Smiling is wonderful

Since I arrived in Bhutan, there is one thing I have tried to keep in mind every day.

For the past three years, I have been doing 10 minutes of smile exercises every day before heading to the office. Bhutanese people would always respond with a big smile when you smile at them, even if it is your first time meeting them. Even for someone like me who finds it challenging to speak English, their smiles alone help people feel connected to them. More so than words, smiles can spread more smiles. Nowadays, the children at the academy would wave their hands and greet me with a bright smile, even from a distance. I was able to encounter many smiles since I arrived in this country, and have been saved by them, and I am continuing to learn the wonderful benefits of smiling.

Football skills and Life skills

In Japan, I used to tell the players what football skills I wanted them to acquire from the training and highlighted them as key factors. Now, at the Bhutan Football Academy, we are trying to impart the key factors of life skills together with the football skills. This is because the current state of school education in this country places more of a focus on teaching academic subjects than it does on instilling moral and emotional values.

After each session, we always ask the question, “How does this practice apply to your life?” For example, there is a drill where a group of 10 players form a single circle, and within that circle, using two balls, the players pass the ball around with a one-touch limitation. In order to keep the ball moving, the players must call out the name of the next recipient. In football, this drill helps the players develop their awareness of their surroundings and communication skills, while in life, it teaches them how to take the initiative to reach out to others. We try to associate the drills with skills that are essential in both life and football.

We strive to make football a school of life across a multitude of areas, including decision-making, responsibility, communication, creativity, and problem-solving.

Most of the players who have graduated from this academy have gone on to play for the national team. That is why I genuinely hope that in three or ten years’ time, when these players play an active role in the national team, they become players who are loved by the public for their smiles and humanity.