Tokyo: In an effort to introduce different sports to students in the rural area of Japan for extracurricular activities, in which their schools were also facing the problem of lack of instructors, the Japan Sports Agency has been working with a private company to use remote video to facilitate interactive lessons with these students.
Kento Momota coaches badminton through remote video. (video: nhk)
On the 24th, the former World No. 1 Kento Momota showed students in Noboribetsu City, about 700 kilometers away from his practice base in Chofu City, Tokyo, how to play badminton. Momota demonstrated how to use the badminton racket properly and some basic body movement and badminton skills in front of the camera and then watched the students practice one by one through a TV screen.
A second-year female student who participated in the training said, “I felt that athletes see things differently than we do. I want to make good use of the advice I received today and practice regularly.”
As for Momota, even though he could see how those students practice directly through the TV, he admitted he was not accustomed to communicating with students who were far away and not physically in front of him.
“I felt it was a little difficult because I wasn’t directly hitting the shuttlecocks with the students, so I tried to convey my instructions by just talking,” said Momota.
“I don’t think I was able to put everything into words, haha, I still need more time to become a coach,” added Momota.
In addition to badminton, the Japan Sports Agency planned to expand remote video coaching to other sports in the future.
