Alumni's talk : Mr. Katsuyuki Kiyomiya -- The Former manager of Rugby Football Team in Waseda University

Mr. Kiyomiya was born in Osaka, 1967. When he was a student of Osaka Ibarata High School, he ran in the “Hana-zono Tournament” which is a national rugby competition for high school students and also was selected as a member of the under 18 Japan national rugby team. Besides winning the national rugby championship when he was a sophomore in Waseda, when he was a senior he led the Waseda rugby team to the first place of the college rugby championship as the captain of the team. After graduation from Waseda, he entered Suntory Co., and there he played rugby for 10 years. Then in 2001 he was named manager of the Waseda rugby team to reconstruct the team, which at that time was suffering from a long slump. He set about reforming the team, and it won the championship in the college rugby tournament in Kanto area for 5 years straight, achieved 2 successive victories in the national college rugby championship, and was three times best college team in Japan. This February his team beat the solid team of Toyota Motors Co. in the national rugby tournament for the first time in 18 years. Honored for various achievements over 5 years, he got a special prize from the president of Waseda University in 2005. Starting this month he is manager of the Suntory rugby team.

--Enthusiasm for Waseda rugby--

The enthusiasm shown at each game of the Waseda rugby team is still lingering. It is certain that many spectators got courage or passionate and ardent feelings from the matches. “Araburu”, the song for cheering Waseda rugby team, still echoes in our ears. Behind the “never-lose” Waseda team as long as 5 years, Mr. Kiyomiya, the real engineer of those constant successes, has never stopped providing us the uplift of victories. Below we interviewed Mr. Kiyomiya, “the greatest manager” of the Waseda rugby team, who resigned the post last March though lots of people wanted him to stay in the position.

--Do your best on whatever it is in front of you. Then you'll find a way to proceed--

Mr. Kiyomiya: When I was the third year of junior high school, I saw a rugby match on TV. It was impressive and I thought playing rugby would be cool so I decided to play rugby. Although now I am a manager of a rugby team and I've been playing it all the time through high school, college, and company, honestly I didn't expect I would do things related to rugby in my future when I was a student. I didn't have a clear vision of my future, but I did my best on whatever it was in front of me when I decided to do it. I believed I would find the next step I was supposed to take after doing my best with things in front of me. That is the way of thinking that even now I always try not to forget.

--What I learned form the life experience of being a full-time worker--

When I belonged to the rugby team in Suntory Co., I had to play simultaneously three roles. First, I was a rugby player and was supposed to devote my life to playing rugby. But at the same time, I was a company worker of Suntory Corporation, and also I was an important member of my family. I needed to work and had to take the responsibility as a family member. Those days I could sleep no more than 4 hours every day. Coming through such a hard time, I realized that it was indispensable to pick the things which were truly necessary for me to do and discard or ignore the rest. During 10 years of a being full-time worker as a rugby player, a company employee and a contributor to my family, I made this attitude the basis of my life and concentrated on how efficient I could be to get good results on things I did in a short period. I didn't have that much time to spend on inessential things. For example, you often see a situation like someone talking to you but he is a kind of lengthy talker and not good at describing the exact point of the story. I'm sure you would point out the sum of his story as soon as you get it. Same kind of thing can be applied to my life policy, especially to coaching rugby. Let's see�c. For instance, in coaching players practicing rugby, you would find almost 20 points that you don't like about the way they play. If you advise the players on all 20 points, players can't even digest the advice and will be far from being able to apply it. So the key here is to choose one, at most two out of 20 things you would like the player to listen to and apply. That day, you have to ignore the other 18. That's what's essential.

