Former Japanese national volleyball team member Naomi Masuko is no stranger to being scolded by demanding coaches during her playing days.

So, it's no surprise that she helped launch a youth tournament about a decade ago where coaches must not scold their players, aiming to eliminate violence, verbal abuse and harassment in sports coaching.

“I never want to see children getting hurt by sports again,” said Masuko, 58.

Once met with skepticism, the approach has since produced national champions, proving that encouragement, not discipline, leads to victory.

“I never imagined we would reach this point,” Mashiko said at the closing ceremony of the 10th tournament on Jan. 13.

NO-SCOLDING COACHING WORKS

What began as a small elementary school volleyball tournament in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, has now influenced coaching across multiple sports, including basketball, soccer and swimming.

Koubukuro Junior volleyball club from Iizuka in the prefecture, which won this year’s no-scolding tournament, also claimed victory at last summer’s national championship―competing against teams that allow scolding.

Coach Yuji Horita, 51, remained composed and gave instructions throughout the match, while the children on his team expressed their joy with fist pumps and smiles.

During breaks, they danced with parents in the stands.

Even in the national championship final, his instruction remained the same: “If you make a mistake, dance.”

Horita has been involved in the no-scolding tournament since its early days, refining a coaching style that focuses on praising effort and challenges rather than yelling at mistakes.

“I carefully observe each player’s facial expressions, eyes and overall demeanor, tailoring my guidance to their individual personalities,” he said.

After winning the national championship, Horita sent a message to the no-scolding tournament organizers on the LINE messaging app: “We won without scolding.”

TRAPPED IN CYCLE OF NEGATIVITY

The no-scolding tournament began with a meeting between Masuko and former company team player Miyoko Kitagawa, 56, and her husband, Shinji, 54, from Fukutsu, Fukuoka Prefecture.

The couple lost their 9-year-old son, Ryota, and 6-year-old daughter Miumi, in a drowning accident in the summer of 2009. Both children loved volleyball.

The couple had established a team for children, but the pressure to win led them to adopt intense training, and they soon found themselves trapped in a cycle of harsh coaching.

“I didn’t know any other way to coach―it was a cycle of negativity,” Miyoko said.

In 2014, Kosuke Kikkawa, Shinji’s former classmate and a Buddhist monk, told Masuko, “There are friends who have been hurt,” while working with her on disaster relief efforts in areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

That year, Masuko held a volleyball club in Fukuoka for the Kitagawas.

Wanting to take a step forward together, she proposed launching the “Naomi Masuko Cup.”

Masuko and Miyoko had experienced harsh, violence-driven coaching in high school.

BREAKING OLD HABITS

In January 2015, just before the inaugural tournament, Mashiko proposed a rule that coaches were not allowed to scold their players.

Coaches who did were given a red “X” mask as a reminder.

The tournament also featured relay races and quizzes to delight the children.

At first, the idea generated pushback.

“Are you giving up on winning?” “You can’t win without scolding.” “The kids will just get spoiled.” Masuko received such comments on social media.

“When people asked me what to do instead of scolding, I didn’t have a clear answer―I wasn’t sure myself,” she recalled.

Masuko had suffered under fear-based coaching, which made her afraid to take challenges and led her to play it safe.

Determined to offer an alternative, she studied anger management and mental coaching.

She then introduced these methods to coaches by organizing workshops at the tournament.

In recent years, the tournament has grown by introducing sportsmanship seminars to foster children’s independence and post-match functions where players celebrate each other’s efforts.

GROWING BEYOND VOLLEYBALL

In 2021, after hearing about a high school student in Okinawa Prefecture who took his own life reportedly due to the pressure from coaching in club activities, Masuko and the Kitagawas founded the general incorporated association, “The tournament where coaches must not scold.”

The three wanted to spread this new coaching philosophy.

The tournament has since expanded nationwide to prefectures such as Tokyo, Akita and Hyogo, and is now held in other sports as well, including swimming, soccer and basketball.

At a seminar in this year’s Fukuoka tournament, many children eagerly raised their hands and expressed their opinions. For the first time in the tournament’s history, no coach received the red “X” mask.

“I think this atmosphere we’ve built over the past 10 years has made it so that kids can not only feel safe and supported here at the tournament but also speak confidently and take on challenges within their own teams,” Masuko said.