Early this year, Japan’s soft tennis legend Yuta Funemizu made history by becoming the first Japanese import to the PPA Tour and MLP. A few months later, the honeymoon period appears to be over as Funemizu is seemingly growing impatient at the glacier-like pace his pickleball career is moving in the US circuit.
And it looks like Funemizu is taking matters into his own hands, too. The 31-year-old Japanese legend has already started a crowdfunding project that he hopes will cover his tour expenses as he wants to play as much as he can. This isn’t the least bit surprising as Funemizu has repeatedly shared on his YouTube channel his impatience at sitting out matches for the Miami Pickleball Club, the team that drafted him in March’s Premier Level Draft.
“I hope my donors will enjoy, with me, this journey I am making to the world’s top place,” Funemizu told the Asahi Shimbun as he searches for financial assistance to advance his pickleball career.
Yuta Funemizu’s Journey Is One Worth Supporting
There’s a good chance those donors will enjoy this journey as Yuta Funemizu is used to the grind. In fact, he was still just a student at Waseda University when he first played for the Japanese national team and helped him win a world championship. Then, as a working adult, he played for the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp.—since renamed NTT West Inc.—where he became one of Japan’s top players.
But even with his success in soft tennis, which is basically tennis but using a lighter, softer ball and lighter rackets, he never quite got the recognition winners generally get in sports. Even so, he continued playing—and winning.
“We were never in the spotlight, even after winning 10 successive victories in the Japan (soft tennis) league,” Funemizu lamented.
Then, with Funemizu about to turn 30, he got introduced to pickleball by Soichiro Minami, the founder of the job transfer service operator BizReach Inc. And pretty soon, he was transferring from one “job”—soft tennis—to another “job” that is pickleball. It just so happened that this new one is the hottest thing in the world of sports today, and it might be the sport that will get Funemizu recognised in both the US and Japan.
“I found the sport so appealing that I decided it was worthwhile to stake my life on going after it,” said Funemizu, who clearly has gone all-in on pickleball, vowing to himself that he would “compete in more matches than anybody else and acquire skills in a year that it would normally take three or four years to master.”
But there’s a cost that comes with competing in the highest level, and Yuta Funemizu knows this for sure. It’s why he’s looking for some help. Those who will should know: It’s worth it!
