Vicente Micol, Vice Rector for Internationalization and Cooperation at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), met with representatives from two Japanese universities to strengthen academic and scientific collaboration in sports science, sports psychology, and judo.

Among the visitors is Natsumi Katagiri (far right in picture), a lecturer at International Pacific University and coach of the judo team there, whose judokas are Japanese champions. Katagiri is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Sports Science at the UMH under the supervision of UMH professor Carlos Montero.

Both universities are collaborating in research on the motivation of Spanish and Japanese judokas, and they are also exploring the possible implementation of the A-Judo Program at Japanese schools. A-Judo, which was created in Spain, strives to prevent school bullying through the practice of judo, and it has been evolving over the past four years in the framework of a Spanish ministry project that Montero directs.

Likewise, professor Choi Hwoisook (second from left), from Osaka University of Economics, who is a specialist in sports psychology, has expressed interest in this line of research and plans to spend a year at the UMH. Choi also collaborates with the Japanese Olympic Committee on the psychological training of Olympic athletes.

This meeting has served to strengthen UMH international ties and opens new opportunities for research and exchange between Spain and Japan.