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Takehiro Tomiyasu's early life and childhood

Takehiro Tomiyasu's early life, childhood and career in Japan

Takehiro started soccer because he was injured!

Takehiro Tomiyasu(冨安健洋 in kanji) was born in 1998 in Fukuoka, Japan. His mother was a track and field athlete and his father was a kendo fighter. He was named "Takehiro" in honor of his parents' wish that he would grow up to be healthy and have a heart as broad as the Pacific Ocean.

His mother, Kayoko, said, "There was no particular educational policy. Basically, I left him to his own initiative and watched over him so that he would not make mistakes in judging right and wrong."

Takehiro first encountered football when he was in the middle of kindergarten. He joined the Cosmo Soccer Club.

He said, "At first I thought I would do the swimming that my sister was doing. But I injured my jaw playing on the running machine at home and couldn't go to swimming school until I healed. Instead, I went to a soccer club for a trial. Then I enjoyed kicking the ball so much that I decided to take it up seriously."

When Takehiro entered the Mitiku Elementary School, he joined the school's youth team, the Mitiku Kickers. Manager Kanji Tsuji recalls his impression of Takehiro at this time with nostalgia. Mr. Tsuji said, "Takehiro lived about three minutes from the school, and I happened to see him running. I was surprised by his beautiful running style and thought, 'There's an interesting kid here,' so I invited him to join the team through an acquaintance. He was mainly a volante on our team, and when he was in fifth grade, we put him on a team one grade higher and had him play center back for the first time. From then on, I felt he was not a player who could fit in at this level."

The team was active five days a week and included a lot of free running in practice, but Takehiro was always happy to run. Tsuji, who has seen many soccer boys every year, said, "Takehiro was just so ambitious. Mr. Tsuji saw Takehiro continue to practice individually at a nearby park after practice at the elementary school, sometimes as late as 9:00 pm.

Coach Tsugiyama also spoke of Takehiro's earnestness: "I used to make him do a 'penalty run' in practice if he didn't make a shot. Takehiro always ran as fast as he could, and I never once saw him cut corners. Even during games, he would correct his position on his own and think things over as he went along, so I never got angry at him."

Takehiro said, "During summer vacation, I played soccer all day long. I kicked the ball in the morning, came home for lunch, played soccer again from around 1:00, and had team practice at 5:00 in the evening. We frequently played half soccer (half-court 5-on-5 plus goalkeeper, and if the attacker missed three times, the offense and defense changed), which I was passionate about. My parents didn't even tell me to 'study' and let me do what I wanted. I loved to run around outside and I couldn't play video games. I still just watch my friends play soccer video games from behind, but I think I'm here now because I was outside moving around," he recalled of his happy boyhood."

Watching Takehiro like this, Tsuji was convinced that Takehiro might become a top-class player in Japan in one match in the fourth grade.

The match that made him believe so was against Aburayama Camellia FC, which featured Yosuke Ideguchi (who played for Celtic FC in 2021). Mr. Tsuji saw him play and thought, "This is the kind of kid who will become a member of the Japan national team in the future. But in this match, Takehiro played desperately to keep up with him. Takehiro was two years younger than him, but in Tsuji's view, he was unbeatable in the matchup.

Meanwhile, Takehiro also attended the Barcelona Academy Hakata, which opened in 2009, twice a week when he was in elementary school. He was able to play with high-level players and meet coach Ivan Palanco.

Ivan said of Takehiro, "At the Barça Academy, Takehiro was mainly a volante and played well both up front and with the opposition on his back. I let him try out at sideback as well. Barça has a philosophy that emphasizes the participation of the side backs in the attack, and he had those qualities. I recommended three players to Barça in three years, and one of them was Take. It was difficult to bring a schoolboy to Spain, so the idea was dropped, but he had such potential."

When he graduated from elementary school, he participated in the academy's tour of Spain, which was the first surprise for Takehiro. He played many matches, but lost miserably to Atletico Madrid, 1-10. This was extremely shocking for Takehiro, who was on the volante.

Takehiro commented on the match: "We were battered anyway, we lost about 10 goals, and I was shocked by the ...... shock. When Atletico introduced a frighteningly physical player toward the end of the game, I was shaking, thinking they were going to finish us off," he said with a half laugh.

Takehiro also experienced how the local players played speedily and accurately with advanced techniques, regardless of their size, on the tour of Spain. Although they were the same age, he saw the entire team playing football organically, not just kicking the ball.

