No.12 Seminar ： A tale of two coaches: The institutional differences and coaching similarities of American and Japanese basketball coaches
- Aaron L. Miller（The Hakubi Center）
- 2010/11/14 7:00pm
- Yaku Island
- Japanese
Summary
Japanese and Americans are often contrasted and said to be very different people. To a large extent this is true – we do not always share the same ideas, we do not always act the same, and certainly there are cultural differences between us.
But in some realms, such as sports, there is often much similarity in the way that the people of these two nations act.
In this presentation, I focus on the rather similar coaching styles of two university basketball coaches – one female and American and one male and Japanese. Both coaches are extremely pragmatic, ask their players to act and think for themselves, treat their players as professionals, and bring determination and seriousness to their sport that is unparalleled. Both coaches are elite, known widely in their respective nations, and are published authors. Both coach future professional basketball players who also often play for their respective national teams, just as these two coaches once did when they were players themselves.
The difference between them, however, is not ‘cultural’ but rather institutional. While the American coach makes a living solely as a coach – and a good living at that – the Japanese coach makes relatively little from coaching and must support himself and his family as a university lecturer. While he remains influential in the Japanese basketball world, for there to be more coaches like him, and for Japan’s basketball to reach a higher international standard, it must institutionalize the profession of coaching and pay coaches more reasonable salaries for their efforts.