Japanese Tourist Becomes NCAA Kicker After One NFL Game

When Kansei Matsuzawa walked into the Oakland Coliseum as a tourist in 2018, he had never watched American football before. By the time he left, the 19-year-old Japanese visitor had found his calling: he wanted to become an NFL kicker.

Most people would have laughed off such an impossible dream. No one from Japan had ever played in the NFL, and tens of thousands of American kids spend their entire lives chasing just 32 kicking jobs.

But Matsuzawa didn't know enough about football to understand the odds. And that naivety became his superpower.

Two years earlier, he had failed a college entrance exam twice, derailing his plans to play soccer in college. "I was at rock bottom," Matsuzawa said. "I had nothing."

His worried father sent him on a solo two-week trip to America, hoping the experience might spark something. That something turned into one of the most improbable football journeys ever.

Back in Tokyo, Matsuzawa bought two footballs and a kicking stick from an American football store. He studied Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers on YouTube, trying to copy his form frame by frame.

During the day, he worked at a steakhouse from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. At night, he snuck into a local park to practice kicking into nets, avoiding the daytime crowds of kids who would wonder why he was repeatedly kicking an odd-shaped ball. These solo sessions lasted 90 minutes, three to four nights a week.

"Thinking back seven years ago, how did I have that confidence?" he said. "I don't know. I was really awful."

After a year of teaching himself, Matsuzawa volunteered with the Fujitsu Frontiers, a professional Japanese football team, doing odd jobs in exchange for field access. The experience taught him one crucial lesson: he needed to go to college first.

He made a highlight video and emailed 50 junior colleges across America. Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, took a chance on him.

The adjustment was brutal. For three months, Matsuzawa barely understood spoken English, navigating life with just "yes," "no," and a smile. He moved from class to workouts to practice to studying, then repeated it all the next day.

By his second season, he earned the starting kicker job. His coach, Ted Egger, remembers his talent clearly: "He had a bomb of a leg, and he worked extremely hard at his craft."

That work paid off with a transfer to the University of Hawai'i, where this past season Matsuzawa earned All-American honors. He made 27 of 29 field goal attempts, earning the nickname "Tokyo Toe."

Why This Inspires

Matsuzawa's story isn't just about athletic achievement. It's about someone who failed an exam, felt directionless, and stumbled into a dream so ridiculous that ignorance became courage. He didn't know what he was attempting was nearly impossible, so he simply got to work.

Seven years ago, he was sneaking into parks at night, teaching himself a sport he'd never played. Now he's a legitimate NFL prospect, proving that sometimes the most powerful thing you can have is a dream too new to doubt.