What Have We Learnt?

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW 

As our Call for Coaches Campaign has come to an end, we’d like to dedicate this article to all of the coaches that participated and shared their stories with us.

 

The purpose of the campaign was uniting the sports community, through sharing stories and ways to cope to the current unpredictable times. In 2020, every industry got greatly hit, the sports sector being no exception. Professionals like coaches had to face game cancellations, dealing with team’s disappointments, handling the stress of possible unemployment, all which can weight so much in such a sudden context. Therefore, it was our pleasure to hear out the measures taken to cope and adapt to our new reality, simply by sharing these, along with the hashtag #SBforCoach via any of our social media platforms.

 

MEET THE COACHES

The first to share her experience was Ms. Tomomi Iwahara, player and coach of Seibu Princess Rabbits, and player of the Japanese National Team in the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship and 2018 Winter Olympics.

 

Our second insight was brought by Mr. Kazuyoshi Yamaguchi, Toyo University Ice Hockey Club coach, former Universiade head coach of U20 Japan National Team, and former ice hockey player of Nikko Ice Bucks, Kokudo, Seibu, and the Japanese National Team.

Another story was shared by Mr. Takahito Suzuki, head coach of Toyo University Ice Hockey Club, former right winger, and later head coach of the Japanese National Team, former player of Charlotte Checkers in the ECHL, as well as Kokudo, Seibu, Nikko Ice Bucks, Japan Ice Hockey League, and Asia League.

 

Alongside our hockey coaches, Mr. Yan-Ting Hou shared his experience as a physical education teacher and track-and-field coach within elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Likewise, the next insight was shared by Mr. Hank / Han-Yang Huang, physical education teacher, and assistant coach at Guangrong Junior High School Rugby Team, in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

 

Last but not least, we got to know the story of Mr. Oscar Stigebrand, assistant coach of the IF Sundsvall Hockey J18 and goaltending coach of IK Oskarshamn J20, Sweden.

 

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

We’ve learnt so many unique ways to adjust to the changes 2020 brought along. We learnt about the impact of gratitude and positivity during tough times from Tomomi Iwahara. We learnt about how essential resilience, learning from one’s mistakes, and always adapting our vision of the future are from Takahito Suzuki and Oscar Stigebrand, particularly when facing uncertainty. We also learnt, from Kazuyoshi Yamaguchi, how to ‘think inside the box’ – and turn an unpredictable situation in our favour, by using unutilised resources to innovate conventional systems. Similarly, Yan-Ting Hou further taught us that there are still so many untapped opportunities for improvement, whether of self or as a collective – and that we can still find ways to stay connected, support, and learn from and along our peers. Just as important, we learnt from Hank / Han-Yang Huang that, despite any given situation, we should never give up on reflecting upon our values and motivations, working on inspiring others, and being real advocates of what we are passionate about.

 

Overall, we’ve learnt that, regardless of the fact that everything seems to have stopped and to be so far out of reach lately, we are all actually achieving much more than are able to notice or even allow ourselves to believe. Having so much to process and adapt to, so abruptly, can blur out our actual accomplishments – so it is important to maintain faith in ourselves and keep pushing forward – as it can be observed from our participants’ experiences.

 

WISHES FOR OUR READERS AND PARTICIPANTS

We are wishing you great strength, patience, and resilience! Let’s stay safe and healthy, and always remember to take the time to appreciate the positive sides of any situation, what is still present within our lives, the efforts that we’re individually and collectively investing in trying to adapt. It all counts!

 

FUTURE INITIATIVES

Thank you for your time in reading and / or participating! We are really grateful to have held this campaign and receive such insightful contributions. It means a lot to us to be able to keep in touch with the sports community and take part in bringing everyone a little closer. If you enjoyed this concept, please stay tuned for our upcoming initiatives! As the new academic year has already started, we are soon planning to launch a new campaign. We’re very excited for the official announcement…