Darin Satoshi Maki
Darin was born in Los Angeles, California on August 28th 1979 to a Japanese father and a third generation Japanese-American mother. When he first started playing basketball at the age of 8, he told his mother "I'm going to be a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers." He didn't quite make the Lakers but he did live out his dream of becoming a professional athlete.
From an early age Darin was very athletic and excelled in many sports such as baseball, football, soccer, judo, and basketball. He credits his good genes and support from his family; they all played sports and urged him to try everything to see what he liked. Usually playing on teams where everyone was older and bigger than him, his competitive nature emerged as a way to survive. His first coach rarely played him so his drive to succeed was bred from a very early age.
In his early teens, Darin was becoming a rising young star in judo having won state championships in California, Nevada, and winning the bronze medal at the United States National Tournament. Despite his talent, he hated it. "I felt like I didn't need to go to any practices because I won every tournament, I guess I didn't know my own potential. Plus all my friends were playing basketball and at that age, I wasn't ready to sacrifice my time with friends." He started taking basketball seriously during high school and quit judo to pursue his basketball career full time.
Darin continued to play basketball and remained a definite underdog due to his size and small stature. He excelled, but was not met without adversity. A Japanese-American organization that sends high school players to Japan to play goodwill games offers open tryouts every other year. Darin tried out thinking he had a great shot of making the team because he played against the other hopefuls regularly. He wanted to be on the team so bad, but unfortunately he didn't make it. This left a bad taste in his mouth. "I knew I should have been on that team, I thought it was too political. From then on, it was my mission to prove anybody who overlooked me wrong. My thinking was, that trip will probably be the highlight of their career, but I'll be playing there regularly as my job one day."
Darin went on to have an outstanding high school career, winning championships and receiving Most Valuable Player awards along the way. After graduating, he played at East Los Angeles College (ELAC), and had two successful years there. He had many offers to play at four-year universities, but the biggest offer came as a surprise. "The Japan Junior National team came to Los Angeles that summer and I was privileged enough to play against them twice. We won both times and I did pretty well. After the games, scouts from Japan approached me and asked if I wanted to play in the Japanese league," Darin recollects. Despite some reservations, he and his family decided that he should finish school first. Because he was only 19 and felt he should have something to fall back on, he took an offer to play basketball and complete his education at NCAA division II California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH).
During his two years at CSUDH, he worked extremely hard to bring his game to the next level. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, all he could think about was getting to Japan and the time had finally come to pursue his dream. He flew to Japan with high expectations, but was met with citizenship restrictions and policies. It seems every time an opportunity arrived, he was met with continued adversities. "I thought, hey I'm Japanese I can play there! I wasn't a Japanese citizen which was the key factor. I was told that Japan is one of the strictest countries in the world in regards to citizenship." It was a huge disappointment, but he maintained an optimistic attitude.
In the meantime, Darin played overseas in countries like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hong Kong but he never stopped thinking about Japan. Upon doing some research, he found that because his father is a Japanese citizen, he could obtain his own Japanese citizenship relatively quickly. So in 2004, he packed his bags and left for Japan without ever looking back. He acquired Japanese citizenship and entered the BJ-league draft where he was selected 6th overall by the Tokyo Apache. "It was one of the greatest days of my life, definitely a dream come true but I knew it was just another step in the big picture."
Darin continues to train in Los Angeles and Tokyo during the off-season while still staying active in both communities. "Once you've made it, its what you do to stay there and how you give back." Darin's determination to succeed is even greater than before, and he never forgets where he came from. "You gotta stay humble and hungry because you never know when it'll get taken away from you. I truly want to thank all the people who've supported me and doubted me, you all have helped me become the person I am today."
