Sport & Design Blog: live from Tokyo, Japan!
Big Hopes, Big Change!
(Tip #81 was our favorite. You know why...)
81. Big Change—All at Once!
The power of "getting going on everything at once" with but a sliver of a master plan (a couple of
"napkin" sketches) was that we could envision from the outset the vague outline of what was
going to (more or less) end up happening—thence we could adjust like crazy, improvise
constantly, destroy and create using the entire palette, and dramatically reshape the overall
work, and even the overall concept, as we went along. Which, of course, means we didn't really
reject my beloved Rapid Experimentation Method—we just did it on and amidst a Grand Platform
called "everything is in motion and up for grabs."
I'm not sure I'd do things, big things, this way in every instance, but I do think there are times
when such an "all at once" approach is merited—when you have a Big Idea but need to be living
"in the middle of it," with all ends loose ends, to figure out what it means.
On the two year anniversary of our Youth Sports Ambassadors trip to the Beijing Olympics, here’s a look back at how we turned BIG HOPES into real change:
We started learning the ropes with trips to the UN Sport for Development and Peace Ministerial Conference in Beijing, the International Peace & Sport Forum in Monaco (2008 & 2009), a Northeast Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul, and Hope 81 Founder Jason Hutson’s guest lecture on sport for social change at Beijing Sports University...
We made our first original Youth Sports Ambassadors project back in 2008, exactly two years ago! (08.08.2008). Facilitating new exchange between Japanese and Chinese youth basketball communities at the Beijing 2008 Olympics...
We rallied Tokyo’s community of youth athletes, professional athletes, sporting goods store owners and more to donate hundreds of new and used out-of-season sportswear items with our “1 Assist” campaign. Then we delivered the sportswear all the way to the remote mountain jungle villages of Papua New Guinea’s Western Province...
Last but not least, we brought a team of Japan’s top basketball players to compete in the Quai 54 International Streetball Championships, held in Paris every summer. Introducing the first ever team from Asia on the main stage at this huge Michael Jordan-sponsored event, with the goal of helping Asian basketball rise...
We’ll have plenty of information to share on our new website (coming very soon!). Thanks to everyone out there for supporting our grassroots efforts these past two years. From Tokyo to PNG, Paris to Beijing... We’re lucky to be surrounded by so many active and creative volunteers and wouldn’t be here without all of your contributions. Lets keep it up!
Mandela Day: Celebrate Peace Action!
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”
- Nelson Mandela
Today, the world celebrates the life of revolutionary South African peacebuilder Nelson Mandela, on his 92nd birthday! His incredible legacy continues to inspire peace action around the globe, and our Hope 81 community would like to thank Madiba for helping us get to where we are today.
Mandela’s quote above is from a speech given at the 2000 Laureus Awards. Its a wonderful reminder of what sports-based initiatives can do to help ease tension and conflict in the world. After researching about this topic (and writing a 175-page masters thesis on Sport for Social Change in East Asia), Hope 81 founder Jason Hutson is aiming to find a way for Mandela’s words to become source of inspiration for action amongst East Asian civil society and government leaders. If you’ve seen Invictus or read the book Playing the Enemy, you know the story of how sport helped a nation grow together across racial barriers. Now, bringing an entire region together with a history as complex as it is here in East Asia, through sports-based exchange...it may sound like just another pipedream. The issues concerning postwar reconciliation are deep and one must be sensitive to the feelings of hardship and pain so many have suffered. No doubt, its still a very difficult subject to discuss for people here, and sport alone is not the suggestion being made. Can we find a common ground through shared interests and aspirations in games, and from that as a starting point, create a new culture of peace and harmony? A good starting point was to be the FIFA 2002 Japan-Korea World Cup, which many hoped would bring the two nations closer together and create a lasting sense of peace and friendship. Almost eight years later, we have little to speak of in terms of a lasting legacy for peace and cooperation through sport between Japan and Korea. Basically the problem stems from the fact that we had a one-off, mega event with no framework to grow more grassroots exchange. Such a framework would require government leaders to step up and take the initiative from the top, invoking a concerted effort with strategies, para-public alliances, policies, funding, etc.
Actually this sort of ‘Sport for Peace’ plan is already in motion, though for various reasons, it hasn’t reached East Asia yet. The Sport for Peace and Development agenda has been gradually assembled over roughly the past ten years by the United Nations, under the leadership of Kofi Annon, Adolph Oggi, and now Wilfred Lemke. The UNOSDP office works with support from the international NGO Right to Play and the now UN-based Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group, which published a special Recommendations to Government document in 2008-- measuring the effectiveness of sports-based initiatives being used in areas of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, reconciliation, human rights, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, poverty, and more. While Japan, China and Korea continue the struggle to find a lasting sense of reconciliation of their war-torn past, hopefully government leaders in the region are considering the potential power of sport to change our world, to unite our East Asian community, to connect East Asian youth across borders, to give our younger and elder generations hope where once there was only despair, and to help government start a large-scale healing process for the collective people of this region.
Bringing sports-based initiatives to help East Asian reconciliation on a broad scale requires a great deal of help from top-level institutions. But of course, it must also start with local action on the ground level = People Power. This is the goal of Mandela Day. To encourage everyone on the planet to step up and work toward social justice, fight against racism and discrimination, help protect the environment, support under served communities in need of relief... there is something you can do in your local community today. Go for it, and celebrate this day of peace action! So what are we doing at Hope 81 today?? We’ve chosen Mandela Day as the official launch of our new ‘Sport & Peace for East Asian Community’ (SPEAC) action campaign. We’ll have more to share here on our blog in the days ahead, and a special section on our new website (hopefully coming early August!) with feature stories, academic reports, new projects and more...
