The power of sports | Hiroko Morohashi | TEDxKyoto

Hiroko Morohashi from the non-profit organization United Sports Foundation expresses her belief that "people adapt and grow in response to change."
She talks to everyone about how we can give each other inspiration and courage through the power of sports and how she helped inspire many people, especially children.

This video was recorded for a TEDx Event which was independently operated by the local community's TED Conference. For more details please go to http://ted.com/tedx

I'm on a mission to make
a rich and fulfilling world

through sports activities.

Here I participated at the world's
most prominent obstacle course.

However, when I was a child,

I hated sports, since I was
really not an athletic person.

Some of you may think
I'm joking, but it's true.

When I was very young
and playing catch for the first time,

I couldn't catch the ball thrown at me.

I tried, but the ball ended up
hitting me and making my nose bleed.

It's quite surprising that I now
represent a sports foundation,

moving around with children
with the best of my ability

under the belief that sports
can make a rich world,

which even I'm amazed myself at.

Why have I come to believe
in the power of sports so much?

The answer lies in a value
I hold close to heart:

people are adaptable and grow
by progressing in response to change.

I was born in Iwaki City, Fukushima,
on the 2nd floor of a men's clothing shop

in a shopping street.

On the first floor of the store,

my father did the stocking
and my mother did sales.

Up until I was two to three years old,

I was often on a lead tied to a wagon
near the store entrance,

and I would greet customers saying
"welcome" and "thank you."

I was basically the "mascot dog"
of the store, so to speak.

The small men's clothing shop
my father started up

expanded to have multiple shops.

After that, we kept changing
what the company was,

over and over again.

At the time, the company
was like a chameleon

because it kept changing constantly.

That meant that my father would also
change his strategies on a daily basis.

He would say one thing,
and next day he would change his mind.

Then the day after,
he would change his mind again.

When asked why he kept changing
what he said all the time, he said,

"The world is changing all the time

and people who progress and adapt
will survive these changes."

That's what he told me.

On my part, because I was changing
schools and moving out a lot,

saying what felt like
daily hellos and goodbyes,

I got used to that kind of lifestyle.

Towards the end of the junior high school,
I left Fukushima by myself,

and I hopped around Sendai, Tokyo,
San Diego, Boston, and Barcelona

by the time I was 28 years old.

However, my father,
whom I deeply respected and loved

passed away suddenly
while he was traveling.

It’s been 15 years
since he passed away in 2003.

Not only did my father give me
insights on running a business,

but he also showed me how to live my life,

so losing him left a big hole in my heart.

I couldn't really make sense of it at all.

But my father always taught me

that we progress and grow as people
in response to change

by words and actions,

this was my way of thinking
from the day I was born.

Also,

there’s one more event
that made a big change in my life.

It's the Great East Japan Earthquake,
which happened on 11th March, 2011.

My father’s hometown
is in Iwaki City, Fukushima.

My mother’s is in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi.

Both cities were severely
affected by the disaster,

and I lost many of my relatives,
friends, and people that I knew.

Furthermore, the 70 sports stores of ours
were collapsed and destroyed.

Even now when I try to remember
that time, it’s still fuzzy to me.

I know for certain that I remember
the notion of wanting to keep on living.

I thought living of itself was a miracle.

With this new sense of self,
I started to think of what I could do.

What I did with the 70 destroyed shops

was that I took out tents
and camping equipment from the rubble

and created spaces
for the locals to gather.

However, in those places,
the children couldn't smile anymore.

They had lost their parents,
siblings, relatives, and even homes.

There was no way
the kids would be in high spirits.

Amongst all this,
our support groups expanded,

and we received all kinds of support
from athletes all around the world.

One day, with a legendary NBA player,

we visited Shiogama City
Junior High School in Miyagi Prefecture.

Up until this day, many children
refused to even touch the ball.

Encouraged by the NBA player,

they started passing
the ball to each other.

Then those children,
who couldn't even crack a smile,

started smiling and even crying.

Even now, I can remember it vividly.

Despite this painful
and difficult situation,

sports has this power
to make people smile.

It has this power
to give back life to others.

That's how I really felt.

Up until that point,

I thought that sports were only
for people who liked sports

and people who can do sports.

However, when I saw
those children's expressions change,

I actually felt the impact
that sports can make on people.

When I saw those children, it dawned on me

that having sports as part of one's life

makes life more fun and worthwhile,

that making sports
more accessible to more people

may make a richer
and more fulfilling world.

This was such a startling discovery.

I started feeling empowered
to do the best I could do

for the children struggling out there.

That revelation inspired
this foundation's establishment.

The first thing that we did was,

for the children who couldn't go outside
due to the radioactive contamination,

we established a free sports facility.

The fact is that the child obesity rate
in Fukushima spiked after the disaster.

I was reminded of the importance
of what we usually consider obvious:

children need to move around
and play outside.

So our foundation expanded our reach

by hosting various sports events.

We now offer these sports opportunities
to over 600,000 children.

Among these activities,

our main focus is the sports camp
for primary school students.

They spend two nights and three days
without parental supervision.

We invite former Japanese representatives
and pro-athletes in various sports

to directly coach them during the day,

and in the evening, we run events
like meetups in English.

The children have all kinds
of experiences at the camp.

At the camp, a couple of incidents
occur almost every time.

Children are very nervous
on their first day,

become more comfortable
on the second day,

then start fighting each other
the next moment.

Eventually, they get angry
since things didn't go as planned,

then they go berserk ...

and finally break out!

(Laughter)

For our staff and volunteers,

it feels like being in the trenches
dealing with all those hassles.

But we get feedback from children
on what they did at the camp like,

"Now I know that I can complete
in a lot of sports, not just one sport."

Another kid said,

"At this camp, I learned how to talk
with people I haven't met before."

Two nights and three days
is such a short amount of time,

but this camp has had a huge effect
on the children's growth and well-being,

and I feel so happy that it does.

Now I have come to believe firmly

that the philosophy
I hold dear in my heart,

that people are adaptable and grow
by progressing in response to change,

is closely linked to the power of sports.

The other day, I flew to Buenos Aires

and participated in the first
"Olympism in Action Forum" held there.

There were over 1,500 people
from 150 countries across 5 continents.

The theme was to make a peaceful society
with the power of sports,

and we held discussions
with all kinds of topics.

For sports to help
the international society

to continuously grow and expand
in the right direction,

I think Japan has to play a big role

even after hosting the Tokyo
2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

Not being afraid to take on challenges,

advancing by doing on all sorts of things.

and growing together with friends
by influencing each other.

These are the kinds of experiences
we want children to have through sports.

I want to go out there and make
this kind of safe space for them.

I have been through many changes
my whole life since I was very little.

From inheriting my family business
after my father passed away

to losing so much
from the Tohoku Earthquake,

I rose above the depths of my own despair.

Today, I'm standing here, talking to you.

That is solely because I was willing
to accepting these changes,

taught myself to become stronger,

and adapted and grew during these times.

I believe that everyone
who came here today

is changing, adapting,
and growing every single day.

There are times
where it can get really tough,

and you'll have those days when you want
to stop and not take another single step.

However, there is nothing more precious

than the joy of being able to do things
that you couldn't do before.

That way, you can live
a happy life in your own ways.

I've learned that with my own experiences.

Change, adaptability, and growth.

I invite everyone who's listening to me

to take that first step for the better.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)