In 2019 Taiga Okada flew to Spain, the second basketball powerhouse after the US. He was only 15 years old when he joined to Zentro Basket Madrid. During his first season, games were unfortunately cancelled due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Okada was finally able to show off his true talent during the second season, leading his team to play in the national championship. There, he was selected as MVP which garnered him attention not only in Spain but across Europe. We interviewed him when he was briefly back home in Japan before the start of his third season, asked his enthusiasm and confidence on playing in Spain as well as future goals ※This interview was held in August 2021.

Taiga Okada is 17 years old. Despite his youthful facial expressions, he speaks like a strategist when he shares his aspirations and future visions. The aura that he exudes is no longer that of a teenager but a driven athlete with clear goals on the type of basketball player he hopes to become. With growing expectations and higher responsibilities in the club he plays with, Zentro Basket Madrid, we could tell from his eyes and the words he chose that his confidence is stronger now.

Okada is about to begin his third year since he started living in Spain. Today he attends a local school and other than Spanish classes he studies nine subjects such as mathematics, economic and philosophy, which are all held in Spanish. Because he spent the past year focusing on improving his Spanish skills, he can now hold everyday conversations with his classmates and teammates with no problem. He enjoys watching basketball and soccer games on TV with his friends who come from different countries across the world.

Taiga Okada: I watched the Tokyo 2020 Olympics’ Japan vs. Spain game too. Personally, Ricky Rubio caught my attention the most since he’s also a point guard like me. He played rather quietly for the most part in the 2nd quarter but suddenly towards the end, he propelled his team forward by widening the point gap by 20 points all by himself. It made me realize again how a key player on a team is someone whose performance stands out during crucial moments of a game. Of the Japanese players, Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe were the ones who naturally caught my eye. Both being NBA players, they definite delivered and showed off their worth that they’re both skillful athletes who can bring their team to victory. My dream is also, one day play alongside the world’s best players like them.

After playing in Spain for two seasons, Taiga Okada realized that Spanish basketball is not necessarily better than Japanese basketball in every aspect. For example, players practice for relatively shorter hours and there is hardly anyone who trains individually on their days off. There are also a number of players who arrive at the venue right before their game starts. Okada has questioned whether those qualities, or lack of discipline, were commendable as athletes. And although he understood that that’s his teammates’ way of balancing their personal and professional lives, their group training sessions weren’t enough for him both in quantity and quality. So, Okada went up to the coaches and staff members and negotiated for earlier access to the venue so that he can start practicing, as well as access to their training facility on days off. This reveals not only his strong motivation to improve his skills but also his Spanish communication skills and the level of trust that he has gained from the coaches

Furthermore, Okada has changed up his everyday routine starting from this year. Since the Spanish custom of eating dinner is normally between 9pm and 11pm, he used to eat dinner around 10:30pm since practice sessions also end late at night. For Okada, eating dinner before bedtime was hard on his digestion and lowered his quality of sleep. With advice from Sun Chlorella’s sports nutritionist Okumura, Okada now eats a light meal before practice to eat less after practice.

Taiga Okada: Eating small meals several times a day and taking Sun Chlorella powder every day has helped me maintain my physical fitness. Even though I might be tired from practice sessions, I can wake up the next morning fully energized. I am more conscious about not only my performance but also my everyday routines like managing my diet and daily habits so that I can play better.

The first two years in Spain for Taiga Okada was about rigorous training on both his body and mind to become a great point guard. Spain has always fostered many highly skilled guards and there are usually talents in every region, division and age category. Which is why the position is very competitive, and coaches have a high level of expectation. This season was especially hard for Okada since he was promoted to a higher division this season, in addition to his existing challenge of competing against well-built players in Europe. He still managed to lead his team to win and represent the Madrid province in the national championship, where he was chosen as the MVP on the first day. By the end of the season, he has also gained complete trust from the head coach, who told him that he can play however he wants at the end of a game.

Taiga Okada: Playing in the national championship allowed us to play against strong teams from other provinces, so I was able to watch with my own eyes the performances of some of the best players in Europe, especially guards. It was also great for me to get a firsthand experience of playing against them, since my personal priority these days has been to find out how a guard can bring the team to victory. In both the preliminaries and the championship, I feel that I was the one who led our team to win in a couple of games, and I felt that a strong team has a strong guard who can score points in crucial moments of the game. Coming to that conclusion through hands-on experience was my biggest achievement from the whole opportunity.

Through his experience in his second season and the national championship, Taiga Okada redefined his personal goal to becoming a player who continues to lead his team to victory. He also already has a good grasp on how to survive as a point guard in a league in Europe despite his disadvantage in terms of physical strength; he now knows that he must improve his basketball IQ. It was something he needed as he begins his third season and a reminder of why he chose to fly to Spain in the first place.