Thank you, Nelson Mandela! Find out more about his ongoing efforts for social justice on the Nelson Mandela Foundation site.
Letter from Matkomnai Village (PNG)
Here’s an update from our friend and assistant coordinator Fr. Yohanes (above, wearing cap on left). He shares some news about the progress of our sportswear donation & fitness education efforts in the Western Province of Daru-Kiunga. It’s great to hear that our project has encouraged the local community to step up and join the regional Sports Association. The idea of “taking the initiative” was a focus of our discussion on sport and fitness, when we visited with the Matkomnai youth group last November. This is a nice beginning, and we’re really pleased with the efforts of our new friends in PNG. Please have a look at our recent message from Matkomnai, and keep checking back for more progress reports (and pictures) on the way soon.
Dear Jason...
Thank you very much for sending me an email. I am very grateful for your effort to bring the kids of Papua New Guinea to know more about sport. As I have mentioned before, in some schools they are starting to get more involved in sport and fitness. While in Matkomnai Center, Youth and Students of the Primary School are joining with the Sports Association. Every Saturday, there are big events for all the villages in the Matkomnai area, and they come here to play sports together. I saw some youth and students involved in basketball, and soccer, and volleyball too.
Recently, they told me that youth of St. John Parish have their own groups like in volleyball and basketball. I joined with the soccer club. You knew that I am staying around the school and nurse compound, so i joined with their group. It was amazing, that I can get involved in the sport.
Some local people brought the idea, how if it is possible, could you also assist for the Association in Matkomnai, like providing volleyballs, nets and soccer equipment as a way to promote sport and peace.
About the Hope 81 Fitness Challenge, some schools they told me that they started already, and it is very soon I am going to the school to check them how far they have tried the fitness program. I will keep in touching with you, my friend.....
Greeting from Linus, Desi and Vero, youth from Matkomnai. This coming sunday, they will talk more about fitness and sport....
I keep you in prayer...
Yohanes
One Assist @ Earth Day 2010
Get ready for Earth Day 2010!
Sunday, April 18
Hope 81 is now preparing for our 3rd annual “EARTH DAY: Sportswear Donation” event, to be held at next month’s big festival in Yoyogi Park. To help support developing countries in need and create a more sustainable Earth, this is your chance to donate your re-usable sports equipment (balls, nets, uniforms, jerseys, shirts, shoes, etc.) to our friends in PNG. During the Earth Day 2010 celebration, we’ll set up a collection area near the Nike Basketball Courts in Yoyogi Park. Hope to see you all there on Sunday, April 18.
*For a map to the courts, see below. And look out for a new One Assist flyer coming soon!!
View Yoyogi Park @ Nike Court in a larger map
Sportswear Donation Campaign: One Assist!
Shuji Takei aka “ST”, Rising Suns 2010 team captain
Kevin, a local streetballer from the team “Sunday Crew”
Yang, original supporter of our Youth Sports Ambassadors @ Beijing 2008
Change the world with one assist!
As part of Hope 81’s continued efforts to support developing countries with sportswear donations and fitness education, we were back at it again today... collecting more re-usable items from our local ballers at Yoyogi Park. The campaign started back in April of 2008 when we made our first collection during the annual Earth Day festival in Yoyogi. After that, we kept working throughout the year, rallying our local baller network for positive change. And by Earth Day 2009, we had collected over 200 items for our new friends in Papua New Guinea. Read all about the PNG project here.
Now we’re preparing for our 3rd annual Earth Day event @ Yoyogi next month, and we’d like to welcome our Tokyo community to get involved. Anyone interested in receiving more information about the event, or helping out as a volunteer/sponsor, please email us today!
Remember...YOU can make a difference for global poverty relief and environmental sustainability. It just takes one small effort. Just one assist!
Local artists building HIV-awareness in Tokyo
New Release! Hope 81 artist DUZZ: recently designed this ribbon for one of Tokyo’s legendary hip-hop deejays, DJ Masterkey. The product is distributed by Ribbon Magnet/MsDS as part of their ongoing ‘Cause Ribbon’ campaign, which aims to raise support for various charities and NPOs through a selection of fresh new ribbon designs. The theme for this one from DUZZ: is ‘Think About It’, encouraging people to think carefully about the risks of HIV. The message is especially important amongst our youth here in Tokyo, where the rate of new infections has been steadily growing in recent years. Click on the ribbon (above) to purchase one from the online store. Thanks for keeping it real, DUZZ:
Back in 2008, we worked with Ribbon Magnet/MsDS on our Youth Sports Ambassadors campaign at the Beijing Olympics. We distributed nearly 300 red ribbons to Beijing streetballers, promoting HIV awareness with the friends we made during our two-week stay in China. Ribbon Magnet/MsDS were some of the first to come out and support our Hope 81 projects, so we owe them a huge thanks for rallying with us. Of course, we’re looking forward to designing an original Hope 81 Ribbon of our own one of these days...MaBO yoroshiku ne!
Life, Basketball and Japan
When I speak about Hope 81, people often ask me why Japan? To me, its sort of a no-brainer. I love my life here! But I guess the idea of a guy from California launching a nonprofit organization in Japan might seem a bit out-of-the-ordinary (or intriguing) to some, so the question deserves a better answer than that. Sometimes my answer turns into a long story of academic discourse, overlapping with personal anecdotes and so many twists and turns. I wish I had a 30-second version. Trust me -- I’m working on it. For now, here’s a special blog entry to give you a better idea.
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