The BAJ leadership program empowers student-athletes to represent BAJ on their campuses and in their communities, thereby reaching more children across Japan. There have been eight total fellows since the program began in 2025. Each fellow is advised by a professional mentor to carry out action projects that increase the quality of existing BAJ programs at their school and develop new initiatives to meet the needs of their communities. Fellows grow as leaders through workshops in Japan and in the U.S. at a 3-day leadership summit hosted by Team IMPACT.

　　Team IMPACT matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams for two years, creating a long-term, life-changing experience for everyone involved. Since 2011, Team IMPACT has grown into 50 states in the U.S., matched over 4,500 children, worked with nearly 900 college campuses, and engaged more than 110,000 student-athletes.

　　In 2018, Team IMPACT launched their fellowship program to allow student-athletes the opportunity to increase their impact. In the last eight years, this program has rapidly grown across the country and been instrumental in Team IMPACT’s expansion. 

　　The partnership between BAJ and Team IMPACT has a longstanding history. Over 10 years ago, while BAJ CEO Hanako Kitano pursued her graduate degree in Sports Management and Recreation at Springfield College, she listened to a presentation at an alumni seminar by the current Chief Program Officer of Team IMPACT, Amy VanRyn. Inspired by Team IMPACT’s mission, Hana expanded on her work running sport programming in hospitals to begin the TEAMMATES program, which connects children facing serious illness with both professional and college sports teams in Japan.

　　The collaboration with Team IMPACT is an integral part of the BAJ fellowship. The partnership forms a network of like-minded peers across the world to learn from one another and create more opportunities for any child fighting for their life to live their youth. BAJ fellows begin their year in the program by attending the Team IMPACT Summit in Boston. During these four days, the students engage in leadership workshops, professional development, hear from families involved with Team IMPACT, tour US college athletic facilities, meet with athletic directors, and connect with American student-athletes from around the country. 

　　At the 2025 Summit, a staff member at Brown University in student-athlete development spoke about what it means to be a “good person” and the importance of college students taking leadership. Yuki Sato, a first-year BAJ fellow at the time from the University of Tsukuba, said that “hearing this [presentation] made me feel, more strongly than ever, that what we are doing has real meaning–and that it is our mission to continue expanding it.” The programming at the Team IMPACT Summit pushes the students out of their comfort zone to consider their holistic identities and long-term aspirations. Yuki found himself reflecting in a way he never had before, asking himself big questions about who he is, such as, “Is that truly the person I want to be? Would I actually be happy as that person?” The workshops and presentations push personal growth and lead to life-changing realizations that inspire the students to make long-lasting change in their communities. 

　　During the Team IMPACT Summit in 2025, two Team IMPACT fellows from Macalester College, Theo Darci-Maher and Sarah Solomon, got to know the BAJ fellows in-person. That following year, they met monthly online with Hanako and Risako to collaboratively develop a project together working onsite in Japan for two months. They received external grants and donations for their international airfare and were supported by the NIPPON Foundation for their transportation while in Japan. To expand BAJ outside of Tokyo and inspire more people to get involved, they presented about BAJ and Team IMPACT at various universities, businesses, and community organizations in different areas of Japan. They mentored the four new BAJ fellows to develop their year-long action projects, met their teams, and visited each of their campuses. In the BAJ hospital program, they worked weekly for a full five-week season at the National Center and delivered seven programs across three hospitals, independently leading four of them teaching soccer. For BAJ, they wrote the new English website, made one-pager infographics to be shared with every Team IMPACT fellow at the Boston Summit, and worked closely with the marketing team to design the new logo.

　　When reflecting upon her time in Japan, Sarah says, “The most meaningful experience this summer has been attending the hospital programs. I had not played sports with kids in the hospitals before, and it taught me a lot about being adaptable, finding happiness in small things (like lateral happiness), and making connections in spite of a language barrier.”

　　For Theo, he says, “Working directly with the children in the hospitals and seeing their growth in just a short time together has been one of the most inspirational and eye-opening experiences of my life. I leave Japan passionate to continue expanding this type of programming for all children across the world, and now feel confidently equipped to do so.”

　　The second year of the BAJ leadership program welcomes student-athletes from Keio University baseball and American football, Waseda University archery, and Ritsumeikan University karate. In their first month before attending the Team IMPACT Summit in Boston, they developed tangible projects with clear outcomes and steps to achieve them. They are ready to grow into impactful leaders who will learn from and build upon their training to expand BAJ across Japan.

　　In December 2026, BAJ will host its inaugural one-day leadership summit at three different universities in Japan. This will grow the BAJ leadership program by enabling students with the skills and knowledge to represent BAJ across Japan. Two staff representatives from Team IMPACT (Amy VanRyn and Alex Givens), two student-athlete fellows, and two American athletic department representatives from different schools will lead workshops for the Japanese students and present about the power of programs like Team IMPACT and BAJ. Students will feel the power of how sport brings people together across language, drastic cultural differences, and physical ability. In just one day, they will leave the leadership summit passionate to make significant social change. 

　　Through multiple onsite collaborations over the past two years, the partnership between Team IMPACT and BAJ is rapidly expanding into a global network of motivated student-athletes united by a shared mission. As a cornerstone of the BAJ leadership program, it equips fellows with the relationships, experiences, and leadership skills to expand the opportunities for all children facing serious illness to live their youth.

Author: Theo Darci-Maher