The last time we interviewed Taiga Okada was in September 2021 when he was temporarily back in Japan after finishing his second season in Spain’s Zentro Basket Madrid, where he joined in 2019 at the age of 15. He spoke to us with youthful passion about his hopes and determination to take a leap forward in the following year, his third season in Spain (see here for previous interview).
In fact, what awaited him when he returned to Spain was an unexpected honor of signing a professional contract with a team in Liga EBA, the fourth-tier division in the Spanish basketball league system, at only 17 years of age. The 2021-22 season certainly became a breakthrough year in his basketball career. In this interview, we listen to this young aspiring athlete who continues to reach new heights share his thoughts on his first professional season.

In the Spanish basketball league system, the top division is called Liga ACB, followed by second division LEB Oro, third division LEB Plata, and the fourth division Liga EBA. Taiga Okada is affiliated to Zentro Basket Madrid, a basketball club that features a main team in LEB Plata and a second team in the EBA. Further below the fourth tier is a division called the Primera Division, and just below that is where Taiga Okada started his career in a U-16 category called Cadet.

A 17-year-old Japanese youngster winning a professional contract in the Spanish basketball league in only three years since his relocation to Spain is a major accomplishment and a surprise, but Okada has felt the promotion coming since the previous season. His excellent performance in the junior league and the amount of trust he has earned from his coaches gave him a great deal of confidence. Last season, Zentro Basket Madrid’s junior team was almost entirely led by Okada; he could basically lead his team however he wanted as his coaches allowed him to control the game. Furthermore, he was also participating in practice sessions in the Primera Division, a category above the junior league.

Taiga Okada: When I returned to Spain in September to join my teammates again, I was suddenly assigned to participate in a practice session at the Liga EBA team. Shortly after, they let me play in a preseason game, in which I played pretty well. After that, they told me that they’d let me play mainly in Liga EBA for the season. And that’s how I became to prioritize practice sessions and games in Liga EBA and also play in junior games as well.

Okada started the season playing at the Liga EBA playoffs, fully prepared and in his best condition so that he could quickly fit into his new team and perform his best. In his total playing time of 13 minutes, he scored 12 points and was awarded with five assists. He contributed to his team’s victory right off the start and successfully earned the trust of his new teammates and coaches.

Taiga Okada: My teammates in the junior team and my friends in the dorm came to cheer for me, so more than anything I was happy that I could show them my performance exactly like how I envisioned. Starting off really well in a higher division where most players are older and more experienced than me gave me confidence to aim even higher.

Starting off his first season in the professional league with success, Taiga Okada continued to perform well and earned 15 minutes of playing time per game, which was his personal goal. However, by about halfway through the season, 15 minutes felt too short and he was eager to play more. He discovered that his teamwork skills and ability to control the game were the same skills that allowed him to play successfully in Liga EBA. He especially felt that his passing skills has improved.

Taiga Okada: In basketball games, there are always tough moments where your team hardly scores any points. And during those times, a single move can lead to a drastic shift in the flow of the game. You need to have good judgment to come up with those moves, and the fact that my decisions also worked against our opponents in Liga EBA made me feel confident. On the other hand, there were also games that we lost because my shooting skills aren’t good enough, so that’s something for me to work on. Liga EBA teams analyze their opponents really well through scouting which they use to build their game strategy. Sometimes they would make me use up my energy right from the start, and other times I have felt that I was their target at a crucial point, and because of that pressure I fell into this hole of making mistakes repeatedly. Compared to the junior teams, there are a lot of experienced, physically strong players with high basketball IQ. These are the qualities that I need to keep working on and make improvements.

While playing in Liga EBA, Taiga Okada still kept up with the schedule of his junior team. On top of attending practice sessions for both his junior team and his EBA team, he increased his strength training workout plan to build enough muscle as a player in Liga EBA, not to mention his daily personal training routines. And being 17 years old, he also had schoolwork to do. The season must have been tough for him, but he went through it all; he recalls how his third year in Spain was truly productive, a worthwhile learning experience of playing for both leagues.

Taiga Okada: In the junior team, I was able to experience the responsibility of leading a team because the coaches let me control the game. In the Liga EBA team, on the other hand, I got to play in higher-level games especially in terms of physical strength and game strategy. The team’s head coach is also the assistant coach in charge of scouting for the men’s national basketball team of Spain and is someone with a clear vision of the team. Going back and forth between the junior league and Liga EBA, I think I was able to gain way more experience than I had anticipated the year before.

Keeping up with the challenging season of joining Liga EBA while simultaneously playing in junior league games has required Taiga Okada to maintain his health and fitness. He tries to go to bed as early as possible and wake up at six in the morning, eat his breakfast, then opens his textbook and study a little before he heads out to school. He works on his individual drills after school until around three in the afternoon when his EBA team starts practice, which lasts for about an hour-and-a-half to two hours. Okada also squeezes in some strength workouts before he practices with his junior team for the same amount of time–no wonder he spends most of his day inside the gymnasium. Because players are all expected to handle everything on their own, Okada tries to stick to his routine to be in charge of his practice sessions, eating habits, and private life. Maintaining his diet, however, proves to be quite challenging for a teenager living alone in a foreign country.

Taiga Okada: I believe in eating really well in the morning to start your day off right, but since our dorm doesn’t provide breakfast, I prepare it every day. I toast some bread and cook a simple egg dish, but that’s not enough in terms of nutrition. Which is why I mix some Sun Chlorella ‘A’ powder with milk and drink it every morning. It’s especially helpful when I’m in a rush because I can get enough nutrition in just a few gulps. I tend to get drowsy in the afternoon when I forget to drink some!

Okada drinking Sun Chlorella every day has gotten his teammates curious of the supplement. A junior team player who shares the same room as him has started taking it too, including his family. His Liga EBA teammates also ask him, “Taiga, did you bring some Sun Chlorella with you today?” and when he replies yes, his teammates walk over to him one after another and ask for some. Moreover, Zentro Basket Madrid, where Okada is affiliated to, now has a partnership contract with Sun Chlorella that allows the entire basketball club to take the supplement, and in return introduce the product in events such as nutrition seminars. Furthermore, the club has agreed to provide support to Globallers, a youth basketball development program for U-15 players launched and operated by Sun Chlorella. Zentro Basket Madrid has been committed to educating Spanish language and culture to their international players as well, and we are excited to see how the collaboration with Sun Chlorella would evolve in the future.