The Owl football team has an international player on its roster this season.
He is from Japan and his name is Kosuke Kayahara.
Kayahara has played a crucial role in playing with the Owls as a kicker.
He said it’s always been “my dream. My goal is to play football in Division I.”
Kayahara said he has enjoyed his time on the field, saying that he “has fun doing it,” Kayahara said.
Citrus College head football Coach Brandon Hayashi said “it’s been a fun experience playing with Kosuke. It brings back memories from 2014 when another international player from Japan played with the team.”
“There aren’t really any key differences in how he plays, versus how an American football player does.”
Hayashi said “many American sports such as football are getting popular in Japan. Kosuke started off playing soccer, which soon led him to playing football”
He said it would “be awesome if more international players came here to play football at Citrus.”
Hayashi and Kayahara use the app iTranslate, which they both use to communicate with each other. Hayashi said he and a friend of his “go on a three way call to further communicate with Kosuke if needed for something important.”
Rayaan Shaw, an offensive lineman with the Owl football team, said playing with Kayahara is a “really fun experience. Everyone on the team would hype him up and cheer him on. After Kosuke joined the team, we were able to show him some of the things we knew, ensuring he’d have a good time and we’d get the work on the field done.”
Shaw said Kayahara has become an “important part of the team and he keeps our morale up.”
Shaw said “They definitely should consider playing. It would be a cool experience for them and everyone around them. It’s another environment for them to excel in and to test the waters.”
Nathan Kneubhler, a defensive tackle player with the Owl football team, said playing with Kayahara was “very interesting. He has adapted very easily and he does all the breaks and calls out. Whenever we play, he’s always hyped up and playing with him is a lot of fun.”
Kneubhler said Kayahara is a “team player and gets everything that the team is doing. He has adapted fast to the environment of how the team plays.”
Kneubhler said he thinks it would be amazing if other international players played American sports.
“Yes, of course, I feel like if anybody wants to play a sport as Americanized as football, which is played in very few countries aside from the U.S., they should come and play whatever they want.”
For Kayahara’s stats, his total points made for the games he’s played this season is 13 out of 13, reaching him at 100%. These stats are documented on the Citrus College Owls website.
