Yokoo Tomoharu

Tsukuba Repository

<Personal research> Olympic Education in
Junior High and Senior High School at Komaba
著者 Yokoo Tomoharu
雑誌名 筑波大学附属駒場論集
巻 52
ページ 111-119
発行年 2013-03
URL http://hdl.handle.net/2241/118940
Olympic Education in Junior High and 
Senior High School at Komaba 
Tomoharu Yokoo 
Olympic Education in Junior High and 
Senior High School at Komaba 
Abstract 
Tomoharu Yokoo 
Health & Physical Education 
Junior High and Senior High School at Komaba 
University of Tsukuba 
Junior High and Senior High School at Komaba (we will refer as KOfllaba Schoolfrom following 
text.),which is famous for sending out competitive students onto the stage of International Science 
Olympiads, is also involved in the Olympic sports. 
At Komaba School, we have not only invited number of Olympians for lectures, but also held interactive 
classes to research Olympic, and learned Olympic sports event rules in physical education. 
Additionally, our school's gymnasium is historically related to Olympic, since the location was used by 
national Volleyball teams practice during the Tokyo Olympic. That includes Japanese team, which was 
gold medal winner of the year. 
Therefore, through these activities and history, our students tend to feel close to Olympic game rather 
than taking as a foreign event. 
In this report, I am putting a spotlight on Olympic Education with brief explanation of our school 
features. 
Key Words : olympic education 
1 School Features National Taichung First Senior High School (il't~ 
Komaba School is known for their Excellency in 
academic level. 
Additionally, Komaba School is chosen as Super 
Science High School (SSH) by the Ministry of 
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. 
Super Science High School (SSH) has an advanced 
mathematical and scientific curriculum, with 
cooperation research by Tsukuba University, and 
promote activity, which nurture international 
minded individual with creativity and originality. 
In respect of Super Science High School (SSH), 
our school gained a support by Japan Science and 
Technology Agency (JST) with cooperation of 
Tsukuba University, Tokyo University, and 
graduate of advanced scientist and technician. 
Addition to above, our school strongly focused on 
the international exchange project. Lately, 
OO:sLil't:p-~*lkt:p~ / Taiwan), Thomas Jefferson 
High School (U.S.N, Busan International High 
School (Korea) , and The Experimental High School 
Attached to Beijing Normal University (::lt1r(§ffii'B 
*~~# ~ ~~~ t:p ~ / China) 
2 Sports ability of Komaba School students 
Characteristic of our student's sports ability is 
their drastic growth in 6 years of school life. 
Following graph is 6 years of running time record of 
our students vs. National average. 
When we see the result of 7th grade deviation, 
they are comparatively low: Running record is 30 
seconds behind the national average. Since many 
of our students studied long hours during the time 
of elementary school, students tend to have less 
exercise than an average. 
Health & Physical Education Junior High and Senior High School at Komaba University of Tsukuba 
- 113 -
This graph indicates strong growth in running 
endurance from 7th grade up until 11th grade. In 12th 
grade, running record falls below the average. 
Reason for this is estimated to be less involvement 
in extracurricular activities in last year of high 
school year, which is taken as our task to be solved. 
Seconds 
360 
1500m Running (Endurance) 
Above: Line graph of 1500 m Running (Endurance): Komaba 
School vs. National average 
In conclusion, sports ability was below the national 
average in the beginning, but students can gain the 
drastic growth in sports ability through the 
enthusiastic participation in our school curriculum 
and activities. 
Physical education's objective is to teach correct 
exercise, in addition to appropriate food and rest in 
order to reconsider and adjust own life style for the 
better. As a teaching method, we use Health 
Quality Control (HQC) sheet as one of the tool for 
the reference. 
We believe through focusing on nurturing healthy 
and physically active body of students, resulted not 
only in growth of sports ability, but also led to high 
academic accomplishment. 
3 Sports ability of Komaba School students 
In the past, there were 3 lectures by Olympians at 
Komaba School. In year 2008, Judo Olympian 
Kaori Yamaguchi held a lecture named "Judo and 
Human education: from the prospect of Olympic 
training scene" in Tsukukoma Academia. As a social 
contribution project by Tsukuba University, 
Tsukukoma Academia was held sponsored by 
Komaba School, along with Setagaya Board of 
Education, and supported by Meguro Board of 
Education. 
Above: Judo Olympian Kaori Yamaguchi's lecture (2008) 
Above: Triple Jump Olympian and Scholar, Yukito Muraki's 
lecture (2009) 
Japanese famous Manga ''YAWARA!'', a story of 
female Judo athlete who becomes a world class 
athlete, is inspired by the Kaori Yamaguchi as a role 
model. Her interesting story with clear speech not 
only gained a support from audience, but also 
brought up some topics that we should solve in 
modern education. 
