the Faculty of Business and Commerce (concurrent Professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration and the Graduate School of Health Management), and Takaaki Kato, Professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies (Vice Director of the Athletic Association).

Some of the specific plans for sports integrity education discussed by the WG have already begun to move forward. The basic philosophy consists of two points: "drawing a big picture as something to be tackled by the entire Juku" and "considering operations with a mechanism that reaches the people we want to reach."

To tackle this as the entire Juku, it is necessary to discover and bring together human resources in the form of faculty members related to sports, sports medicine, and sports science that are "dormant" within the Juku. Of course, the cooperation of people active in sports-related environments, including Keio University alumni of the Mita Athletic Association, is also essential. Since we cannot forget that the history of the Juku itself is integrity, we will also call for the participation of faculty members related to the history of the Juku and the history of the Athletic Association.

As for a mechanism to reach the people we want to reach, we have decided to apply to the Keio Research Center for the Liberal Arts so that experimental classes can be held in the 2022 academic year as a preliminary stage to establishing an endowed course. We want not only Athletic Association members but also general Keio students to participate in sports integrity education with great interest. Although it is labeled as education, sports integrity is something that Keio students acquire and practice themselves. It is an area that requires student autonomy and is an attempt to embody the basic philosophy of the Juku, "learning while teaching, teaching while learning."

In this way, the Athletic Association is taking a major step forward in seeking a Keio University-style sports integrity and showing the ideal form of rapidly changing student sports as a leader of society.