All directors including the president of the All-Japan Taekwondo Association will resign
“All-Japan Taekwondo Association” and the players who are candidates for Japan are in disagreement about the policy and management of the association, and many players are confused, such as not participating in the training camp. We decided to replace three staff members, but the resignation of all directors suggested by some of the directors was not treated as an agenda item.
Under these circumstances, the association held an extraordinary board meeting in Tokyo to overcome the situation.News World Ahmed
According to Yoko Okamoto, vice chairman of the Sydney Olympic bronze medalist, the board has decided to resign all directors, including chairman Kanehara.News World Ahmed
In addition, Mr. Kaori Yamaguchi, former Judo World Champion and JOC = Japan Olympic Committee member, and Masaki Sakaida, members of the “Full Member / Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee”, who will select candidates for the next director Four outside experts were appointed.News World Ahmed
The committee will examine the association's organizational management by conducting interviews with directors and players, including President Kanehara.News World Ahmed
The resignation of all directors, including Chairman Kanehara, is after the next new director has been decided.News World Ahmed
According to the reporter's interview, Vice Chairman Okamoto said, “The chairman feels that“ I will leave everything to the experts ”. I want to renovate it into an association that can support players well.News World Ahmed
Chairman Kanehara “Good Timing”
After the extraordinary board meeting of “All-Japan Taekwondo Association”, President Noboru Kanehara responded to the reporter's interview, and all directors will resign in the future, and outside experts will select candidates for the next new board. It ’s timing. I thought that our system would have to be zero once because we had outside people verify it.News World Ahmed
Regarding the selection of new directors, he said, “I will leave everything to experts and accept any conclusions. I would like to select a director who can build solid governance for future players.”
In response to the question “Do you have the confidence to reappoint” to the director, I just said, “I don't want to answer if I can.”
Mr. Sakaida "Recommends the right person"
Ms. Masaki Sakaida, chairman of the All-Japan Taekwondo Association's “Regular Member / Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee” created by outside experts, said, “We recommend a person who is suitable for an executive in a neutral and fair position. I want to do it. "
The committee decided to select a new director candidate after verifying the association's organizational management by interviewing the association's directors and players over the course of about one month starting on the 28th. "I think the association has been lacking in a system that supports the players and players who are well-trained to manage the organization. I want to build a system that can be operated from the player's perspective."
Three other members of the committee, including former judo world champion and JOC, director of the Japan Olympic Committee, Kaori Yamaguchi.
Mr. Yamaguchi says, “It is very regrettable that this time of turmoil has occurred while the Tokyo Olympics are approaching next year and it is necessary to concentrate on the players. I want to work on solving them as soon as possible.” It was.
What is a candidate recommendation committee?
The rules of the All-Japan Taekwondo Association amended by this extraordinary board of directors stipulate that members of the “Recommendation Committee for Regular Members / Executive Candidates” consist of outside experts and be appointed by the Board of Directors. Chooses candidates for directors and proposes to the board.
In addition, the amendment requires that the ratio of outside directors to be more than 25% and that of female directors be over 40%.
If a candidate for director selected by the committee is accepted at the general meeting of regular members, you will be appointed as a new director.
Background of Taekwondo issue
This issue became apparent in June when a candidate for the Japanese national team submitted a written opinion to the association's board of directors for a review of this year's strengthening plan created by the All-Japan Taekwondo Association. .
Players complained about the representative training camp hosted by the association, saying that “the cost is expensive and there is a coach who has no knowledge or experience, which does not lead to improvement of technology”, and the opinion camp has been held once a month Was required to improve four items, such as voluntary participation, and allowing the coach of the affiliated company to be instructed when making adjustments before and after the official tournament where the players participated.
The players have set the deadline for responses at the end of June, and the association made a proposal in June, but it did not show the responses to the players because it took a long time for the approval process in the association. .
Under these circumstances, the association requested players from the Japanese national team to participate in the training camp, but a number of players turned off due to doubts that the association did not respond, and at the camp last month it was about a week initially. Confusion continued, such as having to shorten the schedule to 4 days.
