Takuya Saito, one of 10 new faces on the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Nighthawks, is the first Japanese player to sign with a Major League Ultimate team.
The national team player from Tokyo competes in the same sport as his new Canadian teammates but he plays a different game. When everyone zigs, Saito zags.
“The Japanese players have a unique style that’s different from North American ultimate,” said Morgan Hibbert, a Nighthawks captain and longtime member of the legendary team, Furious George.
“The way he moves on the fly, the way he goes from one part of the field to another is very different. For example, we would make big, long vertical cuts, kind of like a football wide receiver. They make more horizontal, slashing cuts across the width of the field as a fundamental part of their game.”
Saito, 28, is designated to Vancouver’s defensive unit as a lane cutter because he has a potent combination of foot speed and throwing accuracy. Part of his role is to prevent opponent’s scoring chances, but he can also power the Nighthawks transition offence by chasing down the disk and helping launch a new attack.
The sharper, shorter passes customary to Japanese ultimate will throw off opponents, but Saito will also have to adapt to play alongside his hosts.
“I have to look to go deep first,” he said. “Then finally I will get two choices: go deep or cut back under.”
Hibbert and Nighthawks general manager Andrew Lugsdin first saw Saito play in 2007 when he travelled to Vancouver. When Saito returned four years later, he had made remarkable improvement and was invited to compete at a tournament with Furious George, a team that has incorporated players visiting from Venezuela, Colombia and Japan.
The Nighthawks are adapting to him and Saito to them, said Hibbert. Opponents will have a harder time catching up.
“You want to utilize the unique skill that he has,” said Hibbert. “He’s definitely a bit of an unknown. I don’t know if he’s a secret weapon because everybody is very aware of him and that he’s something, but people don’t’ know what that thing is. It’s more like an unknown weapon.”
Saito, who played soccer for Hosei University in Tokyo, is living with close friend and former Nighthawk Mike Aizawa. He hopes to open the door for more Japanese players to compete in the MLU but knows few of his compatriots are as adventurous as he is.
Lugsdin, the Nighthawks coach and general manager, said the professional ultimate league is becomming a draw for the best club players around the world, including Saito.
"I think the MLU is a great opportunity for the best playrs in the world to compete against each other. If you're a top international player, there will be a strong draw to come and compete and see what you can do," he said.
He had been on two tours with the Japanese national team when they won the 2011 Asia-Oceanic championship in Taiwan and played for the illustrious Buzz Bullets, a team that won the All Japan Ultimate Championship for five consecutive years and finished third in the open division at the 2010 World Ultimate Club Championships in Prague.
Saito’s credentials are an important component in what the club intends to be a championship season.
“We have the talent on paper and now it’s a question of if we can come together as a team and produce,” said Hibbert. “Anything less than that will be a disappointment.”
The Nighthawks lost their season opener 21–23 on the road April 12 to the Portland Stags despite winning all three meetings last year. They host the San Francisco Dogfish in their first home game at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium April 20 at 2 p.m.
Look for Saito. He’ll be the one zagging.
