In a game, the winning team gets a trophy or bragging rights. In a rescue situation, the winning team completes the mission and comes home alive,\u201d says\u00a0Yuri Hosokawa \u201916 (CAHNR).<\/p>\n
Hosokawa has dedicated her relatively short career to preventing heat-\u00adrelated deaths in athletics, notably as a key liaison between the International Olympic Committee and local athletic trainers at the Tokyo 2020 games. Now she\u2019s set her sights on bringing the same knowledge to the Japan Coast Guard.<\/p>\n
Hosokawa was pleasantly surprised when an officer from the Japan Coast Guard approached her at a 2018 lecture intended for other academics and exercise scientists. He wanted to find a way to help his staff at the 5th Regional Base tap into her cutting-edge research on exertional heat illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cTreating members of the military like elite athletes is more common in the U.S., but that standard of care isn\u2019t happening on a global scale,\u201d she says. \u201cIt should be, but it\u2019s not. This was a big opportunity to make change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hosokawa had some experience working with other tactical athletes during her time at UConn\u2019s Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), but she knew the partnership she was about to embark on would be forging new ground in her home country of Japan, where athletic training isn\u2019t considered a medical qualification. She learned to take the leap and try something new from her academic advisor and mentor, kinesiology professor and KSI CEO\u00a0Douglas Casa \u201997 Ph.D.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s always looking for that new spark, a way to connect A and B even when that seems impossible. I took that philosophy with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Hosokawa started work with her new team. Accepting the harsh realities of marine emergencies was the first step. \u201cIt\u2019s that old saying \u2014 expect the best, plan for the worst,\u201d she explains. \u201cFor athletes, there are fewer unexpected variables when it comes to how we optimize performance so they can be their best.\u201d Natural elements, extreme conditions, and other hazards play a major role for rescue organizations, and the Japan Coast Guard was no different. \u201cThey have no idea what they\u2019ll face or for how long. They may be out on the ocean for days and they\u2019re always fighting nature. They don\u2019t have a set of rules to play their \u2018game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n