Microgrant Update: “Hike!” Introducing American flag football to the city of Yabu

Adam Carter (Hyogo, 2022-present) of Olympia, Washington is one of the recipients of the 2023 Microgrant Initiative from the US Embassy Tokyo and USJETAA.

Adam, a municipal ALT in Yabu, Hyogo, along with his co-project managers Cesar Romero (Yabu’s Canadian CIR), Mayuki Shirayama (Yabu city’s ALT Supervisor), and Mitsuho Yamashita (Yabu Jr. High School’s Social Studies teacher), was awarded $1,000 for the project “Hike!” Introducing American flag football to the city of Yabu.

Adam’s project is still ongoing but has already made a big impact in the community. We had the opportunity to sit down with Adam to discuss his project, his love for American Football, and how the community of Yabu has grown to love football too. 

You probably haven’t heard this question in a while, but. . . Why JET? Why Japan?

I first came to Japan in 2019 as a solo backpacker. It was my first real trip abroad. During my two months in Japan, I made friends with a lot of fellow travelers—many of whom were polyglots. And I remember just being so impressed with their abilities to switch between languages seamlessly. 

Also, while I was traveling around Narita, I met a group of JETs. They told me about the JET Program and explained what it was like to work in a Japanese school. 

My new-found inspiration to learn a new language coupled with the excitement of hearing about the JET Program prompted me to get a dual degree in ESOL education and Japanese. 

Tell us about your project.

Our Microgrant proposal was officially named “Hike!” Introducing American flag football to the city of Yabu. Initially, our goal was to teach the fundamentals, strategy, and communication needed to play real games of organized flag football—all in English.

But since then, we have changed our group name to “The English Sports Academy.” The reasoning for this was two-fold. One, because the name added an air of legitimacy—which helps in convincing parents to let their kids skip juku to play football. But the second—and really the main reason—was to not limit ourselves to only flag football for future years. 

Sports are such a great way to make friends. And with friendship comes a certain level of comfortability and confidence in trying new things—like speaking English.

While I believe that football is the ultimate team sport, future ALTs may be more comfortable with kickball, wiffle ball, or ultimate frisbee. And at the end of the day, I really want this program to be as sustainable as possible and last many years to come. 

What inspired you to start this project?

I brought a football with me to Japan—not really thinking much about it. One day, before I had even started teaching, I was sitting in the teacher’s office and decided to show it to a few of the teachers as I was curious if they had ever seen an American football before. Before I knew it, the football was being passed around the office, and soon there was a group of us playing catch in the school courtyard.

I kept the football in my locker at school, and kind of forgot about it until one beautiful, sunny day several weeks later. I asked a few of the students if they wanted to try playing catch during recess and I was surprised about just how enthusiastic they were to give it a try! . . . I’m happy to say that we still have a regular group that asks to play catch whenever they get a chance.

My school’s social studies teacher, Yamashita-sensei, really took a liking to American football and we would often meet to play catch under the bridge, even during winter. Our conversations changed from basic mechanics to strategy and I was reminded that while play happens all over the world, football is uniquely American. 

I began to think about how I could share this aspect of my culture with more people in Yabu. So I shared this thought with Yamashita-sensei, and that is where the idea for The English Sports Academy began.

I hear you were in talks with some professional teams to form a partnership in support of the program!

The NFL does a lot of international outreach to help spread the game of football so I contacted them in hopes of getting some funding to buy equipment. I also reached out to the Seattle Seahawks—my hometown team. While they seem interested, progress has been slow and I haven’t been able to set anything up yet.

This is why I am so grateful to USJETAA and the US Embassy for the Microgrant. Prior to receiving the microgrant, I had been paying for everything out of my own pocket, and that just wasn’t sustainable in the long run. 

A large component of the program, and of the budget, are the raffles. At the end of each session, we raffle off one football and one pair of gloves. While this might just sound like fun, my reasoning for doing these raffles actually goes a bit deeper. 

I believe that if a kid has a pair of football gloves, they are going to want to use them, so they will keep coming back for more sessions. And if a kid has a football, then they are going to want to play a game, or at least catch; which means they are introducing the sport to others on their own, and football continues to grow in the community organically. 

Photo by The Yabu City News

What type of feedback have you received from the participants and the community so far?

On a typical day, we see anywhere from 10-22 players—mostly junior high school students, but occasionally elementary school students as well. We also have one parent who has gotten super into it and has become a regular participant. The students all seem to have a lot of fun and often end up bringing a friend to the next session.

I’m also impressed with how quickly the students pick up English from our sessions. All of the instructions are given in English by myself or the other ALTs who have volunteered to help—with the exception of a short strategy/rules segment given in Japanese by Yamashita-sensei. It’s really fun seeing some of my own students who participate in the program using English they learned from The English Sports Academy in school. 

And the City of Yabu has been incredibly supportive of the program. They even helped us advertise The English Sports Academy to all of the schools and community centers in Yabu. The Yabu City News also came to cover the program.

But for me, the most rewarding thing is seeing the kids have fun and develop a love for football. One day a few weeks ago, I was playing catch with one of my ALT friends in a park when I heard someone shout “Coach-Adam.” I turned and saw one of our players running up to us waving and wearing the football gloves he had just won a few days ago! It was at that moment that I realized just how much the kids of Yabu were developing a love for American football, and that our program was making a real impact. 

About the Microgrant Initiative for US JETs

The Microgrant Initiative for US JETs provides small grants (typically $200-$1,000) to current US JETs to fund projects that introduce American culture and/or the English language to students or to their local communities.

Microgrants are administered via USJETAA and funding is generously provided by the US Embassy-Tokyo.

To learn more about past Microgrant recipients, or how you can submit a proposal please visit our Microgrant Program page.