On 18 July, the TV programme that traces the roots of Kyogo was broadcast only in Japan, so I will summarise and share the interesting parts. This programme was filmed three weeks ago, and when Kyogo returned to his hometown, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, he went to nostalgic places for him and went to meet some people.
The first place Kyogo visited was “Imoyama Park”, in Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture. It seems that he often kicked the ball on the hill in the park when he was in elementary school. He seems to have enjoyed playing football on holidays by kicking the ball up to the top of the hill many times there.
And the next place he visited was “Ikoma Seika Honpo Co., Ltd.” When Kyogo was tired from football practice in his childhood, he often ate “Rainbow Ramune”, which is a ramune confectionery produced by the company, which has been in business for 59 years.
This ramune was made with a ball as a motif, and Kyogo was surprised that he knew it for the first time in this programme. Just before he left the place, the President of the company handed him a box full of ramune, saying, “I want you to hand out to your teammates this ramune.”, and Kyogo looked very happy.
The next place he visited was “Ikoma Kenmin Sports Ground” in Nara Prefecture. That place is the training ground of Athpegas FC, which he belonged to when he was in Junior High School. Kyogo secretly appeared on the ground and surprised the school’s current students. After that, he played mini games with them.
Kyogo reunited with Tatsuta, manager who developed him at that place, and the scene where they had conversation was impressive.
Tatsuta: “From that time, you could ran fast only straight on the pitch. But whenever you started running at the same time as defender, defender couldn’t catch up with him. That part of you was very good. I scolded you for a lot of details like your dad.”
Kyogo: “I was scolded by you a lot at that time, but I understood that it was your love. I feel like you were scolding me because you expected me to be able to do it. There’s something I remember being told by you. You told me this when I couldn’t run fast and beat players who is tall and buff, or I couldn’t get over a difficult thing.
“You can run fast, so by kicking big in front of the ball with your first touch, you can definitely break through the situation. For me, who was not confident at that time, I was very grateful for your words, and I was encouraged by those words and was able to gain confidence. It was a word that became a big turning point in my life.”
He showed a very satisfied expression and enjoyed the first conversation with the manager in a long time. He also enjoyed his time in his hometown like Celtic Japanese bhoys, and seems to have been able to refresh himself for next season. When we see his performance, we can know that many people are involved in his background. That’s all.
Yatao
An irreplaceable time with my Scotish friends in Nissan Stadium🍀 We are spending many time for a few days together in Yokohama, but they have been covering my poor English speaking skills without complaining. I am sincerely grateful for their kindness💚 pic.twitter.com/20USKWrdOe
— Yatao (@yataoda4) July 19, 2023