After that, the association published the answer on the association's website on the 18th of the month, which was significantly behind schedule.
In this answer, before and after the official tournament, we think that it may be considered to make adjustments under the coach of the affiliation, and about voluntary participation in the monthly training camp, We showed that we would make agenda in discussion place.
Furthermore, the association established a forum for discussion on the first day of this month in order to hear the player's opinion directly based on this answer, and at the beginning, Chairman Noboru Kanehara apologized to the player for causing a conflict of opinions with the player. did.
However, the athlete pointed out that the content of the response was not concrete, and distrusted that the association responded that “the athletes were not dissatisfied” in response to a survey from an international sports organization that received this problem. I felt a sense that some players were leaving.
And at the regular board meeting of the association, which was held on the 8th of this month, we decided to replace three staff members, including the chairman of the strengthening committee, who plays a central role in strengthening in a way that accepts some of the players' requests.
On the other hand, the resignation of all directors, including the chairman proposed by some directors, was not treated as an agenda as it was not an agenda item.
The background is long-term lack of trust
It seems that the lack of trust between the association and the players over the long term is behind the conflict with the players over the strengthening system and policies of the “All Japan Taekwondo Association”.
In this issue, there were a series of complaints from the Japanese national class players and other organizations, such as the association's coaching team, and insufficient responses to the players, and two out of 20 in the training camp last month. Only participated.
According to the officials, the situation where players did not gather in the training camp had already started about a year ago.
Athletes are saying that the training camps and tournaments held by the association are “the cost is higher than necessary. The self-pay does not decrease” or “the players sometimes paid the travel expenses for coaches at international tournaments”. In addition, there was a voice calling for reducing self-pay, and in the "World Championships there are no pre-game meetings and there are coaches who have no Taekwondo knowledge or experience even if they go to the training camp. “I ca n’t connect. At least I want my coach to accompany me.”
According to the representative of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Miho Takahashi, the association's chairman, we have asked for improvements in these areas through meetings of the board of directors, but the situation has not changed.
In June, the athlete submitted an opinion requesting an improvement to the player strengthening policy, and last month, the association compiled its opinion in an answer and presented it to the athlete.
In this, we will consider the association of coaches to training camps and the costs of competitions and training camps are as follows: “JOC is not different from other sports organizations, and JOC is used to subsidize expenses. However, the amount of self-pay for players will increase during training camps, etc., but we are going to verify and make improvements. ”
Furthermore, President Kanehara says that he listens to the voices of the players sincerely, but there is a long-standing distrust from the players that the voices of the players were not reflected. There were also voices that there was no choice but to renovate the current association system.
Regarding this issue, Yoko Okamoto, a bronze medalist at the Sydney Olympics, said, “This is not a problem that has just happened, but it has continued for a long time.” It points out that there is.
On top of that, he said, “Someone has to take responsibility. Dissolving the board is one of the means,” recognizing that the renewal of the association's executives is another option.
Returning public corporation certification
The “All-Japan Taekwondo Association” was established in 2005, but there have been many problems related to organizational management.
At the time of 2013, we were certified as a “Public Interest Incorporated Association”, which is preferentially taxed, but even though there are no provisions in the Articles of Incorporation, the qualifications of some executives were suspended and We received a correction recommendation from the Cabinet Office regarding the suspicion that voting rights were not violated by the General Corporation Law.
The following year, in 2014, the Cabinet Office stated that there was a suspicion that it did not meet the standards for certification of public interest corporations, such as that the compensation of coaches paid from state subsidies was not properly managed. Received a recommendation.
After receiving the recommendation of the second time, the association returned the certification of the public interest corporation as “It is necessary to re-enter as an organization and create a sound system”.
At that time, it was the first time that the certification of a public interest corporation was returned.
Since then, the association has continued to operate as the “Japan Taekwondo Association”, a general incorporated association.
According to the association, the current president, Noboru Kanehara, was still the president at that time, and once retired from the position of president, he was re-established as president.