His time, I am Hayato Katsuki of the 50 km walk that started this league.

 

Here, I would like to talk about my thoughts on the establishment of this league from the perspective of dissemination and competitiveness.

 

 

1. 1. Enliven the racewalking world-to gain popularity, not recognition-

 

I was competing and felt for myself.

 

It means that the recognition of racewalking has increased, but the popularity of racewalking has not increased.

 

It is true that the current Japanese racewalking is strong. However, although it has received more attention than before, it is not as popular as other sports.

 

Why is this? Most athletes say that this competition is my job, and I only play my own competition. Also, even if I talk to the instructor, there is almost no talk about expanding players and fans, just talking about strengthening. I think there is a problem there.

 

In the case of sports, it would never be exciting to play only that competition. It is necessary to think about how to involve the community while making use of the content of sports, how to come to the course and enjoy the cityscape and meals, and how to come with family and friends on weekends. I think there is.

 

Some people consider the racewalking itself and the rules to be a problem, but I think it is a matter of contact points and content rather than the mechanism of those.

 

First of all, the racewalking world up to now has few contacts with the general public, and there is no chance to know the racewalking.

 

There are not a few people involved in racewalking who want to popularize racewalking. However, I would like to recommend that there is no tool to explain the racewalking itself and the fun of the racewalking. I think that there were many people who felt that way and strayed or gave up.

 

Without dramas and manga, sports wouldn't spread. I feel that the current racewalking world needs to create something that can produce such things.

 

In this league, we will introduce each player and distribute comments for each match as an opportunity to do so. Through such continuous information distribution, I hope that the background and growth of each player will be felt, and that some kind of drama or manga-like game development will be born. I think that such dramas and game developments lead to excitement that you can never experience in your daily life, which is the beauty of sports and the reason why sports can gain popularity.

 

In this league, we will create a system that can deliver as many wonderful sports as possible.

 

Also, from the perspective of increasing contact points, by creating a team for each region, it will be easier to have contacts because the regions are the same, and I think that the number of core fans will increase. By making such efforts, the environment where you can enjoy watching the game regardless of whether you win or lose, and the environment where you want to go to see the game will be gradually established.

 

Through this league, we hope that each player will be in the spotlight and that the number of supporters for each player will increase in future racewalking competitions. As a result, I hope that it will lead to the popularity of racewalking rather than recognition of racewalking.

 

2.  Improving competitiveness online-Become stronger even with corona damage-

 

There are few competitions in racewalking.

 

Originally, there were few racewalking competitions, but as the COVID-19 epidemic continued to cancel major racewalking competitions, the number of places where racewalkers could play an active role became even less.

 

From the athlete's point of view, I think that the main adverse effects of the lack of competition are the lack of a place to demonstrate the results of practice and the resulting decrease in motivation. If that happens, it will lead to a decrease in the competitiveness of the athletes.

 

Is it possible to hold a competition while minimizing the risk of COVID-19 infection even in this environment? Instead of relying on existing methods, we would like to offer competitions in a new style that suits the current environment. With that in mind, it's okay to see online competitions being held one after another around the world! This is it! That was the reason for holding the online competition. If it is an existing competition, there is a risk of infection to athletes, officers, and fans, such as when moving, lodging, waiting areas, and during competitions. However, if you are online, you can hold the competition regardless of the location and time, as well as the risk of infection, without the cost of travel and accommodation. Taking advantage of this, we set a period instead of narrowing down the schedule to one day, and created rules so that the match schedule can be set according to each player's training plan. With the COVID-19 trend and the lack of games and training camps, I hope that this league will be used as a “ground for daily competition” to raise the competitiveness of Japanese racewalking.

 

In addition, there are few athlete leaders in racewalking, and there are many athletes who do not have an environment in which they can practice with others and receive guidance and advice.

 

From this point of view, by creating a league against teams, competition and advice inside and outside the team will be actively carried out, which will help to continue high-intensity training and improve the motivation of players, and the competitiveness of each player. I hope that it will lead to the improvement of. In particular, we expect the synergistic effect of the JAAF competition and the league by having the representative players belonging to the team bring back and convey the skills and knowledge gained at the JAAF competition and training camp.

 

And, by the judgment by the referees of other teams, it has become possible to realize the referee judgment from more viewpoints. Compared to other competitions, racewalking has a wider range of judgments by referees, and I think it is important to know in advance what kind of movements are likely to be violated. I am convinced that it will lead to improvement of competitiveness in terms of deepening the understanding of such referees' judgments.

 

Finally, I will explain why there are so many short distances in this league event.

 

Although Japanese people can walk beautifully and faithfully to the basics, I feel that they are not good at demonstrating maximum power and speed. Therefore, we set a lot of short distances to make it a place where you can easily exert power and speed. This is to pursue fast walking movements and does not encourage gait violations. As usual, I would like you to continue training for a beautiful walking pattern, and at the time of this league match, I want you to take the plunge and make it a place where you can demonstrate your power and speed.

 

 

The above is my thoughts put into the league for the purpose of popularization and improvement of competitiveness.

 

I wrote a lot so far, but as I wrote here, I have adopted various methods to popularize racewalking and improve competitiveness. In the future, we plan to actively incorporate what we think should be done. We will create a league where everyone who participates can have fun and improve their competitiveness, so I hope that you will use this league as a place to create opportunities for each purpose.

 

 

 

It is unusual to run such a league from the standpoint of an honest player, and I think there are dissenting opinions and doubts.

 

That is why we communicated our goals and feelings and asked each instructor and athletes for their cooperation. And I think I have to continue to convey my feelings. Believe that it will definitely be good for the racewalking world, for the players and for the leaders.

 

In this era, if you try to do something new that no one has done, you will surely have some kind of shackles. I would like to clear them one by one and grow myself, and I hope to grow together with this league and all the people involved in this league.

 

Finally, my most important thought.

 

I like racewalking.

 

I want to somehow liven up this favorite racewalking, that kind of feeling is the main driving force.

 

Thank you for this league and .walk.