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Apr. 10—CHAMPAIGN — My grasp of Japanese is limited to a couple phrases: "Let's go" and "my knee hurts."
Illinois football coach Bret Bielema knows some others: Ichiban, sake and Sapporo.
"Back in my younger years, we'd go out for some sake and went to a sushi joint and had Sapporo beer," Bielema said after Monday night's spring practice at the Smith Center.
Bielema welcomed longtime friend Atsushi Saijo to the Illinois football facility this week. Saijo brought members of his team from Osaka Sangyo University with him.
Bielema and Saijo first met in 1994, when Bielema was a graduate assistant at Iowa and Saijo was a visiting player/coach.
"Seventy players came over and we coached them," Bielema said. "I was around them an entire week. I distinctly remember the first time I taught him a slap uppercut to a counter swim, to see a light bulb go on in his head through an interpreter is really something else."
This time, Bielema showed the visiting team a photo of him with Saijo from back in the day.
The Japanese players and coaches watched the practice and took a group photo with the Illinois team.
Through the subsequent years, Saijo has spent time with Bielema's programs at Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas and now Illinois.
"I feel lucky to continue to have a relationship to him," Saijo said through an interpreter. "Originally, he taught me a lot of fundamental defensive football."
Photos have been taken each time the two coaches connect and Bielema has copies.
Not that Bielema's young daughters were sure he was in the pictures.
"My youngest saw a picture of me in 1996. I've got a Hawkeye sweatshirt on and khakis and a pair of Aviator shades," Bielema said. "My daughter was convinced that was not me. She was like, 'Dad, you look so young,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it was 1996.' I showed her a picture of Wisconsin and she said, 'That kind of looks like you.'"
Bielema and Saijo communicate during the season.
"When we get done with a game, I'll get an email in the midnight hours," Bielema said. "Something's that really cool and really fun."
Universal language
In the case of Saijo and Bielema, that would be football.
When they are together, Bielema and Saijo use an interpreter, the niece of Yoko Ono. She was a student at Iowa.
"For me to experience the Japanese culture through them, they are very giving, very warm people," Bielema said.
The Osaka quarterback threw passes with his Illinois counterparts.
"Just to see their interaction is pretty fun," Bielema said.
Plus, you never know when a Big Ten-level player will show up on Saijo's team. Have to think Illinois would be the likely U.S. destination.
Saijo plans to return to Champaign-Urbana in the future, hopefully next year.
Interested observer
Hiroki Yasuda looks the part of a tight end height-wise, standing more than 6-foot-2.
Weight wise, he is not there yet.
"(They are) way wider," Yasuda said. "In Japan, I've never seen a tight end that big."
Yasuda was part of Saijo's group to visit C-U this week.
What did it mean to him to watch the Illinois team in person?
"It's like a dream," Yasuda said. "It's amazing. I never imagined how American football would be in America."
Any surprises?
"Everything," he said. "The size of the players and the size and the scale of the building (Smith Center). You can't make things like this in Japan. It's too small."
Yasuda picked up some blocking tips that will help when he resumes play at home.
"The coaching was very different," Yasuda said. "In our university, the coaches won't say a lot and we do it ourselves. Here, the coaches do the meetings and say the points of the practice."
Yasuda's father played American football and introduced the game to him.
"I knew it from when I was small," he said.
He played flag football at first before moving into the contact version.
The popularity of American football is growing in Japan, Saijo said.
Yasuda watches the NFL on TV. The Chiefs, who just missed a third straight Super Bowl title, are the current favorites in Japan, Saijo said.
Continue reading...
Illinois football coach Bret Bielema knows some others: Ichiban, sake and Sapporo.
"Back in my younger years, we'd go out for some sake and went to a sushi joint and had Sapporo beer," Bielema said after Monday night's spring practice at the Smith Center.
Bielema welcomed longtime friend Atsushi Saijo to the Illinois football facility this week. Saijo brought members of his team from Osaka Sangyo University with him.
Bielema and Saijo first met in 1994, when Bielema was a graduate assistant at Iowa and Saijo was a visiting player/coach.
"Seventy players came over and we coached them," Bielema said. "I was around them an entire week. I distinctly remember the first time I taught him a slap uppercut to a counter swim, to see a light bulb go on in his head through an interpreter is really something else."
This time, Bielema showed the visiting team a photo of him with Saijo from back in the day.
The Japanese players and coaches watched the practice and took a group photo with the Illinois team.
Through the subsequent years, Saijo has spent time with Bielema's programs at Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas and now Illinois.
"I feel lucky to continue to have a relationship to him," Saijo said through an interpreter. "Originally, he taught me a lot of fundamental defensive football."
Photos have been taken each time the two coaches connect and Bielema has copies.
Not that Bielema's young daughters were sure he was in the pictures.
"My youngest saw a picture of me in 1996. I've got a Hawkeye sweatshirt on and khakis and a pair of Aviator shades," Bielema said. "My daughter was convinced that was not me. She was like, 'Dad, you look so young,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it was 1996.' I showed her a picture of Wisconsin and she said, 'That kind of looks like you.'"
Bielema and Saijo communicate during the season.
"When we get done with a game, I'll get an email in the midnight hours," Bielema said. "Something's that really cool and really fun."
Universal language
In the case of Saijo and Bielema, that would be football.
When they are together, Bielema and Saijo use an interpreter, the niece of Yoko Ono. She was a student at Iowa.
"For me to experience the Japanese culture through them, they are very giving, very warm people," Bielema said.
The Osaka quarterback threw passes with his Illinois counterparts.
"Just to see their interaction is pretty fun," Bielema said.
Plus, you never know when a Big Ten-level player will show up on Saijo's team. Have to think Illinois would be the likely U.S. destination.
Saijo plans to return to Champaign-Urbana in the future, hopefully next year.
Interested observer
Hiroki Yasuda looks the part of a tight end height-wise, standing more than 6-foot-2.
Weight wise, he is not there yet.
"(They are) way wider," Yasuda said. "In Japan, I've never seen a tight end that big."
Yasuda was part of Saijo's group to visit C-U this week.
What did it mean to him to watch the Illinois team in person?
"It's like a dream," Yasuda said. "It's amazing. I never imagined how American football would be in America."
Any surprises?
"Everything," he said. "The size of the players and the size and the scale of the building (Smith Center). You can't make things like this in Japan. It's too small."
Yasuda picked up some blocking tips that will help when he resumes play at home.
"The coaching was very different," Yasuda said. "In our university, the coaches won't say a lot and we do it ourselves. Here, the coaches do the meetings and say the points of the practice."
Yasuda's father played American football and introduced the game to him.
"I knew it from when I was small," he said.
He played flag football at first before moving into the contact version.
The popularity of American football is growing in Japan, Saijo said.
Yasuda watches the NFL on TV. The Chiefs, who just missed a third straight Super Bowl title, are the current favorites in Japan, Saijo said.
Continue reading...
