SHENZHEN (China)- Earlier this year, Kokoro Tanaka deemed it best to turn professional and went on to sign with the decorated club, ENEOS Sunflowers.
For starters, the Sunflowers are the winningest team in Women's Japan Basketball League history with 23 championships. But her decision wasn't primarily about seeking new pastures whatsoever. It's actually for something bigger.
"One of the reasons why I joined the team is because I want to be a part of the national team," said the guard from Ohka Gakuen High School through a translator.
The Sunflowers has a long list of notable players that played a key role in the Japanese women's national team, with most of them boasting of high level experience at all levels.
Presently, the Sunflowers have three-time Women's Asia Cup champion, back-to-back Women's Asia Cup MVP, and two-time Olympian Ramu Tokashiki and Women's Asia Cup 2021 champion and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Saori Miyazaki, to name some. There's really no better place for Tanaka to learn than in this proud team.
And the fact that the hoopers she looks up to and tries to emulate have been integral pieces of the national program makes the 18-year-old all the more determined to, one day, be among one of her idols - and possibly make a mark in the esteemed program.
"When it comes to passing, Rui Machida. In terms of shooting, Saki Hayashi, another senior national basketball player. And, as a point guard, Yuki Kawamura," she said about the Japanese stars that she has long been admiring.
For now, though, Tanaka is earning her stripes with the youth team. Currently, she's playing in Division A of the FIBA U18 Women's Asia Cup 2024 in Shenzhen.
It marks her second time with Japan in a FIBA youth competition, the first one being the U16 Women's Asia Cup staged in Amman, Jordan.
That experience, for Tanaka, helped in her getting accustomed to the ways of the AKATSUKI JAPAN, which she showed on the hardwood by helping her side to a silver-medal finish with averages of 13.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
"From the experience in the Under-16, there was always a mismatch because we're a small team. But we have the speed. So, we always attacked the paint," Tanaka reflected of the particular lessons she picked up from that campaign.
Two years later and she has not totally forgotten all about those learnings. Japan opened their campaign with a resounding 84-47 win over New Zealand, and their team captain herself set the tone for the dominant conquest.
Tanaka went a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in the first quarter alone for a 26-8 lead as the perennial tournament contenders cruised to the triumph.
"We always think that opening the game is the most important," she said moments after the match at the Longhua Cultural and Sports Center. "If we're going to make a lot of breaks as a team and we can make it, that would be great."
Tanaka said that the showing was simply a case of her taking what the defenses gave her but at the same time, it came about as she exercised assertiveness as their cap.
"As a captain, I'm taking a lot of points by attacking," said the 1.72 M (5'8") guard, who shot 8-of-10 from the floor against the young Tall Ferns. "As a team, as I've said, we try to go out on breaks a lot of times. This is the Japanese game."
With that kind of mentality, and the willingness to embrace responsibility, Tanaka may soon really find her way to the seniors team - and stay there as long as she can.
FIBA