Kicking for inclusion: How soccer is helping homelessRoundtable

Roundtable by The Japan Times, hosted
by Ross Rowbury, started the new yearwith a fascinating new interview. Naofumi
Suzuki is the executive director of theWhen you see an adult soccer team practicDiversity Soccer Association (DSA). An
ing in Japan, you usually don’t pay muchacademic with a Ph.D., Suzuki studies theattention.
They will be running or resting in theiruse of sports in healing and inclusion. He
scrimmage jerseys, faces flushed. If it is ansees sports as a crucial way to find and help
Japan’s homeless, who are often people
outside field on a winter day, you might see
with mental illness, depression or unfortusteam rising through the air as they rest. Ifnate family circumstances. One of the ways
it is an indoor futsal field, you might hear
their yells or laughter echoing through thehe is doing that is by leading the Diversity
hall. If you bother to give them a second
Soccer Association, which organizes soccer games and tournaments for homelessglance, it will be a kind one: Here is a grouppeople in Tokyo and Osaka. They call theirof healthy adults, doing something weplayers “nobushi soccer” players, from ashould all do more of: playing.
But what if there was something speword meaning “wandering samurai.”cial about that team? What if some of the“We want to make the footballing environment as inclusive as possible. We don’t
players desperately needed this friendly
set the bar too high,” Suzuki said. “Wegame? If it was their only opportunity
customize the rules according to the situthis week to talk to others? What if thiscasual practice, seemingly so common,
ation the participants are in. For example,
was their only chance to score, or win, orif they are lacking self-confidence, westart with small exercises, like introducing
contribute?
themselves. We make it a fun exercise to
They might be wearing scrimmage jerget everyone to relax. And we make theseys and athletic clothes. But afterward,that might change. What if many of thosefootball part enjoyable for anyone. Thissoccer players you barely noticed weregives a foundation for the participants tobuild their confidence. We also try to invite
actually homeless?
those who are notexcluded — people
who might becalled ‘normal’ — sothat they can meet
our players.” At
this point, Suzuki
smiled modestly. “Iwas one of them.
I had never met
homeless people
closely before. But
this activity was soeasy. It gave me an
idea of who they
Diversity Soccer Association tackles a range of issues concerning socialare. And you know
exclusion through soccer; their vision is to realize a truly socially inclusive
what? They’re justsociety where nobody is ever left out YUICO TAIYA FOR PHOTOMATETIMOTHY SCHULTZCONTRIBUTING WRITER

lacrosse. Going through these experiences
gave me everything, really. So when I wentto college and had to do academic stuff, I
had to make that connection. I had to connect my passion with academics. Really, I
wanted to make this sport, this thing that
I love, be good for society. There is sometimes violence and bad stuff in sports. So
my research focused on how we could
make sports a good thing.”

Soccer as social fabricInclusion for allNaofumi Suzuki, Executive Director of Diversity Soccer Association YUICO TAIYA

people. We don’t have a lot of opportunities
to do that in our daily lives. And that … that’s
the real exclusion.”

Special care for everyone

The DSA isn’t all play. Suzuki explainedthat those who have lost confidence inthemselves can often need extra help:“Some of our participants have situations
where care is needed. For instance, theymight have a difficult family environment.
So we use a kind of gatekeeper to engage

with participants. These gatekeepers aretrained professionals from different areas.
We have social workers, psychiatrists anda very experienced counselor who helps
our participants feel comfortable and whoensures the experience is a good one forthem.”
When asked by Rowbury about hisbackground, the slender, athletic Suzuki
revealed that sports has always been a big
part of his life. “I have always loved sports. I
played baseball, basketball, and I still coach

Rowbury was especially curious about the
aspect of inclusion in Suzuki’s work with thehomeless. The enthusiastic host explained:“I like to say that we’ve experienced thefirst wave of D&I [diversity and inclusion]in Japan. That was gender. Now it’s LBGT. In
Japan, you wonder: What’s next? Last week,
when you and I talked about inclusion, itwas different. It was homelessness, it wasmental stress, it was a whole range of things
we need to think holistically about, not justgender or other issues that are more visible.
Because of that reason, I feel the work you’re
doing is incredibly important.”
Suzuki’s thoughts on inclusion wereframed by his experience with sports. “Youmay be better during a game. But if youchange the rules, you may be rubbish. It may
not be solely your ability that is deciding
your success. If the environment changes,
your ability changes.” He elaborated on thispoint, driving it home eloquently: “The social
institution matters to your ability. Making
an inclusive society is hard. It sounds great,but it’s tough. The existing institution ismade for those who are already included.
The new group might not fit. So we mayneed to make changes to the institution.
That involves giving up some of your share,
the stuff you’ve been enjoying, and allowing
in the new members. But you can enjoy thatprocess, too.”
What comes next for this group of social
workers, academics and sports enthusiasts
who use the sport of soccer to help Japan’s
excluded? With COVID halting their annual

Diversity Soccer’s pamphlets and T-shirt used
to raise awareness and funds YUICO TAIYA

tournament, Suzuki’s group has had tochange tactics, holding only smaller games
and even distributing tablets to players sothey can keep in touch with the organization and each other. “I was really frustrated
during this period. I felt lost. Where are thepeople who are struggling? What are theystruggling with? I think it’s time to rebuild
the social fabric so we can help each other.
We need to bring the fabric back.”As the pandemic’s restrictions end, Suzuki
is excited to bring back nobushi soccer on abigger scale. “You see, Nobushi Japan started
as a program to send a national team to theHomeless World Cup. It’s a worldwide competition, and we haven’t done this since 2011.
To do that, we need a bigger pool of players
to select a team from. I hope that an expansion to a league format will accomplish this.”
The next time you walk by a group ofadults playing soccer, remember that thispractice might be more than just a game. It
might be a little bit of that precious social
fabric Suzuki was talking about, whereeveryone can be included.
Roundtable is a monthly series of Englishlanguage events organizedby The Japan Times Cube.
For more information visit
https://sustainable.japantimes.com/roundtable