著者

三神 憲一 溝畑 潤 道上 静香

出版者

滋賀大学経済学部

雑誌

滋賀大学経済学部研究年報 (ISSN:13411608)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.17, pp.17-32, 2010

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Just around 40 years ago, Jim Greenwood, who were a professor of Loughborough University and successively served as a captain for the National Scottish Rugby Team, was invited by Tsukuba University toteach as a visiting professor. In his report titled "Japanese Rugby in the Flesh," he harshly criticizes the training methods of Japanese university rugby teams as well as their lack of training equipment and facilities whencompared to world-class rugby teams. His stark criticism was also due to the major culture shock he experienced concerning the Japanese concept of group mentality, in which group interests must always come beforethe individual. Roughly 20 years later, Michael Patton was invited to serve as a special coach for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Rugby Team. Back in the nineties, Patton was active on the internationalstage, as both a top professional rugby player and coach. Compared to Greenwood's work, which mostly involved examining university rugby teams based in the Kanto area (central Japan), Patton's analysisis primarily based on his experiences with high school rugby teams located in the regional area of Nagasaki in Kyushu (western Japan). Patton stresses the urgency of creating distinctive coaching manuals for eachgrade level. He keenly observes that the traditional sport of rugby has been ineffectively remade in Japan as can be seen in its: (1) training methods, which are based on group mentality, (2) lack of matches played bythe team and (3) lack of equal opportunities afforded to each player. As this Japanese version of rugby continuesto prevail, Patton urges both coaches and players to return to the basics and reconsider the quintessenceof team sports (including rugby), which should ultimately be fun, enjoyable and interesting for everyone involved.