MADISON- The sport of tennis has opened a second world for Taiga Koyama of James Clemens High. The senior player on the school’s tennis team contributes his being able to make friends, communicate and learn a new culture from his play on the courts. He also attributes his return to tennis as the driving force of emerging himself into American culture.

Koyama came to the United States from Japan in early 2017 as his father was transferred to North Alabama from the home country. The move was a courageous and life changing decision to accompany his family to a new part of the world.

Through his tennis talents, the 5-foot-7, 132-pound Koyama secured an athletic scholarship to play tennis at Fairleigh Dickinson University and recently signed the commitment documents at a signing ceremony held at his school. The Knights are a member of the Northeast Conference and is a NCAA Div. I program located in Teaneck, N.J.

“I studied hard to gain a scholarship in this country as I’ve been focused on this challenge and receiving a scholarship has been my dream,” said Koyama, who has a 3.42 grade point average and will study international business.

What began as a family hobby soon became a passion for Koyama when he took up tennis at age five. He quickly blossomed as a player and participated in numerous national and international tournaments. At 12 years old he suffered a devastating loss in a national tournament, which bruised his tennis ego and caused him to not only lose confidence in his ability to play well, but his motivation to continue to pick up his tennis racket.

“I still played tennis almost every day while in Japan, but just didn’t have that desire to play at a high level and that put me into a further slump,” said Koyama, son of Eiji and Rikako Koyama. “After arriving here in the United States I began to reconnect with tennis through the tennis team here at James Clemens. I placed third in the state last season, but chose not to attend the state event this season due to my studying and taking my ACT and SAT tests, which I needed to try and secure a scholarship.”

Koyama lost out on a lot of playing time due to his academic efforts, but did rise as high as second in Alabama in the USTA Boys 17-U division. His strong forehand mixed with his expeditious foot work has made him a peerless competitor. “I can change the pace of my serves giving me total control and that has helped me tremendously,” added Koyama.

Now 18, Koyama admits to still struggle with the English language, but through a tutor has progressed to the point he can carry on a conversation without much difficulty, thought on occasions has to ask those he’s speaking with to repeat their statement or ask what the words mean.

In Japan Koyama indicated teachers to his school were not overly helpful, but here teachers are friendly, outgoing and helpful when needed. Koyama did reflect on what he thought of American food as he settles into Madison and the American way of life.

“The food we ate in Japan was certainly healthier than what we eat here. My mother still cooks some Japanese cuisine at home,” said Koyama. “Here, the hamburgers are much better and bigger. More meat in them than what I’m used to.”