LBSU
manager has big hoop dreams
By Yoshinori Okada
On-line Forty-Niner
Watching
over players’ court-running practice with
a serious look, he was standing among a
group of Long Beach State’s 49er men’s basketball
team coaches.
Makoto Higashiyama, a graduate of kinesiology
and physical education from Japan, has been
a manager for the team for nearly two years.
Having begun to play basketball at age 10,
he found himself attracted to the strategic
aspect of the game that went beyond just
playing it on his junior high school team
that won a championship in a provincial
tourney, Makoto said.
While playing basketball at a famous public
high school, known for its good basketball
team, he kept studying the sport by himself,
watching many games at tournaments and even
visiting coaches of other good teams across
Japan.
Higashiyama’s diligence was rewarded as
he was offered to be a coach for his college
men’s team in Kyoto, Japan, and a head coach
position for the women’s team the following
year.
He said he experienced an wide range of
emotions when his unbeaten team advanced
to the first division of the intercollegiate
league. His team won — but his basketball
life as a player was over at the same time.
“At this time, I had no confidence to be
a coach even I [though] still loved basketball
strongly,” Higashiyama said. “Then I decided
to become an athletic trainer to work for
a team in Japan’s top basketball league.”
The time to make a decision came, after
spending five years earning his master’s
degree in sports medicine and as an athletic
trainer at a sports orthopedics hospital,
whether to follow further study in a homeland
of basketball or to accept a part-time post
of instructor for some colleges offered
to him at the time.
“Thinking of my age, I thought that was
the last chance to come to the U.S.,” Higashiyama
said. “I just couldn’t give up my dream.
Only thing I could do was believe in myself,
even my dream is worth risking my life.”
He said that the words of his boss at the
hospital had a big influence on his final
decision.
Higashiyama said he was taught that the
man sometimes has to follow his dream or
duty even at the cost of his life and someone
very special to him like his family.
Thus, he came to the United States to attend
CSULB in the summer of 2000.
While attending American Language Institute
at CSULB brushing up his English for the
first year, Higashiyama would head to The
Pyramid almost everyday after class to watch
the team’s shutout practice sessions through
a window from Frogs’, he said.
With entering a graduate studies program,
Higashiyama applied for the team’s manager
position to then-head coach Wayne Morgan.
Shortly after, he realized he became part
of the team when Morgan came toward him
with a big smile stretching his hand for
a warm handshake.
The responsibilities of a manager include
mopping the floor, providing water to players,
time-managing for training menus and helping
players stretch, Higashiyama said.
“Managers are very important because often
they are the last ones to leave, every practice
they are the first ones to get to practice,”
said Brent Bargen, assistant coach of the
team. “They do all our little staff and
allow the coaches to coach. They are the
guys more than us sometimes.”
Team member Kevin Roberts, a junior communication
studies major, said “Without him, we wouldn’t
be able to practice overtime as much. He
is good and works hard. There is a lot of
staff behind the scenes that he does.”
One thing Higashiyama said is tough to face
with is when the team is not fired up and
goes on a losing streak.
If only he were a player, he could have
done something to change the situation by
practicing harder for the next game, he
said. But as a manager, he can only watch
the game off the court, hoping for the 49ers
to win the game.
When the team is in good shape and wins
games, it makes him delighted.
“I’m happy whenever the team’s doing great,”
Higashiyama said. “And I really look forward
to going to the NCAA tournament under the
new head coach Reynolds’ program.”
Higashiyama said that being a manager by
no means is easy, especially with his overload
of schoolwork, but he sees it as a process
to achieving his goal.
“I can learn many things like coaching techniques
and a team strategy, including lots of psychological
aspects working on players even outside
of the court,” Higashiyama said. “I believe
I can make use all of these experiences
for my coaching in the future.”
Recently he has begun coaching kids’ teams
at the YMCA in Lakewood as a volunteer,
while setting himself a goal to gain experience
with direct coaching in English.
The language barrier sometimes hinders him
from completely fulfilling what he can do
for the team, he said.
Higashiyama has come a long way with basketball
as a player, coach and manager. And he has
come closer to achieving his dream step
by step.
“I’m just one of the managers now, but someday
I believe I can become a basketball coach
here in the U.S.,” Higashiyama said. “It
would be great if I could bring everything
I’ve learned in this country back to Japan
and contribute to Japan’s basketball, say,
take the national team to the Olympic games
and get any color of medals.
“That I think is how I can thank all the
people who’ve taught and supported me, especially
my family who thoughtfully supported me
from Japan.”
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