Being Arata Part 1: journey begins at the age of nine, no looking back from thereon!

I MET ARATA IZUMI, currently a Mumbai FC midfielder, at Indigo Deli in Colaba. The venue was the perfect host to two people talking about the beautiful game, one patiently listening and the other opening his heart out about his love. Izumi had already reached the restaurant and it wasn't difficult for me to spot him as he was in his training kit.

He welcomed me with a warm smile and handshake.

From there on our conversation took off, he expressed and explained in detail how his relation started with the Beautiful Game. Japan is where Arata started his relation with football. He was nine years old when he was asked to kick the ball by his coach. All he knew about the game at that age was:

"I had to kick the ball."

So when he was asked to do so, he was excited, but at the same time nervous. Because it was not about just kicking the ball, but to kick accurately at a target which was the goal.

 Arata did not let his coach down and kicked it perfectly to meet the net. He narrates the episode:

"It was a simple shooting training, so the coach is going to throw the ball to the goalpost and you have to kick the ball, very simple. So I take the first short ever in my life and it was really accurate, it hit the bar and went into the goal. After that everybody was so excited and appreciated me."

From there on, it was no turning back for him,

"After that I made a decision that I wanted to be a football player."

As a kid, Arata was also talented in other activities like swimming, learning English, drawing, horse riding and playing violin as part of an orchestra. 

He was hailed by everyone as the most talented kid and became the attraction of his football academy. Joining his brother to play the game has brought him a long way to where he is at present.

He began his professional career with a Singaporean club, Albirex Niigata Singapore playing in the S. League which is the country's primary football competition and then returned to Japan where he then played in the Japan Football League which was a 3rd tier league in Japan at the time.

In Singapore, Arata caught everyone's attention with his speed and was hailed as the fastest player while playing for the club in Japan named Mitsubishi Mizushima. He had a tough time as he had to juggle between working for Mitsubishi Motors and playing for the same. Unknowingly he fell into a trap which was a clause laid down by the club. It came as a surprise to Arata when began training with the club. The clause included working for the company too, it was 80% play and 20% work but in reality it was the other way round.

"So I used to begin my day at work 6 in the morning to 5 in the evening and then rush for my training. The training took place at a corner of a baseball ground."

He expressed how he used to blindly sign contracts for any club that came his way who offered him a decent amount of money, which he terms as the main 'condition'.

When asked if he regretted his decision to become a professional player, he said,

"No, no never it occurred to me. I always had in my mind that I can be a better player and all these were just part of making me one." But then he wasn't happy with what was happening and wanted to move to a better place as he thought he deserved better.

He was then in a search of an agent who could help him get new and better football clubs. He looked up the FIFA list of agents and teams.

"I wanted a better place so I then just randomly kept sending my C.V. to all the clubs and agents. Only few of them got back but nothing worked as the condition wasn't good enough."

He then recalls an Indian man who approached him when he was in Singapore and offered him to play for East Bengal, a club in India.

"When I was in Singapore he approached me and I had no clue about the football scene in India or never heard of it at all. So I asked my coaches and friends about it and everyone stopped me from going and so I said no."

But the Indian agent did not give up.

"He never gave up and when I was in Japan looking for a club he sent me a mail with the same offer and at the moment, it was like the only ray of hope I could spot and didn't want to let go."

Izumi then agreed to go to India to East Bengal for his trials.

"So I looked up at the history of the game in India and was very impressed, and also the videos sent by the agent was of high quality. It changed my view of India and I said to the Mitsubishi football club, 'thank you very much, I'm done', packed my bags and I was off to India."

TO BE CONTINUED... Part 2: from East Bengal to Pune FC