【Summary】
Following the first phase of this project last year, Tagawa City Sports Association has deepened further international exchange with the German cities of Cottbus and Esslingen in order to realize inclusive society through sport, based on the trinity collaboration of local industry, academia and municipal government. In order to share the lessons learned about realizing an inclusive society through our visit to Germany, Tagawa City Sports Association also planned this year sports event and on-line lectures, where anyone, whether impairment or not, participate in and enjoy the events regardless of nationality, age and gender.

【Project Objective】
Tagawa City, which hosted the pre-camp for German wheelchair fencing team for the Tokyo 2020 Games, has been working to realizing an inclusive society through sport, as a legacy of the German team’s stay in this community. Following the delegations visit to Germany, Tagawa City Sports Association planed and hosted some events, Training camp of Wheelchair tennis, and trial session and lectures on Para-sports, in order to deepen mutual understanding of diversities and to enhance the circumstances for realizing an inclusive society through sport.

【Activities/projects】

a) Site survey and meeting in Germany

Date: Saturday 8 October to Sunday 15 October 2023
Itinerary: Visit to Cottbus Sports Centre and Sports Academy, Cottbus Municipal Junior and Senior High School, Cottbus City Hall and to the Mayor of Estlingen and officials and Sports Park.

b) Wheelchair tennis training camp

Date: 16 (Sat) and 17 (Sun) December 2023
Venue: Tagawa City Gymnasium etc,
Participants: 29 (including 15 disabled persons and 9 students from outside of prefecture). 2 special coaches facilitated the lessons via on-line and 19 staff support the lessons.

c) Invitation program of German expertise to Tagawa

Date: 7 (Wed) – 9 (Fri) February 2024
Events:
〇 Courtesy visits to the vice-governor of Fukuoka prefecture and the mayor of Tagawa city
〇 Facility survey tours, visits to local companies, visits to junior high schools, delivering the special lectures to officials on “Initiatives for creating inclusive Society in Kotobus City”.
Delegation members :3 （Mayor of Cottbus city, Director general of the Sports Bureau and Officer in charge of international relations）

d) Trial session and lectures on Para-Sports

Date: 17 February (Sat), 2024 10:00-12:00
Venue: Tagawa City Comprehensive Gymnasium (Main Arena)
Para-Sports to be tried: boccia, table tennis, volleyball, flying disc
Participants: 67 (including 3 members of Nishi-Tagawa Junior Football Club, 15 members of Soeda Junior Volleyball Club, 15 members of Kaharu Junior Volleyball Club, 3 ALTs working in Tagawa City, 3 foreign residents and 13 junior high school students and their parents who were sent to Germany)

【Outcome】

〇 The delegation members of Tagawa Sports Association visited Cottbus and Esslingen together with the Mayor of Tagawa and city officials to survey some facilities considering the barrier-free access and to exchange opinions about realizing the inclusive society with sports association officials of these city authorities. This provided them with an opportunity to learn about the environment for creating an inclusive society and allowed them to identify their challenges toward achieving this goal. After coming back to Japan, the city and Tagawa Sports Association held debriefing meeting and shared information on realizing inclusive society with a total of 50 or more people.

〇 As a trigger of results of the survey tour in Germany and the invitation program of the German experts to Japan, the Tagawa Sports Association initiated inclusive sports activities for people with disabilities at Tagawa City’s sports facilities.

【Related URL】

https://www.facebook.com/sport4tomorrow/videos/1061194895079175/

https://x.gd/GKapp

HP：https://tagawa-taikyo.greater.jp/