On Tuesday 18 June, at UK Sport’s offices in London, the Japan Sport Council and UK Sport signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to reinforce their commitment to work together to enhance high performance in their countries.
With a relationship dating back to 2009, UK Sport and the Japan Sport Council have met to share experiences and to discuss the implementation and management of a high performance system in elite sport.
Through the MOU, further opportunities for the exchange of ideas and cooperation on projects will be coordinated on subjects such as funding of major events, managing elite training centres, high performance evaluation and coaching. It is intended that national governing bodies of sport will have the opportunity to benefit from this collaborative approach through the forming of a more formal relationship between the two sport councils.
Chief Executive of UK Sport, Liz Nicholl, said: “We are always delighted to welcome our counterparts from the Japan Sport Council when they visit the UK and this has led to a positive relationship being formed between our two nations. On signing the MOU today we commit to enhancing this relationship and look forward to enabling a greater sharing of information and best practice across the elite sport spectrum. Both nations have a reputation for the delivery of high standard major events and this is an example of where we can learn from each other.”
The signing ceremony was attended by senior delegations from the Japan Sport Council and UK Sport. This included Dr Ichiro Kono, President and Takahiro Waku, Director of the Department of Sport Information and International Relations, from the Japan Sport Council. Liz Nicholl, UK Sport’s Chief Executive was accompanied by Simon Morton, the Director of Major Events and International Relations.
On signing the MOU, Dr Ichiro Kono said: “Since we launched the London office in 2009, our relationship has continued to grow through interactive exchanges of information in several fields including coaching, major events, research and innovation, funding and evaluation etc. I believe that this active-based collaboration has brought tremendous benefit for the high performance development in each country. Today, we are delighted to formalize our existing commitment to further develop our strong and sustainable collaboration. And we expect to create even greater opportunities for sharing and exchanging expertise and experience in the fields of high performance between UK and Japan.”