Japanese woman scores as soccer coach in Madrid
Very admirable achievements. According to her profile, Saeki was born in Iran and lived in Taiwan because of her father's work. I can't see her heading back to Japan any time soon.Under the clear blue skies of Spain in late September, coach Yuriko Saeki, 31, glares at her 16 female soccer players. It's 5 p.m. and the team is holding its last meeting before kicking off the first game of the season.
...Last fall, Saeki obtained a national license, the country's highest certification for soccer coaches, and immediately was hired to coach a men's third division club in the Spanish League, the first woman to do so.
...Saeki's passion for soccer came at an early age. She spotted a soccer ball at a sports equipment store in her native Fukuoka when she was a second grader. The yellow ball looked so cool, she begged her mother to buy it for her.
She continued playing soccer...[b]ut she was shocked by a message written by one of her school teachers on her junior high graduation card. "From now on, choose a sport you can play for life."Saeki felt as if she was being told to wake up and forget soccer.
...Once in the Spanish capital of Madrid, she immediately joined a girls' soccer team. Speaking little English and no Spanish whatsoever, she packed a dictionary in her bag whenever she went to practice...Three years later when her parents returned to Japan, Saeki stayed behind alone and decided to become a coach.
She rented an apartment near the powerful Real Madrid team stadium and attended coaching school, passing one exam after the next. Last summer, she participated in a camp to obtain the national coaching license....Saeki was the only woman among the 34 coaching candidates that survived the rigorous schedule.
