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Sport for All Leads the Way to Health for All [2019/11/21]
 Making a keynote address to the 26th TAFISA World Congress on November 14, 2019. I was truly happy to welcome over 600 participants from 78 countries who attended the 26th TAFISA World Congress which was held at a Tokyo hotel on November 13-17. TAFISA, or the Association for International Sport for All, aims to create a better world through the promotion of Sport for All and physical activity in everyday life, and bring joy, health, social interaction, integration and development to communities and citizens around the globe. In my keynote address on the second day, I noted that it was most timely that the biannual congress was being held in Japan in the first of the three “Golden Sports Years” of 2019, 2020 and 2021, so called because Japan is hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games and the 2021 World Masters Games. It is not just athletes and sport fans but also the general public who are getting excited about sports, I said, adding that I hoped the Golden Sports Years “will become a wonderful opportunity for the people to realize the importance of Sport for All.” I received a round of applause from the audience when I shared my own physical fitness routine, saying: “I am a young man of 80 years old. My daily workout consists of 40 minutes of stretching exercises and 150 push-ups and sit-ups in the morning. This is what keeps me going!” I drew louder applause still when I said: “We all know that physical exercise is good, but the difficult part is to continue it every day.” I mentioned that aging is an ongoing challenge in Japan. “It is important that we all raise health awareness and increase our healthy life expectancy. It is said that there is about a 10-year difference between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in Japan.” Closing this gap will give elderly people a feeling that life is worth living and it would also lead to a cut in the cost of medical care in the long term, I added. The Nippon Foundation saw this potential 30 years ago and has since been working to promote Sport for All through our partner organization, the Sasakawa Sports Foundation, which has been actively committed to the promotion of sports programs including the World Challenge Day since 1993. The World Challenge Day has become one of the largest sports events in Japan with the participation of three million people every year. “I believe that the promotion of Sport for All can be a solution to confront the challenges of aging and to innovate our society,” I stressed, adding: “I firmly believe that Sport for All is what leads the way to Health for All.” During the conference, it was a great honor for me to be conferred the Jürgen Palm Award, TAFISA’s most prestigious award, which is given to individuals who have made a significant and long-term contribution to the field of international Sport for All and physical activity.  I drew loud applause when I said: “We all know that physical exercise is good, but the difficult part is to continue it every day.”  With Dr. Ju-Ho Chang (center), President of TAFISA, and Mr. Masatoshi Ito (right), President of TAFISA-JAPAN and the Organizing Committee of the Congress.  I was presented with the Jürgen Palm Award, TAFISA’s most prestigious award, by President Ju-Ho Chang for my contribution to the field of international Sport for All and physical activity. |