Hikaru Sakida

I also really liked the Chinese poet LiBai’s “Quiet Night Thoughts” that I learned throughout my first years spent here in China with a former student.

Our daily fitness is strongly correlated with exercise and sports— physical activities that keep us fit. And across hundreds of sports, tennis stood out as it gained popularity over recent decades. We follow great tennis players around the world, look up to them as role models, and aspire to one day share their passions and success. While the majority of our population’s attention is focused on the intense matches of the world-class athletes, the coaches behind their outstanding performance has also been a major contributing factor to their excellent performance. I interviewed a Japanese tennis and fitness coach, Hikaru Sakida, who is currently working with the Chinese national tennis team. I wanted to find out the motivations behind his dedication to tennis, and his reasons for coaching a foreign country’s national team.

Tennis and fitness by heart

Backing up to the origin of Sakida’s journey in China, he was first intrigued by the idea of a career in tennis during school. As young as the age of 16, Sakida began working as a coach. It was a not-so-demanding job for a young man that simultaneously involves a great part of his interests. After landing an uninspiring job upon graduation, he decided to continue his love for tennis. “I quit that job to do what I love: begin focusing on fitness and tennis training and becoming a coach” Sakida exclaimed passionately, “Tennis coaches fill the numerous tennis courts of Japan; thus, I wanted to be a different one—a fitness coach who plays tennis.” Playing the sport has also brought Sakida satisfaction and happiness. This mindset laid the foundation of his career path. Soon, he arrived in China to further advance his career.

Variation in Students

Sakida has been engaged with both Japanese and Chinese students ever since he embarked on this journey. He shared an interesting view upon his coaching experiences over the two countries: “Students that I have taught between China and Japan have contrasting personalities, where Japanese children tend to be smaller in shape and Chinese students are bolder and advanced in coordination. The Chinese enjoy taking private classes for study to gain a more targeted learning, whereas the Japanese feel more motivation within a group class.” These varied cultural backgrounds of Sakida’s students have also contributed to his experience as a coach, improving his coaching abilities as well. Moreover, Sakida remarked on the significance of how a single sport could reflect upon the contrasting Japanese and Chinese cultures. As he states, one could always learn something new from each group of students one has mentored. That being said, the coach claimed that he personally enjoys coaching classes consisting of 4-6 students.

In addition to his own favor, he has also realized an essential part of each individual student: “I also hold the value that no matter from what country, students are all my students. They all can be the one shining out of others, as long as they are willing to communicate and learn with me, improving together.”

Greatness within numerous struggles: Life in the beginning

For Sakida, life in China differs greatly from that of Japan in many respects. Moving to China in 2014 did not pose a significant challenge for him, as the majority of locals accepted foreigners directly. Everyone offered help and greeted him with kindsness. Sakida was insulted or mistreated only a few times. However, changes in lifestyle has posed a challenge as Japanese ways of living differs from that of the Chinese. Living Beijing, Sakida encountered numerous difficulties in terms of language. His Japanese identities also caused him troubles. “Taxi drivers avoid the short route when carrying me, and even worse, I was once let out of a taxi because of my Japanese identity. People also gave fake money in exchange, even at the bank.” With turbulent first years in China, Sakida did encounter numerous obstacles despite the kindness of his local community.

Along the same lines, communication has also been a struggle for Sakida for quite a while. Sakida mentioned how he was accustomed to a consistent level of respect and politeness in Japan, whereas the personal qualities of each individual in China varies. Communicating with some people lacking in manners has been a mental obstacle to him at first. Furthermore, the Chinese culture does not value social distance as much as the Japanese culture, which has caused tensions between Sakida and some locals. He explained, “Because the majority of my values were mainly developed throughout my life in Japan, the tendency to be respectful of everyone’s communicating space sets a gap between the way the Chinese do.”

Despite cultural differences that caused some discomfort, Sakida addressed that most people he encountered accepted and enjoyed spending time with him. All things considered, he decided to stay in Beijing since then.

Those aside him

While Sakida’s first times in China were ladened with challenges, he also received numerous supports.

When I interviewed Sakida on this topic, he told me about an individual that contributed to much of his success: “I attempted to create my own company in 2014-2015, beginning to find myself into independent life in Beijing; yet as a new foreigner, I had no idea how. One major support was from a Chinese consultant of mine—with him covering for organizing my files, handling visas, and going through formalities.” Sakida concludes that his successful tennis career could not have flourished without his amazing consultant.

The coach also fully settled into his local community throughout his eight years in China. Developing a close personal relationship with a Chinese woman has greatly improved Sakida’s Chinese skills as well as increased his knowledge of the Chinese culture. He claimed that befriending locals from all walks of life was an inseparable part of his acclimation.

Student as a teacher

Sakida reflected, in explaining how his former student played a significant role in his growth as an expat in China. “Within my early times in Beijing, I had a student who was willing to teach me about this culture and the Chinese language, which I am more than grateful of. Though I struggled to thoroughly organize my responses, every advice he offered back gave me a great chance to improve. As I used my tennis abilities to improve his playing skills, he did so as well giving me great support in Chinese.”

The strike of the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years has greatly affected the lives of tennis players, as well as coaches like Sakida. Numerous tennis courts have been at a forced closure due to the pandemic.

Sakida told me, “The Chinese regulations on the current issue has left me the only Japanese tennis coach of our organization in China, as before there were four. As a result, the benefit to me has been the stableness of my current job, which is why I see my future in this country too.” Though there can be an increasing difficulty in life in this current day and age in China, it also led to a benefit in Sakida’s job as a coach too.

The pandemic has also allowed Sakida to take some time off and travel across this fascinating country and enjoy its various cultures. From the terra-cotta warriors of Xi’an to the gorgeous views of Lijiang to the dim sums of Guangdong, he stated that his knowledge of these cultures deepened his understanding of this country and his roots in China continues to grow.

(Why Beijing? Beginning my career as a fitness coach in Tokyo, I came to Beijing alongside the cooperation between my former organization in Japan and a tennis team in Beijing. Currently, I train with tennis players in Beijing as their coach, focusing on the development of junior tennis players in the Chinese national team.)