Besides Komaba School students, student's 
parents, and many of Meguro and Setagaya area 
residents also attended to this lecture. 
In year 2009, Triple Jump Olympian and Scholar, 
Yukito Muraki held a lecture named 
"Complementarity of physical and technical nature 
of sports training exercise" as a part of "Program for 
educating wide range of Scientific Literacy required 
for future Scientist and Engineer" in Super Science 
High School (SSH) study. 
Since this was the first attempt to have the 
- 114 -
lecture by physical education department, we aimed 
to involve many students as possible. As we 
expected, soccer, baseball, basketball, track teams 
and students with high motivation in sports came to 
attend the lecture. 
Main body of the lecture was about the physical 
training. Yukito Muraki introduced an importance 
of maximum repetition training from a prospect of 
relatively and complelnentarity aspect of motion. 
Lecture content was based on concrete data with 
professional experiences, such as; 
(nather than working out in n1aXilnUm 
physical strength physical training is 
effective to use few percent less than 
n1aXilnUm strength of its own." 
(There are technique and n1ental to study 
in weight training. " 
(1n hanll11er throwing light weight 
practice brings you to better result. " 
(1t is effective to practice technical skills 
during less repetition training; such as 
warm up." 
((There are things to learn by participating 
and watching specific sports of own 
profession) but also from other sports. }} 
Survey showed many of the students thought 
lecture was very useful in their future practice. 
There was also opinion that surprised to know how 
some content of the lecture was against their 
general knowledge. 
In year 2010, Track and Field Olympian and 
Scholar, Satoru Tanigawa held a lecture named 
"Body's challenge to run fast" as a part of "Program 
for educating wide range of Scientific Literacy 
required for future Scientist and Engineer" in Super 
Science High School (SSH) study. Even though class 
was not held on the school day, total of seventy eight 
students came to attend the lecture. (Number by 
grade: seven 7th grader, eleven 8th grader, twenty six 
9th grader, eighteen lOth grader, sixteen 11th grader.) 
In the lecture, Satoru Tanigawa introduced many 
of prior challenges by historical athletes to run 
faster. Content was concentrated especially on the 
characteristic of body position in sprint and jogging 
to reconsider the Bodily Knowledge of Human. 
Since "standing position" is focused in every grade 
in our school in physical education class, reaction 
among students was positive, and content was 
understandable for all. Survey says: 
(("IIVbenever I SPrIl1t) I was careful to push 
arn1S and thigh up} but never aware oft11e 
body position when foots landed, so it was 
interestIng to focus on body position. (8J1 
grader) (( 
(1 was concentrated on step dUrIl1g the 
SPrint) but realized pitch is the I110St 
Ill1portant factor. I want to be aware of the 
pitch and form fj'Oll1 now on ([J;h grader) " 
((This lecture became our opportuni~y to be 
a ware of how to wall[ and rUll, which we 
were never awm:e of ([J;h gradel;)" 
(1 call1e to realize after passing the (!Jvlden 
age'; we have to understand the physical 
1110veillent in order to strengthen the 
pl1ysical ability of its own. It is Ilnportant 
not only to be (~ware" of each position) but 
also to (~emember" those positions during 
the moveinent. This is difficult dUring 
sprin~ so I want to start to be aware of 
each position during a walk. (l(}h gradel)}} 
As survey shows, most of the opinion was based 
on own sports experience and knowledge from 
physical education, and many students thought 
they want to try what they have learned in their 
future practice. 
Above: Track and Field Olympian and Scholar, Satoru Tanigawa's 
lecture (2010) 
- ll5 -
4 Connection between 'Witch of the East", 
first gold medal winner in women's 
Volleyball, and our gymnasium 
Above: Pictures of Japanese national volleyball team taken in our 
gymnasium (1964) 
Japanese women's volleyball team in 60's was 
called "Witch of the East," because not only they 
won the world championship in year 1962, but also 
won 157 games in a row up until Tokyo Olympic 
game. Volleyball became official Olympic event 
from Tokyo Olympic, and many believed their gold 
medal was certain, especially Japanese citizen 
whose expectation towards them was strong. 
Television audience rating for volleyball final 
reached 66.8%. This game against Soviet Union 
finished with 3-0 by Japanese strong team work 
with original "twisting receive", which was inspired 
by Judo's break-fall. So called ''Damon'' Manager 
of Japanese women's volleyball team, Hirobumi 
Daimatsu analyzed the reason for the victory was 
their "strong fighting spirit." 
