Kiyoshi Fujisawa, who won a silver medal in wheelchair basketball at the Tokyo Paralympics, gave a lecture at his alma mater, Nagano National College of Technology. His advice to students was to “know yourself.”
The shot was made by Kiyoshi Fujisawa, a native of Nagano City who won a silver medal in wheelchair basketball at the Tokyo Paralympics. He gave a lecture in front of 200 students at his alma mater, Nagano National College of Technology, where he also serves as a visiting associate professor.
Kiyoshi Fujisawa, Visiting Associate Professor at Nagano National College of Technology:
“It’s really important to make decisions with confidence. What did I do? That’s all there is to it. I started by getting to know myself.”
20 people participated in the trial session. It was the first time for all of them to try out using a wheelchair. Following Fujisawa’s advice, they tried using a wheelchair.
Once I got used to it, I had the chance to actually play in a match.
student:
“It was harder than I thought it would be. It felt completely different from shooting while standing up like I normally do, so I was surprised at how difficult it was.”
“I couldn’t use my legs and my height was lower than when I was standing, so it was difficult to reach the goal. When you get to know yourself, you can find out what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, so I thought that in order to pursue what I want to do, I also wanted to get to know myself.”
Fujisawa says he would like to spread the appeal of wheelchair basketball on various occasions.
Kiyoshi Fujisawa, Visiting Associate Professor at Nagano National College of Technology:
“What I learned at the Paralympics is to first know yourself, become aware of your own feelings, and think about them. I think this is something that can be applied to others. I think there are many more things that parasports can be involved in, such as classes. I would like to have classes and deepen relationships where the unique ideas of college students can be brought to parasports.”
Source: Japanese