We are envisaging fostering tough kids who can get along squarely in the global arena on both fronts, i.e.; academics and sports. Last but not least, to prevent kids’ weakening physical fitness, and use sports as a means to become intellectual. Our “Manner Kids Tennis Project” is, in a sense, a combination of “Physical Education”, “Moral Education”, as well as “Intellectual Education”, as its 3 cornerstones.

Nowadays, as you may well know, so-called “Class Disorders” are taking place here and there in primary schools all over Japan. It is, indeed, a very grave phenomenon.

In our daily life, we encounter a number of teenage girls making up on the train without any hesitation. Many youngsters sit on the road where people go back and forth. New graduates can not even make proper greetings as necessary. These may be a tip of the iceberg of numerous examples.

Now, we are about to enter an era in which the generation, who spent school days during post-war times, assume a leading role in all fronts of our society. However, there is no easy way out. We are forced to pay the price, as we (households, schools, local communities, and the like) have disregarded the very fundamental but yet important value of “Self-Discipline” and “Traditional Basic Manner” since the end of the World War II.

According to the “Physical Fitness Survey” conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, it is quite clear that the kids’ physical fitness is on the weakening trajectory. At the same time, we started to realize the importance of three basic elements of daily life, i.e.; proper habit of eating breakfast, of taking a decent sleep, as well as of engaging in physical training. They all have great positive correlations with the kids’ physical fitness and caliber.

According to the major findings of the research on “Effect of action imitation on the verbal development in infants” conducted by the team of University of Tsukuba, we can draw an important conclusion. Namely, if we compare 3 years old kids, those with and without three times a week repeating movement (doing just the same, ex. stone, scissors and paper) for 3 months, it became empirically apparent that such exercise training during his/her infancy is crucial for physical growth as well as for development of intellectual capacity (verbal development).

On top of aforementioned findings, this time around, in implementing our “Manner Kids Tennis Project”, we asked Associate Professor Ohmori and co-workers of University of Tsukuba to join our team to carry on their study in a more detailed fashion.　The study will highlight on the influence of our “Manner Kids Tennis Project” on a number of fronts, i.e.; intellectual, moral, as well as physical. Needless to say, the characteristics of our Project are the dependence on “Self-Discipline”, “Traditional Basic Manner”, and just a piece of tennis racket in his/her hand.

We also asked Professor Suzuki of Ogasawara Manners and Etiquette to join our team to teach Kids as well as their parents the traditional Japanese Manners and Sportsmanship.

Having said so, we have three elements in our mind.
One, Physical Education”, to prevent continuously weakening physical fitness of our future promising youth.
Two, “Moral Education”, to gain traditional basic manner as well as to acquire sportsmanship.
Three, “Intellectual Education”, to become more intellectual through playing sports.
The ultimate goal of our “Manner Kids Tennis Project” is to increase the number of promising youth who can get along squarely with people of different backgrounds (nationality, culture, language and the like) in the world, simply by carrying a piece of tennis racket in his/her hand.

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