Many Essendon fans will remember a young Japanese lad by the name of Michito Sakaki who did a pre-season with the Bombers in 2005. Michito was rewarded when he was selected to play for Essendon in an exhibition game against Sydney at North Sydney Oval. We can report to you that Michito has not been lost to football since his stint at Windy Hill.
 
Now back in Japan, Michito and fellow AFL fanatic Yosuke Kuno, are running football clinics converting young Japanese to the game of AFL, and importantly into Essendon supporters. The pair are spending time in classrooms, at schools with much of their introductory lessons being held on Japanese beaches.
 
Michito provided the following update on his activities. Michito did not speak a word of English when he arrived in Australia but his language skills have certainly improved!
 

“AFL has been introduced to the community through children’s sports’ clubs, exhibitions in sport, sport subjects in universities and in primary schools. AFL was also introduced to the disabled community in order to engage them in sports.

“One particular AFL exhibition for people to experience was played on the beach in Tokyo. The beach AFL exhibition was our first attempt and we have come to a decision that the exhibition will be held monthly between the periods of January to June in 2009.

“Beach football has the positives of ball control and ensuring player safety due to soft sands – it also requires body strength and high energy consumption. As a result, beach football is now recognized as one of the important training methods for football teams in Japan.

“In terms of football penetration into children’s interests, many football clinics were performed and they seemed to enjoy them. Those who had not known how to play the game at first soon started enjoying kicking and hand passing the ball.

“Moreover, university students who have interests in sport, increased their awareness of AFL which is not a well-known sport in Japan, but is famous and popular in Australia, through the exhibition and a lecture of AFL.

“We aim to introduce football at people who play any sports and encourage use of footballs in recovery programs. Furthermore, we believe that the increase in the number of the lectures and exhibitions of football will help the development of Japanese football teams and players in terms of both quality and quantity of players.

“Addition to this, there is no ovals for the exclusive use of football in Japan. Our closest objective is to establish an exclusive oval for football and we will continuously try to introduce football in order to achieve the goal.

“We want to hold more football clinics or any forms of the introduction of football for diverse generations in order to allow them to find joy in playing football as a first step.

“I would like to especially thank the Essendon Football Club. The goods contributed from Essendon Football Club are passed onto the participators of football clinics and they are favoured among children and adults. We really appreciate your support and help.”

Essendon will continue to support Michito and Yosuke’s work in Japan and we wish them well as the continue to build Essendon’s international supporter base!