Top athlete interview

As a PhD student of Psychology, I have interviewed some top athletes to help me decide a dissertation theme.

In the interviews, one of the interviewees, Takamasa Abiko, asked me to write an article. I would like to post this article here as an output.

• His career
• Thinking process of a person with fast growth
• His own experience to win a contract from a pro soccer club
• Definition of a good player
• A coach who can enhance a player’s growth

In terms of his career, he started playing soccer in his childhood. When he transitioned to high school, he was selected to attend a high school which is famous for soccer (In Japan, after-school activities are very popular and organized. There are national tournaments for any sports in after-school activity. When Japanese students want to play any sports, they tend to belong to an after-school club.). However, he could not attend the school for some reasons. As a result, he went to another high school. Although not famous for their soccer club, he belonged to the soccer club anyways. During his time in high school, a desire to be a professional soccer player lit a fire in him when his teammate went to Brazil to play soccer. A few years later, he went to Brazil to play when he was junior in high school. After returning home, he went back to Brazil where he succeeded to win a contractfrom a professinal soccer team. A few years later, he went back to Japan and worked as a coach and translator in a soccer club.

Years after, he became a head coach and a sessional instructor in a high school. There, one student crowdfunded to buy a $15 book and he only collected $3. He felt that the student “stood in the batter box once rather than making practice swings ten times”, someting he often said to his students. He was inspired by the student and he decided to be a professional soccer player again. In 2018, he won a contract from Mito Hollyhock (a professional soccer club in Japan) and currently, he belongs to YSCC Yokohama (also a professional soccer club in Japan, too.)

He has been transmitting information in the fields of education and business, but this time, I asked him about the thinking process of the person who can grow up with fast speed. From the one-hour interview, I picked to write about the thinking process of a person with fast growth, his own experience to win a contract from a pro soccer club, definition of a good player, and a coach who can enhance a player’s growth.

First, I asked what characteristics can accelerate a player’s growth speed.

I always say, “a person who can create post-it world”. What I mean here is that the person who can be particular about detail, who is not lazy for the preparation, and who  can be prepared in advance for any situations. As the level gets higher and higher, athletes focus on details. For example, an athlete change boots depending on the condition of the grass. Also, the athlete can change their own play depending on the direction and intensity of wind. In other words, it is the person who can adapt his or her play depending on tiny changes. The athlete imagines these tiny changes beforehand. That’s why they can notice the tiny changes. It is pretty difficult to notice them without considering them beforehand. In the sense that the person has variety of ideas (post-it) for any situations, therefore I am saying “a person who can create post-it world”.

From a different perspective, because an athlete focuses on detail like that, they deserve getting paid. This point differentiates work from hobby. In work, you don’t become lazy for the preparation. You literally do what you should do. This is where the value for money comes from. It takes long time to be prepared. That’s why money follows.

Next, I asked what he cared about to grow up. Especially, I asked what he was thinking as he tried to win the contract from the Brazilian professional soccer club.

What I cared about in the process of winning the contact is that I focused on what I could improve for short term rather than focusing on developing skills for long term. In other words, I was looking for something I could change tomorrow. Then, I decided to focus on and increase the quality of tactical understanding. It takes a long time to develop any technical skills. On the contrary, it takes a relatively short time to increase the quality of tactical understanding. I reached the answer of tactical understanding while I was looking for something I could do. However, I realized that other teammates did not have a high tactical understanding. This is why I could be superior to the other teammates. I did not have superb technical skills, so I believe it was appropriate to focus on tactical understanding.

Furthermore, in terms of the definition of a good player,

Be humble and smart.

To be humble means that you have your own “routine”. That is, you repeat the cycle of hypothesis and testing. This leads to being good at verbalizing and explaining something. In the process of it, you can learn your weakness and strength.

Next point is to be smart. In other words, quick understanding. For example, in the practice which requires your decision-making in soccer, a smart person can do what a coach tells them quickly. For instance, in practice where the rule is within two touches, a smart player will not ask the rule again. I think that is because they are used to visualizing what a coach says. Another reason might be because they see themselves from a bird eyes view. In other words, they objectively understand what the coach said. Also, during a conversation with a coach, they can take a message from the coach in his or her own perspective and digest it by themselves.

Next, I asked “What kind of coach can maximize a player’s growth?”

As a premise, a person who has no desire to dominate. If a coach tries to use players for himself or herself, it is difficult to accelerate player’s growth.

As a second point, a person who can see things philosophically. A person who teaches how to see things and how to interpret things. In Japan, education is memory-based, so players tend to think “do it, anyways.” Without thinking why what they are doing is important or not important. However, from this way of thinking, the question of “why” will not come out. “Why do I need to run for punishment?” “Why am I doing this practice?” A philosophical coach takes communication where a player takes initiative such as “What do you want me to do?”. Through this communication, the coach teaches one how to see and interpret things.

For me, I see common elements in what he talked about in terms of a person who grow up fast, his own experience, the definition of a good player, and a coach who helps players the most, which made the interview fruitful. Mr. Abiko, Thank you for accepting the interview from an unknown graduate student and good luck in your future!