According to 60th anniversary memorial magazine 
of Komaba School, gymnasium was built in year of 
Tokyo Olympic game, when lOth grader at that time 
as 15th generation of the school. Surprisingly, 
Witch of the East" used to practice at our 
mnasium. Following is extract from 60th 
. versary memorial magazine of Komaba School 
(1t is poss1ole to define one's generatjon by 
asking which location comes to m1nd first 
trom the word ((Olympic. ~) Olympic 
memory of 15th generation will definitely 
be 1n (Tokyo.)J In year 1964J we were 1 ()th 
grader. (~et's have a successful Olympic" 
as a key word for all, city boomed with 
build1ng construction rush. ((Sh1nkansen 
(express train)'J opened right before the 
Olympic. On October 1 ()thJ opemng 
ceremony was held under beautiful 
weather. School gymnasium was 
planned to be constructed before Olympic 
began. Gymnasium is ordinary in today's 
world, but Komaba School never had the 
gymnasium before. Physical education 
classes and extra curriculum activity of 
sports were all done on the school field 
amagine how difficult it was on a rainy 
day!) It was surprising to have a brand 
new gymnasium with two volleyball 
courts. 
This gymnasium was planned to be used 
by professional volleyball teamJ and some 
Olympic teams came to practice. Team 
trom Soviet Union was one of all, and 
there was beaut1ful player named Inna 
Ryskal. (TIIl'tch of the East" led by 
Daimatsu also came. Southpaw player 
MiyanlOto was fanlO11s anlOng all. 
Students rushed into gYlnnasilln1 to peek 
lntO the window to see thelD. Students 
flashed their camera with cheer during 
the player's short distance transport trOll1 
gymnasill1n to school gate. Some even 
peeked lntO the Sll181J gap ofgyll1nasiUln 
door. Depends on a day, but son1e t1n1e 
- 116 -
entrance to watch practjce H,ras opened for 
everyone. }} 
We tell students that national volleyball teams 
use to practice in our gymnasium in orientation of 
physical education class. However, we do not 
strongly emphasize the fact. Since this gymnasium 
is historically related to Olympic, we should tell the 
story behind the gymnasium to students, which 
may get their further interests in Olympic and 
sports. We are planning to teach the brief history 
of gymnasium in the future activity in a relation 
with physical education. 
5 Publication of the sports newspaper 
Above: Our students during sports newspaper presentation 
In our physical education, we are not only 
focusing on "playing" sports, but also to "watch" an.d 
to "support" sports. In prior physical education 
system, ability to "play" sports was tends to get 
evaluated more than any other factors. However, 
sports ability contains not only "can," but also 
"watch" (includes analysis skill), and "support" 
(meaning management skill, such as sports festival 
- 117 -
management). It is our goal to encourage these 
skills in physical education. Publishing sports 
newspaper was one of our attempts. 
In first semester of social class in year 2002, class 
named 'World Cup in prospect of history and 
geography" was held as an Integrated Study. First, 
students choose one country among Olympic 
participating countries, than research each nation's 
history and geography. This was accomplished 
with corporation of social studies and physical 
education class. Addition to above, we also 
succeeded to have a class called "Reading Sports," 
regarding the Vancouver Olympic in year 2010. 
Newspaper activity is not only useful in a class, 
but also useful as student's homework before long 
vacation. For example, year 2012 London Olympic 
is scheduled from July 27th until August 12th, which 
falls onto SUlnmer vacation in our school calendar. 
Before summer vacation began, teacher can discuss 
about London Olympic in the class. 
Advantage of newspaper publication is able to put 
a spotlight onto students, who are not strong at 
playing sports, but have deep knowledge of sports 
from magazine, and newspaper. Each student has 
their own strength, such as layout or writing skill. 
Through the newspaper, students are able to relate 
with sports in their way by choosing a sports as 
their topic. 
In addition, activity enable students to 
investigate by own interests, and try to report to 
readers understandable as possible. As a 
consequence, their knowledge of sports will be 
gained. At the time of presenting their own 
newspaper, students can share the information and 
get stimulated from each other, which make this 
activity more effective. 
In conclusion, those students, who had low 
interest in Olympic, learned not only about Olympic 
and sports itself, but also culture of foreign 
countries. In the after class questionnaire, many 
students commented how difficult it was to prepare 
a newspaper, but gained a sentiment of high 
establishment. 
In other words, students learned a lesson to 
become sports journalist and analyst. We believe 
sports newspaper activity is effective for Olympic 
Education. 
5 Understanding the Olympic Events 
To enjoy the Olympic, audience is recommended 
to know about the rule of sports events. If official 
Olympic events were contained in the physical 
education curriculum, it is a chance for teachers to 
have an explanation to students of these sports. 
