#1 Biography

[Darthus]

Shingo Takechi was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to a pair of Japanese expats. Despite spending his formative years in Malaysia, he chose to represent Japan instead, but his time spent in Malaysia has left him fluent in 4 different languages, English, Malay, Chinese and Japanese. Football was not Takechi's first love however, originally he wanted to go professional as a catcher in baseball. Baseball is not a big sport in Malaysia however, so young Takechi swapped out his catcher's mitt for a pair of goalkeeping gloves. Takechi, standing at 191 cm tall, was a towering presence in goal in a country where the average male adult height was around 165 cm. Thus he garnered a nickname during his time playing schoolboy football in Malaysia, Takechi the Castle was often chanted by his schoolmates whenever he saved a shot. Once he was out of high school, he immediately decided to pursue a professional football career and travelled to Japan to try to make that happen. He joined an amateur club in Japan's J3 League and immediately made a huge impact, but not in a good way. Takechi got a red card on debut, for handling the ball outside his area, unfamiliar with the pitch at his new club. Despite this, his club kept faith in him, and he repaid them by keeping 17 clean sheets in a 38 game season. Because of this, Takechi got scouted by a top J1 team, naturally he accepted the offer, and joined them as their second choice keeper, behind the club's experienced 38 year old keeper, with the expectation that he'll eventually replace him as the club's main keeper down the line. However, after not playing a single minute of professional football for his club in his first season, Takechi learnt that the club instead opted to import a 25 year old Brazilian goalkeeper to replace the retiring 38 year old. Thus, 19 year old Takechi had a choice to make, remain the club's number 2 for the foreseeable future, or make a move elsewhere. It was during this time, that he heard about the SSL, and after a quick consideration, Takechi decided to make the jump, into the SSL academy.

Approved - Welcome to the SSL Takechi!

[Moka26]

I was in college (yes, I know, it's surprising given how young I am). I was quickly finishing a book before practice for the college futsal team. There were two goalkeepers ahead of me, so I had practically no chance of playing in the games. But at least I had the chance to participate in practice and spend time with the rest of the team.

So, I was practicing with the team when I started noticing someone attending practice, someone I didn’t know. I didn’t pay much attention to it; I figured he’d come to scout one of our players, especially our captain, who’s also the captain of the college soccer team. In fact, we’re all from the college soccer team.

After practice, this person called the captain over to talk to him, just as I’d expected. But I was surprised to see him heading toward me. He was actually a scout from the SSL. He told me that the league had sent scouts all over the world to scout pros, semi-pros, and amateurs to join the Academy ahead of the draft for the 25th season. I was surprised to see a scout come for me, especially since, on the outside, nothing about me screamed “future professional soccer player.”

My interest in playing goalkeeper dates back to middle school. We didn’t have a PE (Physical Education) field, so we held our sessions on a practice field. Toward the end of class, I’d see a group of goalkeepers setting up their training equipment, and after a few warm-ups, they’d get started. I still had a chance to see them after taking a quick shower to head back to school for the rest of the day’s schedule.
So when I got to college and learned there were no goalkeepers in the previous class, and that the two starting goalkeepers were in their senior year, I didn’t hesitate to volunteer. I hoped to step up and take on that responsibility, considering myself smart enough to breeze through classes and get the grades I needed to pass (genius vibes...).

Because of my late start at the Academy (and also some administrative issues), I was only able to play one game. I was warmly welcomed by the Victoria Falls Eagles locker room (the team I joined at the Academy, and whose colors I love), and with the title already in the bag, I had the chance to prove over 90 minutes what I was capable of.

What makes Joseph Daniel Kakou tick, you ask? From the very beginning, I focused heavily on efficiency: positioning, decision-making, reflexes... I even had to use my Academy bonus to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I had to make sure I was solid on the fundamentals, given how little time I was able to spend at the Academy.

So... See you in the next episode, hopefully my rookie season!

Approved - Congrats on your one game with the Eagles! And looking forward to your rookie season!