Michito Sakaki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michito Sakaki (born May 19, 1983), is an Australian rules football player from Japan.
Michito has achieved recognition as currently being one of the best and most successful players to learn and play the game outside of Australia.
Michito, from the Waseda University club in Japan represented the Samurai, the Japanese national Australian Rules team, captaining the side in the Australian Football International Cups in both 2002 and 2005. In 2005, he was awarded with the best and fairest player for Japan in the competition.
A small midfielder/rover (165cm, 68 kg), Michito impressed many at the tournament with his courageous player and ball winning ability. In a game against Great Britain, he virtually set up all his teams goals.
Sasaki, along with teammate Tsuyoshi Kase was later invited to join the Australian Football League/Australian Institute of Sport academy camp in Canberra.
In a meteoric rise, late in 2005 Michito was invited, along with Tsuyoshi Kase to train with the AFL club Essendon Football Club by coach Kevin Sheedy.
In January 2006, Sakaki played in an intra-club practice game for Essendon, amassing an impressive 13 possessions, including 8 kicks, 5 handballs and 2 marks.
On February 10th, 2006 it was reported that both Sakaki and Kase would be included on the Victorian Football League club that feeds the Essendon Bombers, the Bendigo Bombers, becoming the first overseas players to do so [1].
In late February, Sakaki was named in the Essendon side to play in a 16-a-side practice match against the Sydney Swans in an exhibition match at North Sydney Oval on 3rd March in front of 9,654 spectators. Although the match is not an official AFL match, Sakaki became the first non-Irish international and player to learn the game overseas to play at AFL level. Michito announced his desire to play at the highest level and his intention to move to Australia to further his development.
Shortly after the announcement of the North Sydney practice match, a bidding war between amateur club St Bernards and the Wodonga Raiders ended up with Sakaki being signed by the Raiders and will play in the Ovens & Murray Football League, considered the strongest country league in Australia [2].