During the Olympic season, there are full of 
information of Olympic through television, 
newspaper, and internet. We start to hear the 
conversation among students about Olympic during 
this period. Even students, who are not interested 
in physical education or sports, do get interested in 
sport at this time of period. Therefore, it is effective 
to explain about Olympic event during this period 
for their motivation of learning. 
For example, I explained the history, development, 
and characteristic of the figure skating using the 
textbook named "Latest sports rule by illustration" 
for 11th grader in a past year. We came to realize it 
was not well known among students that figure 
skating is "technical competition of skating form 
and curved line on the ice by edge, with the 
consideration of skating speed," as explained in the 
textbook. 
In the lecture, I taught a basic spin by referring to 
the explanation from Japan Skating Federation. 
Students understood well, and get excited when 
teacher explained "triple Axel" and difference 
between "Axel" and "Lutz" by jump demonstration 
on the floor without the skating shoes. It was 
effective to show the actual image of figuxe skating 
in the past Olympic game after those explanation, 
because students can experience the new joy in 
watching by gaining different prospective than 
before. 
- 118 -
?<5rJ""J7-t--~On1':\'1r'~ -tf'..r;t 
9tn:-<:i:'UAf:mO?'C. lG~~t: 
fl.. 4::'I-.1A{j))"'Uc:.~1:'fjtmt:\"~c 
ex"~' 
,~, ..(t<f·)'l."C!i:m..A).J..~-t'-"X7-
t-~!tfr:t:f.f'jbn. ~:A'7-,...!tiij"~ 
~c.~~l.,.. ?.(:¥;)."'J.."'-i--~1tJ 
t\o..t5t.:.xt-:>.It-<. l~t.:~;:~.':r-r.. 
...(;t~'37-~ht:t3nQ.~ -t11.~(i. 9-1' 
~?~~. tohl~l?(f@t:::'CIMl'l'tti~. 
$7..i::- r-."A7-NtIftl . .'l.t~- ~ru!~ 
~-I:t~';'~-":I1:'. ~tn"t'n~~f!ltj 
~IJ. :r:~~~lC!.::.t:;. "71I.d"'';r!l?v 
-Ai::.!J~7)1 ... t--:"; ~?L.t-AO):l~m.tf 
:;?mL,t.:~LM""-L.. &>M'WrroA~­
~"tl~::<t.: .. ~..;:e~y;.~~A~­
-;.<'t'. !,t':l71'", «-r::,'f-7'.( ;.17, 7--< 
A~Y!J-.P;1. ':JJl.-7A7-7·-</~"'-C:C 
tlI1>Q. 
$!~?.r-!'--lti!:m 
N1tP·}t",'WW~1i:r~~J::;J 
A~::'-Q)~~ 
&~>!"A.mlll""', 
I Jlo;)T("r:.littLl,1:."~-;f~'(}--fiA~:'-
2:t.""ttkf:1tfl1d'l'l.,.t-$,xl!:.. 
): .t.1t.i:.ItEE:"Gl?fjff)2flf.:h. l*tH;:U~"t'"eo4-,\",)I.}l.-~~ey 
"$H&h'(1.\(n.\tI-
"~CJi8S~-:)U\.e~ 
-1th.-l'i..U •• #.t.fit:\\{)b-
d)olt~!.-H:..ttliL"C(:f:!N\. 
i.-';j:X.t:;; .... - - - ..• ~ 
~~.Af.~~ItOJ::JSIJ")t2~t. .. .tt.VI!~.""'"$~:..~?'l)-~ac~":)"Cl\tJ1.·h .. 
t'''<1n:$ttw:..lttr~*-'4tU''tttK .. ~~~'C~¢''ttt14Ut0»'~;'''';~V1tit 
Above: Japanese text of ''Latest sports rule by illustration" 
6 Olympic Education in Komaba School 
By this report, we came to realize many of the 
Olympic related activities in OUT school were 
involved rather naturally. This shows how deeply 
physical education and Olympic are related to one 
another. 
We strongly believe physical education, sports, 
and culture of health will be prosperous through 
Olympic education. Furthermore, through the study, 
it is possible to learn about science and culture by 
questioning: How sports are defined in the world 
competing level? Is there limit in physical and 
mental strength? What kind of athlete do exists? 
What kind of training does professional athlete do? 
What is their technique in world competing level? 
And so on. 
At the time of school entrance (7th grade), our 
students are below the national average in physical 
strength. However, by fully participating in 
physical education and school events, many 
students gain their physical strength dramatically. 
We wish students will become an individual who 
"endeavor, create, and contribute," factors which are 
held as our educational objective, through 
understanding the Olympisln. 
- 119 -


<Personal research> Olympic Education in Junior High and Senior High School at Komaba

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Tsukuba Repository