Because the people around me support me, I can achieve what I'm aiming at. I'm not alone-

I was made captain of the Waseda rugby team when I was a senior. But it was totally unexpected because I knew there were other guys much more suitable for captain in our team. I see myself as pretty independent, well you can call it a little bit selfish, so taking care of junior teammates and emphasizing team play didn't occur to me very much. Last year's captain, Mr. Michitaka Sasaki, was the complete opposite of me. He never forgets to watch out for his teammates and was really great as a captain. You see it in the comments he makes before and after matches, for example. Compared with him, I was less mature. Still such a person like me was able to lead the team because I was surrounded by teammates who, I thought, were more suitable to be leaders. There were also a bunch of well-balanced, sensible guys around me when I was the manager of Waseda rugby team. I can say that they allowed me to do whatever I thought was good for the team. Now I notice that I've always had good mates whatever I did. I'm not alone.

“Do what you promise to”--this helps to gain people's trust.

A moment of great emotion during the during the interview right after winning the second University championship

Receiving the President's prize at the graduation ceremony

On my departure from this Kamiigusa ground, I look back over the past 5 years and cannot pick the one most impressive scene because there were too many. If I had to say, then I would say there were various kinds of tears and “was able to cry many times” is my best memory. Each cry crystallizes a memory. By training the players to be stronger, I myself could grow during these 5 years. I received many things from the players by giving them instruction. I think my words were gradually changing through the years because I was changing. Thanks to that, now I think I can persuade others more effectively and my words may carry a little more weight.

Any time you persuade others, whether you coach or do something else, first presentation is very crucial element. You start by saying “last year it was ~, but this year it is going to be~!”--this is what you need to state first. It's important that you only tell others what you're sure you can achieve. You better not make a commitment you can't keep. My favorite saying is “Deeds are better than words.” This means that you're only going to announce in advance what you're absolutely sure you're capable of. If you keep making commitments which you cannot fulfill, then you are going to lose credibility and also authority. Many people asked me what problems I had, but there weren't any. “Neither the word 'hardship' nor the word 'stress' is in my dictionary. “ (Laugh) Originally, it might be a result of my personality that I do not feel anything to be troublesome. My parents let me do as I pleased and I could naturally learn to think independently and to solve problems, so I guess it built up my character. I will surely play rugby even I am reborn. If a reborn me spends a childhood like mine, being a leader of the kids, good at playing sports and always full of energy, then I bet he is going to play rugby--that's the way I live.

I want student to experience “something only possible at Waseda”!

Students today are “clumsy and obedient” implying both positive and negative meaning.

They keep pursuing what they want to do most. This attitude is good when you play rugby. But when you start working in the real world, does this attitude really work? For example, they are spending their most of their time studying their major, so they can improve themselves in their field. In itself this is a wonderful thing. On the other hand, looking back at our era, many of us were interested in studying not only our major but also other fields. Many people think I was did nothing but play rugby when I was a student, but I played golf, gambled and sorts of things. (Laugh) These days, I can say negatively that my student life was unsettled, but I had a strong curiosity and the appetite for trying many things. This change might be causing the decrease in the number of students that watch sports. It is good if students can deepen their interest and at the same time can broaden their horizons in other fields.

Getting into Waseda is not the goal of life. I want students to think of what to learn, what to gain, and what special thing you can achieve while at Waseda. For instance, it is common in sports and in other areas to cheer the team and share your feelings with others. If there is someone who cannot share his feelings with others even though the team is representing and fighting for an organization he belongs to, then he is leading a lonely life. Normally, everyone has the emotion of cheering.

Even though fewer people watch sports nowadays, I want people to come to the stadium and cheer us. Being one with students of other departments and ages and cheering the players competing under the name of Waseda is something very typical of our university. There are more woman rugby fans nowadays, so I hope that female students, who are increasing in Waseda, will cheer us more. Let's share the touching moments together. On TV you will never know that experience because television stations do not broadcast the climactic scene when we sing “Araburu”, the song sung when the team wins the championship, and you do not know how players look after the game. Including this part, I want them to experience the whole match with us, so I ask them to come to the stadium.

Finally, you can work part time and earn money any time. Of course, I do not say it is meaningless. However, experiencing “something only possible at Waseda” will definitely be a plus for you in the future. This is what I most want to say to the people who come after me.

Receiving a ball with the signatures of the players after the last game of “Team Sasaki” on February 22nd.