Twenty students from Osaka, Japan visited Cerritos College and took part in a sport trainer program this past week, taking place from Sept. 26-28.

The students were welcomed on Thursday morning by Beverly Sweet, who introduced other faculty members who spoke to students.

Among the faculty that spoke to the Osaka students were Cerritos College President Dr. Linda Lacy and Cerritos College athletic trainer Brian Cable.

Cable explained further what the athletic trainers roles are within the program, and how the students can benefit from learning in America.

“They get a very good book knowledge in Japan, but not a very good clinical experience so were able to help to show them what athletic training is like here in the United States.”

Yukiyo Matsumoto was translating the English into Japanese for the Osaka students, and Japanese into English for faculty and others.

Guest speaker Kris Boyle-Walker led a lecture on joint mobilizations where the students learned more about how to therapeutically heal a joint in the body by passive movements.

First, Boyle-Walker led a lecture focusing on the shoulder where she explained and demonstrated to the students about how the joints in the shoulder worked, and if a patient was sore how they could assist with physical therapy to help.

Once the lecture was finished, the students were able to practice in pairs the methods that Boyle-Walker taught them.

From there, the students went to lunch and then participated in other activities on campus, including a tour of the Senior Center.

Friday’s events took the students on location to Whittier, where they experienced a cadaver lab at the Southern California University of Health Sciences.

Tadashi Matsuuta, 22 year-old Osaka student, mentioned that the cadaver lab was his favorite part of the program.

However, Saya Kato, 19 year-old Osaka student, stated that she had enjoyed everything about the program, including the shopping they have done around the area.

After the trip to SCUHS the students headed back to Cerritos College to participate in activities, such as cheer.

Guest speaker Ni Bueno led a core strengthening lecture in room BK 111/112, where the students learned about exercises on which students could help to teach somebody about how to strengthen their core muscles.

Following that lesson was a first aid lecture led by Cable. He showed the visiting students the different injuries that different athletes at Cerritos College experience.

The first aid lecture also focused on the splinting and bandaging techniques of the Cerritos College athletic training department.

Then he showed pictures of different injuries that ranged from an ankle sprain to a dislocated knee.

Following the first aid lecture, the students watched part of the Cerritos College men’s soccer game that took place at home.

Saturday was the last day of the program. It started off with the students traveling to California State University of Long Beach, where they toured the Athletic Training Facility as well as the rest of the campus.

After student presentations and an explanation on how american football works, this information was provided before the students got a chance to watch an american football game.

The students traveled to the Cerritos College football game that took place at Pasadena City College against their Lancers.

Not only did the students watch the game, they also took part in assisting the Falcon cheerleaders in some cheers during the game.

This was the eleventh year that students from Osaka, Japan came to Cerritos College due to the program.

The students are scheduled to graduate in March, every year of the program there is a new set of students.

Cable mentions what he hoped the students of this years program learned.

“I hope they are able to, obviously learn something that they feel is important for their schooling, we [people involved in the program] also want to make sure that they get to interact with Cerritos College students because just that whole cultural exchange is really important to the Japanese people”

According to Cable some of the Osaka students have come back to Cerritos College to visit but not to enroll as a student, they often study at universities in the United States.