Midori Kadowaki
Staff and Trainer at the Social Welfare Corporation BUSSI-EN Wellness Gym
"GOTCHA! WELLNESS"

It has been 4 years and 8 months since I started working as a fitness instructor and an employment support staff member at GOTCHA! WELLNESS, which is operated by the Social Welfare Corporation BUSSI-EN based in Ishikawa Prefecture. I have a severe congenital hearing impairment, and since childhood, I have received pronunciation training. Although I still struggle with pronunciation and clarity while speaking, I have developed enough communication skills to have conversations, which has allowed me to pursue my dream of working as a trainer involved in sports instruction.

Since about three years ago, masks have become indispensable in our lives due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since I used to use oral communication as a means of communication, my motivation for my current job in the customer service industry dropped for a time. There were days when I avoided direct interaction with customers and spent most of my working hours doing office work. The first thing I did at that time was to increase the things I could do to motivate myself. One of those things is to take charge of a new group program. I thought that by doing so, I could establish connections with new people and increase the number of people who understand me. Additionally, as a fitness instructor, I had always admired boxercise (boxing exercise) instructors, so I decided to take the plunge and give it a try. I selected a source with a constant BPM (tempo), placed a metronome nearby, and repeated the movements many times. I also asked my colleagues to move alongside me for assistance, imprinting the tempo of the movements into my body. After four months of practice, I successfully made my debut as the instructor for the program. While I still cannot hear the special ambiance of the music or the transition to the next song, I continued to communicate by constantly cheering on each participant while observing their faces. Above all, I worked with the mindset of enjoying myself to the fullest. My experience during the COVID-19 pandemic has solidified my belief that it is important to think of everything as being for your own good and to continue to take on challenges.

In September, it was decided that Tokyo will host the 2025 Summer Deaflympics. Following this decision, there has been an increase in requests for interviews and lectures in the deaf track and field events that I am involved in. At the 2021 Deaflympics, held in Brazil in May after a one-year postponement, the spread of the corona infection within the Japanese team led to an unprecedented withdrawal from all competitions during the Games, and the athletes regretfully returned home with some athletes not even being able to compete. As someone who was present at the event as a technical official for the starting lamps, I witnessed the reality of the withdrawals and it pained me to think about the feelings of the athletes and staff, who had dedicated themselves to the Deaflympics, would ever be able to understand, as well as the younger generation aspiring to participate in the event. In addition, there were no female athletes who were aiming to represent Japan in the short-distance events, which is my specialty, and we were unable to compete in the relay events. Considering the low recognition and limited number of participants in the sport domestically, I have spent the past six months contemplating and worrying about whether we can enhance the track and field events at the 2025 Deaflympics and if we will receive support. Eventually, with encouragement from those around me, I have come to the conclusion that my own comeback as an athlete would be the best course of action. Despite a break of more than two years, I have made a fresh determination to utilize my 14 years of previous athletic experience and the knowledge gained from four years as a trainer to strive for a comeback and represent Japan again. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought changes to my surroundings and has also caused changes in my life and lifestyle. For better or worse. I anticipate that 2023 will bring various challenges, but I will embrace each day with the belief that it will be for my own benefit.

The image shows the author on the right, participating in the boxing program as an instructor.