College is a new and fun experience for a lot of new students as some stay local and take the community college route, some jump straight to a four year university route and some go out of state. Collegiate athletes are no different when they select a school that will help move them up to the next level of competition in the pros. The love of sport drives many athletes and for Teppei Fukuda, Go Hattori and Kanta Kobayashi, that love drove them all the way to Citrus College.
Before they were a part of the Owls Baseball team, Fukuda and Kobayashi knew each other and went to the same English learning school in Japan. Hattori did not know either Fukuda or Kobayashi but that didn’t stop the three of them on their journey of being student athletes as they came together to become friends.
For Fukuda, the second year psychology major and catcher for the Citrus College Owls, the cultural and language differences took some time adjusting to as it was different from Japan.
“A lot, everything, even the cars, in Japan they drive on the left side but in America they drive on the right side… I need to adjust,” Fukuda said.
The three of them shared the same sentiment about the need for adjustment while at Citrus but have also enjoyed playing for Citrus and gaining the experience and knowledge of playing at a community college.
Fukuda although now happy and thriving at Citrus, he did always know he wanted play at the next level.
“ I actually stopped playing baseball when I graduated high school, but then I went to a college in Japan for a year and during that one year I was joining the baseball team,” Fukuda said. “It was college student who are like just some people who wants play baseball only weekends. Then I had a teammate who experienced baseball here, so he’s the guy who make me curious to American baseball. After that I came to the U.S. to play baseball for a week in summer vacation than I really liked it so I decided to come here to play baseball again.”
Outside of the desire to play in the major leagues, the three of them want to transfer to four year universities and get their degrees. Teppei had gained a bit of attention from a four year university but is not sure what he wants to do yet.
In his second season, Teppei has improved his batting average which has gone up to .323 compared to .297 last season. He has two home runs, 33 RBIs, runs batted in, which leads the team, and a .409 OBP, on base percentage, Even with the personal success, Teppei saw his growth come from his commitment to his teammates and team success.
Similar to Fukuda, Kobayashi has found a way to perform well in his first season as an Owl as he adjusts to his new life at Citrus. Kobayashi has a batting average of .399, which leads the team, 25 stolen bases, which also leads the team, a .459 OBP and 21 RBIs.
Hattori has also had a productive year so far with the Owls, he has knocked in 16 RBIs with a .272 batting average and a .336 OBP.
The three friends will look forward to the rest of the season, make playoffs and develop more relationships with the Citrus community as their new lives at Citrus has just started.
