A rugby team manager’s conversion to MBA student

I graduated from Tokyo’s Waseda College in the late 1990s as a politics key and was seeking for a position when I saw that the Japanese rugby union was employing an accounting assistant.

That was my way into the entire world of rugby and, as I appreciated to use my English, I ended up helping with the women’s international games in Japan as well as negotiations with other unions when our workforce travelled abroad. The position suited me and, in 2010, I was appointed as group manager for the Japanese women’s rugby sevens.

I experienced by no means performed rugby — I just beloved to observe it. My father was a massive enthusiast and would consider me to game titles when I was young. My most memorable match was the ultimate of the Japanese national tournament in January 1984 when I was 10. We did not have tickets, but I managed to purchase some for all the family members from family members at the gate, using up the money from my New Year’s gift.

My proudest minute was in 2016, when the Olympic Video games integrated rugby sevens for the first time, and we went to Rio de Janeiro.

International MBA position 2022

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In the beginning, the women’s group only had about 5 coaching camps a month, but we produced the established-up and, in latest years, we have put in an typical of 270 times a year as a team training and collaborating in intercontinental tournaments. We have trained so challenging — when I started out, our workforce was ranked fifth in Asia, but now we are the champions of the area.

I tried really hard in excess of the years to give my whole assistance to players and employees equally on and off the pitch and, most importantly, I made absolutely sure to hold the workforce disciplined.

Last calendar year, I resolved to reinvent myself. In 2015, Eire experienced hosted the qualification event for the World Rugby Sevens women’s series at the Belfield Bowl, the College College Dublin stadium. I listened to that UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business College was searching for ladies from Asia to join its comprehensive-time MBA programme, so I made a decision to utilize.

Above the yrs, lots of players have come to me for assistance on how to cope. I have found I have a natural ability to encourage

I have two aims. The very first is to establish a life-very long career as an executive mentor at some place in the upcoming. Qualified rugby players confront a whole lot of stress and, above the several years, many have occur to me for advice on how to cope. I have found I have a purely natural potential to encourage.

My 2nd aim is to boost women’s rugby in Japan and for that I require business understanding these kinds of as advertising. I enjoy the sport since of its core values: integrity, solidarity, self-control and respect.

My MBA training course began in September and will run right until August. There are 34 entire-time college students from countries this sort of as India, the US and Lebanon, so it is a very intercontinental natural environment. Most learners are in their late twenties and have joined the course right after approximately 5 yrs in a career. I consider I am the oldest man or woman on the program at 47, even though I never really feel that aged. I even now have the exact enthusiasm to find out new things as the younger college students — age does not make a difference when you are learning.

I have enjoyed the course on management and organisational behaviour — it is all about how to deal with a team and become a far better chief. I learnt a great deal from that. Last year, all lessons had been on the internet because of the pandemic but, this yr, we have so much fortunately had all courses in human being.

Ireland has a lot of multicultural providers, these kinds of as Google, and it is significant to learn how to do the job with each other with various nationalities. I have learnt how to communicate and plan actions in a firm in a smoother manner.

I have appreciated dwelling in Ireland. Everybody I have met below has been so supportive and often asks if I am executing wonderful. I truly feel at home, even even though I at times skip the sunshine. But at the very least my Indian flatmates entertain me and keep me satisfied.

With Covid, it has not been easy to investigate Ireland, but I am hoping to visit the countryside by the close of the programme.

I plan to invest a further few of yrs with the Japanese rugby union — it funded my MBA and I also really want to enable establish women’s rugby in Japan.