Tennis Training Program for Elementary Schools in Japan

Index
1. Meet Jinji Tennis Center
2. What We Propose
3. About the Jinji Program
4. Fitness for Kids
5. Why Do Kids Need Tennis?

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5. Why Do Kids Need Tennis?

Modern lifestyles are conspiring against youth in Japan. It's simply too easy for them to spend too much time in front of the TV or sitting for hours playing video games. Add to this a limited amount of outdoor playing space in most of Japan, plus unhealthy snacking habits, and it's easy to see why there is an emerging epidemic of overweight children in Japan.

To counter this alarming trend, children must be introduced to a fun, challenging, and competitive individual sport like tennis, and encouraged to embrace it as a lifelong form of physical education and mental discipline.

Trends in Overweight Children

Between the ages of 10 and 12, around 10% of Japanese youth tend to be overweight. This percentage has decreased slightly in the last 3-4 years, but from 1982 to 2002 the percentage increased more than 50%!

“Research of Physical Development for Students”
(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2005)

These statistics demonstrate that a lack of exercise is the major cause of the tendency for towards overweight children. Only an increase in exercise through a fun and engaging sport can help children stay fit, strong and healthy all around. And in fact, as we show below, kids actually want to spend more time engaging in sports.

Kids Want More Physical Activity

The average time that kids in Japan spend playing outdoors is 1 hour and 47 minutes per day, but statistics reveal that they would rather spend 2 hours and 35 minutes playing. As the chart below shows, this gap between actual time and desired time is greater than that of any other activity such as playing games, watching TV or reading books.

The average time that children spend playing sports is 5 hours and 16 minutes per week, but they desire to spend as much as 6 hours and 2 minutes. This gap is greater than that of any other activity, such as studying at “juku” (cram schools) or generally just taking lessons indoors.

“Changing kids' perception of time in the past 20 years” (Opinion survey)

Kids Want to Excel at Some Type of Sport

According to data generated by a Hakuhodo project designed to identify new children's markets, 59.8% of children wish to acquire a skill in some kind of sport for the sake of their future development. This percentage is higher than learning to cook (56.8%), using a PC (54.0%), studying English (47.3%) or anything else. Moreover, 89.5% of children would like to develop some special skill over and above their peers, of which 70.7% expect to work especially hard to acquire such skills.

Hard Facts about After-school Activities

Data from various sources in Japan reveal the following about after-school activities:

• Over 50% of kids today have both parents working outside of the home. (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 1999)

• Over 50% of kids spend their time after school by themselves or with their friends. (Benesse, 2005)
• The percentage of kids who take part in a club after school is 3.6% (1st to 3rd grades) and 45.1% (4th to 6th grades)
• The percentage of kids who go to “juku” (cram school) after day school is 52.3% (1st to 3rd grades) and 58.6% (4th to 6th grades) (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2005)

US Research about the Effects of After-school Activities

Data from various sources in the United States reveal the following about after-school activities:

• Studies show that students involved in after school programs receive better grades, attend school more regularly and have overall improved behavior. They also express greater hopes for the future and more interest in school. (Education Week, October 2000)
• Teens who participate in after school programs are less likely to skip class, use marijuana and other drugs, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or engage in sexual activity. (YMCA of the USA, 2001)
• After school programs can provide substantial amounts of health-enhancing physical activity and opportunities to practice skills taught in physical education courses. (A Report to the President from the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education, 2001)

Such facts tell us that not only do Japanese kids want to play sports; they need it.

Jinji Tennis Center understands that sports have great benefits for kids, and therefore is offering a special tennis-training program designed especially for the unique needs of children.

Jinji head coach Shai Gigi has developed well-defined concepts and ideas that address the fitness needs of children. See “Fitness for Kids," later in this document.