After Kenjiro finished his masters degree in Coaching at University in Japan, he worked as an assistant coach at Alvark Tokyo, formerly known as Toyota Pacers. Along with his journey, he witnessed Australian basketball and met Dean Vickerman, an award-winning head coach for Melbourne United of NBL. Kenjiro decided to intern at Melbourne United to assist the team and learn coaching under Vickerman this year.
Japanese tend to focus on one sport throughout the year, while Australians tend to play sports seasonally. For instance, soccer and Australian football (AFL) are considered as winter sports while basketball and cricket are more played during the summer. Kenjiro mentioned that some Aussie professional basketball players grew up playing not just basketball but also AFL. He thinks it is one of the reasons why Australians are physically strong and tend to be good at contact sports.
Kenjiro shares his experience at Melbourne United as well as differences in trainings and basketball culture between Australia and Japan with SBS.
