Looking Back at the FIUTS Sports & Culture Exchange Program with Waseda University

In honor of International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2021, we’re looking back at the last Visiting Program that FIUTS was able to host in person prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FIUTS Sports & Culture Exchange, which we hosted for the very first time in 2020 ran from February 22-March 3, 2020 and included eight students and one faculty member from Waseda University in Japan.

We had such a wonderful time hosting this program! Many of the students were studying sports science and sports management, and were elite athletes in various sports. They had a wide range of interests including media, gender, and sports business, and sports they play include badminton, wrestling, finswimming, handball, tennis, and more.

During their time in Seattle, they toured sports facilities, watched sporting events, and met faculty, staff, and students involved in athletics at the university and high school level. Beyond learning about athletics in the United States, this program was an opportunity for cultural exchange. The students stayed in homestays with local volunteer hosts, visited cultural sites around Seattle, and developed close friendships with their University of Washington Ambassadors.

Getting to know Seattle with a scavenger hunt at Pike Place Market

Kim Durand, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Development, gave us a tour of UW's athletic facilities

Touring the ASUW Shell House to learn about rowing at UW

Touring Husky Stadium

A visit to Ingraham High School to learn about high school sports in the U.S.

The group enjoyed a basketball game at Seattle Pacific University

Morning Discussion Circle with Bryan Anderson from UW Recreation: UWild

Touring T-Mobile Park

Touring Safeco Field

Enjoying a UW Huskies gymnastics meet

Visit to Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center

Learning about circus arts at SANCA

More fun at SANCA!

The group at the final dinner along with some of their hosts and Ambassadors

Thank you to everyone who helped make this program a success: Our incredible homestay hosts and UW Ambassadors; Dr. Jennifer Hoffman at the UW Center For Leadership In Athletics; The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian American Experience; Ingraham High School; the UW IMA; Kim Durand; Bryan Anderson; the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center; SANCA; and the Japanese Cultural Community Center of Washington.

And finally, of course, we are so grateful to our partners at Waseda University, and are excited to work together again once programs can take place in person!