General Authority Seventy Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita, who is currently serving in the Asia North Area Presidency, was invited to have a Skype event on June 6 with BYU-Hawaii students and spoke on the topic of how sports science is related to business. The BYUH Global Leadership Connect, which is sponsored by the BYUH Management Society, is held monthly and open for all.
Jia Jun Liew, a sophomore from Malaysia majoring in business management, said, “Global Leadership Connect events were designed to help students build connections and also learn from global leaders. It also enables them to ask questions and gain valuable advice from professionals around the world. We hope this event was beneficial to those interested in pursuing sports science degrees or business majors who are interested in the sports industry.”
Jenesse Tsuchiya, a senior from Kentucky majoring in hospitality and tourism management, shared, “I thought it was a really good event and related to the gospel.” Tsuchiya is the director of the program committee plans for My Leadership Story and the Global Leadership Connect, and she said it took two months corresponding before the event happened.
The event was held in an interactive manner with a speech from Elder Yamashita and a Q&A session. He began by asking students why they play sports. He said he would always begin every semester with the same question when he was a professor of sports science and physical education.
Elder Yamashita invited people to philosophize sports and solve the problem in the sports field. He also said some coaches are struggling in finding their coaching purpose between winning, having fun and development. He brought up three coaching styles, which are command style, submissive style, and cooperative style.
“The first one is called command style, with which coaches decide everything by themselves and have players follow them. The second one is submissive style, with which the coaches put up little training and leave the work to the players. The last one was cooperative style, with which coaches listen to their players and help them accomplish their goals.
“Philosophizing sports means to think of sports as its own thing, and think of problems in the sports world.” He also pointed out two problems existing in the sports field: "One is people think sports are not for everyone, and the second is doping.”
After his speech, Elder Yamashita extended an invitation to the audience for Q&A. Exercise Science Professor Evan Nakachi commented during the Q&A session, “I have seen so many authoritarian-style coaches that are successful, because they know what it takes to win.”
Elder Yamashita said, “Sometimes it’s difficult to apply the church leadership style in coaching,” because the end goal of coaching is to win. However, he said it’s always the best idea to involve players and spread positivity.
Ayla Swart, a senior from Utah studying psychology, who is also a swim coach, commented, “I personally liked the presentation because I'm a swim coach, and I sometimes forget about my coaching style. It was a good reminder of what I should improve on. I agree with his lesson that if coaches shift our goals to growth and development rather than focus on winning, athletes will be better off.
Swart also said she was caught by surprise on the nature of the event. “I actually went in there wanting to ask about starting a nonprofit recreational facility in a developing nation, potentially the Philippines. I felt like it had nothing to do with business as it was advertised, and I had no idea it was a webcam presentation, which was definitely disappointing.”
Writer: Vic Zhong