KaiInoue:“MyjourneystartedatHaBaWaBa”

Kai Inoue got to know waterpolo in the United States and became a real athlete in Japan, however if you ask him where he started imaging his career in sports, his answer is immediate: "At the HaBaWaBa International Festival. Now my goal is the Olympics, but my journey started in Lignano Sabbiadoro. HaBaWaBa inspired me to pursue my dream”. And his dream today is closer than ever: Inoue participated in World Aquatic Championships in Doha with Japan and he is running for of enter the Japan national team at Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Born December 21^st, 2006, Inoue is a quick left-handed with an excellent shot who, before playing in the senior national team, had already made his mark at the U16 World Championships in 2022, becoming the tournament's top scorer, and at the U20 WC in 2023. He lives in Kyoto, but from age 5 to 13 he grew-up in Irvine, California. He started playing waterpolo in Huntington Beach for United Water Polo Club, the club chaired by his father Takeshi Inoue, a well-known personality in the waterpolo community, being a former member of FINA Waterpolo Technical Committee as well as member of Waterpolo Development.  It was actually your father who brought you to HaBaWaBa International Festival for the first time.  He knows many people in waterpolo and in 2014 he managed to include me in the Italian Camogli U9 team. I played 5 HaBaWaBa events with them counting U9, U11 and U13 categories (last one at HaBaWaBa PLUS in 2019, ed.), but in Lignano Sabbiadoro I also played with United Water Polo.  What do you remember about those experiences? I remember the first time: I was very young, 8 years old, and I was very nervous because it was my first sports experience abroad and also I didn't speak Italian. However in Camogli I found many children who loved waterpolo and I changed my perspective, I ended up bonding with many people and making many friends. Outside the water I used to communicate through a smartphone, using Google Translate. But in the water it was easier: “pass”, “shoot” are words everyone can understand. And then we used gestures: i can say that waterpolo is a universal language.  Do you have any favorite moments from your days at HaBaWaBa? Two in particular. The first one at the village waterpark, it's a moment that helped me a lot to bond with my teammates: the Festival is not only the tournament, but there is also room for a lot of fun aside the competition. The other one, however, is related to a game: it was a semifinal and we went to shootouts, I was the last shooter and I missed. At that time it was hard to swallow it, but looking back today even that is a good memory, which I will not forget: it helped me to understand what sport is all about. 

Do you think HaBaWaBa has strengthened your bond to waterpolo? Of course, and I think HaBaWaBa is an event that every child should experience once in a lifetime, especially because teams from so many countries participate in the competition. There are so many people and everyone goes to watch the finals, which are played in a very unique atmosphere for a youth-level tournament. That experience made me want to participate in this kind of competition, to play at the international level. And of course to strive to reach that level. Last February you took the biggest satisfaction of your career so far: participating in the World Championships. It was my first time and it was crazy. The debut was against Serbia and Dusan Mandic, who is my idol since I've been playing waterpolo: I also scored my first goal at the WC, I couldn't believe what was happening. It was really a dream.   The next one is Paris 2024. It's not easy to get there, the level of players in Japan is quite high. Olympics or not, I will keep playing waterpolo: I have one more year of high school, then I would like to play in a college in the United States in order to improve myself before moving to some waterpolo club in Europe. Maybe to Italy, where it all began.  

***

  Click here for further infos about HaBaWaBa