Later, when Takehiro entered junior high school, he was selected and passed the selection process for Avispa Fukuoka's junior youth team, and joined training in the spring of 2011. The training base was a 20-minute train ride away, and he began a busy schedule of heading to practice right after school.

Coach Miyahara said of those days, "I saw Take when he came for selection, but technically he was not that outstanding. But at that point, he was already about 170 cm tall, and his parents were also big, so I felt he had a promising future. The first thing that amazed me was his dedication to the work of the team. He would think about what the team needed and take the initiative to prepare balls, practice equipment, water, ice, etc."

And in junior youth, Takehiro continued to be named captain for three years due to the tremendous trust of his teammates. Mr. Miyahara cannot forget one episode during one practice session. At that time, some of the Avispa junior youths were far from home and some were close to the training ground, so the time they arrived at the ground varied. Takehiro was always the first one to arrive at the practice field and prepare the ball, markers, bibs, etc. by himself. After practice was over, he would quietly put them away again.

Some of the other players would come to practice at the last minute, suddenly kick the ball, and leave without cleaning up. Mr. Miyahara watched them all the time. One day, he gathered all the players together and asked Takehiro, "As captain, is this the right system?" Mr. Miyahara thought the work should be shared.

Takehiro then said, "I think that whoever can do it should do it, and if I come early and get ready, we can all start practicing right away. I have no problem with that." Mr. Miyahara could not immediately respond to his words. Mr. Miyahara said, "Don't leave everything to others!　From now on, call him Tomiyasu Sensei(Professor Tomiyasu)," he ended with a laugh. Mr. Miyahara was a little embarrassed to be addressed so maturely by Takehiro, a junior high school student.

Regarding the playing aspect, Takehiro was mainly a CB in his first~2 years of junior high school. Even if he went too far to defend at all costs and got caught in the back, he never flinched and went aggressively the next time. Fujisaki, who used to be a coach, thought Takehiro would be selected for the national team in the future. Fujisaki could imagine Takehiro from the moment he joined the team, so he felt a sense of duty to let him develop in this stance.

However, Fujisaki feared that fixing him at CB at this stage might limit his range of play. At that time, Takehiro was not relying on his physical abilities, but his positioning and situational judgment were still not very good. Therefore, from an overall perspective, Fujisaki made Takehiro's position a volante. Fujisaki wanted him to be in a position where he could see 360 degrees around the pitch and feel all kinds of pressure. Fujisaki decided to move him down to center back as late in the season as possible.

Thanks to Fujisaki's guidance, Takehiro grew up quickly. Usually, when you trace the career of a player, there are episodes that are significant in their own right, but according to Fujisaki, Takehiro was an exception, and there was nothing dramatic about him. Fujisaki says he is always at a loss for an answer when asked about episodes with Takehiro.

What is burned into Fujisaki's mind is the way Takehiro was always calm and focused on his own game, never showing emotion, whether he played well or made a mistake. Takehiro was scaling up his self-analysis of strengths to develop and weaknesses to improve. From Fujisaki's perspective, Takehiro was a completely hands-off player because he would tackle challenges without anyone telling him what to do. To Fujisaki, who had coached many players, Takehiro was a different kind of player.

Fujisaki said, "I have seen about 40 people become professionals, and from my experience, I can imagine that kids who are emotionally rich and appealing become professional players. But Takehiro is different. He had no emotional ups and downs, never pompous, always nonchalant. It was a bit of a surprise to me to see a kid like that in the world of professional athletes.

Takehiro then made his official professional debut on October 14, 2015 against Machida Zelvia. He attended Kyushu High School, but when it was decided to sign a professional contract when he was in his senior year, he transferred to a correspondence high school to pursue his soccer career. The following year he made his J1 debut, and from there he grabbed a permanent position at the volante.

However, Fujisaki said of Takehiro at the time, "At some day Takehiro will move down to CB. I thought that if he settled there, he would make the Japan national team," he said. True to Fujisaki's prediction, Takehiro signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Sint-Troiden of Belgium on January 8, 2006, and was selected for the Japan national team for the first time as a CB in August of the same year.

Takehiro then moved to Bologna FC in Serie A, and in 2024 he played for Arsenal FC in the Premier League. Coincidentally, Takehiro was a member of the U-18 Japan national team when they played England and lost 1-5 in a ragged loss. It was too much of a shock for Takehiro, and he is now playing for the country that made him aware of going abroad.

sources