TITLE:
Effect of Japanese Training Camps on Life Skills Acquisition to Nurture Intelligent Wrestlers
AUTHORS:
Seshito Shimizu, Kohei Shimamoto, Takashi Kawano, Takeshi Kukidome, Hironobu Tsuchiya
KEYWORDS:
Life Skills, Dual Career, Wrestling, Educational Program, Athlete Pathway Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.8 No.4,
March
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine the interventional effects of a Japanese training camp, consisting of multiple programs designed to facilitate acquisition of life skills from the short-term and mid-term perspectives. The participants in this study were 139 top-level wrestlers in one of the four categories who participated in the Japanese Training Camp in the fiscal 2015. The scale developed by Shimamoto et al. (2013) was used to assess the life skills (LS). A pre-post comparison of the LS data obtained before and after the camp in the four categories of male and female athletes showed an overall increase in the average scores of LS in the course of the training camp. The survey was conducted one year after the participation in the training camp and indicated an overall higher life skills acquisition levels for the intervention group, and a significant difference was observed in some aspects such as “thinking ability”.