The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks want to be the number one baseball team in the world. Not just in their league, not even just in Japan- the world. To accomplish that, yes, they need fantastic players and coaches, but they also need a strong team of athletic trainers, strength coaches, and physical therapists to build up the team, to keep them performing at their best, and to watch over athletes in order to prevent injury.
Enter Spooner Sports Institute’s Keisuke “K2” Kanno, PT, DPT, FAFS, CSCS, the medical advisor for the Hawks. He empowers and advises athletic trainers, strength coaches, and physical therapists to become leaders.
K2 sees himself as a teammate with an outside vision. He is able to bring in different perspectives and expertise to help grow the unity of the strength and rehabilitation teams. K2 has been a catalyst of change for the Hawks, and he hopes to keep cultivating growth and sharing wisdom in the coming years. He sees the team becoming the best in the world with the work the strength and rehabilitation teams have been dedicating to bettering themselves as leaders.
Let’s rewind 20 years to see why K2 has been tapped as a leader to help shape the Hawks into a position to become the greatest baseball team.
Seeking Knowledge
20 years ago, K2 had been working exclusively for Adrian Fernandez’s IndyCar team, training and treating drivers. This is something that is helpful since the drivers accumulate lateral G-Force and require endurance for the hours-long races. Come late 2001, K2 wanted to expand his knowledge and experience in physical therapy. However, Fernandez wanted to keep K2 on his team. He saw a positive influence, a hard worker, and a talent. He offered K2 a job in Phoenix, AZ, saying, “I want to create more success in my career, and I want to make sure to get surrounded by people like you.” On New Year’s Day 2002, K2 was in Phoenix, AZ, with an agreement to work half days for Fernandez and half days growing his experience in physical therapy.
Fernandez developed discomfort in his shoulder blade that would not resolve- even with the help of K2. After seeing a headline in a Miami newspaper about a Dolphin’s player that had surgery and was treated by Brett Fischer, PT, ATC, CSCS, Fernandez suggested that they go to the Fischer Institute, now called the Spooner Sports Institute, to learn from Fischer. In the Institute, K2 was brought in to the treatment process, which was unique. He saw Fischer treat in a way that was different than what he learned in school or how treatment was done in other clinics. From that point on, K2 considered Fischer his mentor, and, as fate would have it, K2 began working for Fischer a few months later in 2003.
Spooner Sports Institute
The Spooner Sports Institute is the ultimate destination for athletes of all levels to be treated and trained. Professional athletes are drawn there to receive the highest level of care. In 2003, a Japanese baseball player, Kimiyasu Kudo, was attempting to improve his performance and headed to the Institute. There, he was assigned to be treated by K2. As a child, K2 had watched Kudo pitch and had attempted to emulate his pitching style. He was a giant fan, and now he was treating one of his sports idols. Throughout the treatment process, a respectful relationship developed between Kudo and K2. They kept in contact after Kudo completed treatment, and Kudo was especially impacted from his time with K2.
After Kudo retired from pitching in 2015, he became a manager for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. In this leadership position, Kudo wanted to bring the best in to make the team successful. Similar to Fernandez in 2002, Kudo looked to K2. The way K2 interacted with and treated athletes was in line with how Kudo envisioned therapists and trainers ought to treat and train. He hoped to bring K2 onto the team to guide the team of therapists and trainers, so, when the GM of the Hawks was going to Phoenix, Kudo suggested that he go to visit K2. In 2019, K2 signed a contract to be an advisor to the rehabilitation and strengthening teams for the Hawks.
As a Leader…
In this past year with the Hawks, K2 held many seminars on the topic of leadership, and he looked to his colleagues at the Sports Institute. He turned to them for advice on what they would say makes a leader and an excellent teammate. Within those conversations, K2 began growing to make himself the best leader and teammate he could possibly be. We asked a group of leaders from the Spooner Sports Institute to describe qualities they saw in K2, especially the qualities that aid in his work with the Hawks. This is what they had to say:
K2 is one of the most empathetic, humble, and genuinely curious individuals I have ever met. He cares about his patients/athletes at a level I have rarely ever seen before. He spends, I don’t even know how much of his time outside of the clinic, self-reflecting, developing plans, and making sure he is giving the patient the best care possible. He has no ego and is willing to ask for help from others. He wants everyone on the team to know how important they are and how much he values them. Part of the reason so many people want to learn from him and respect his input, nationally and internationally, is because he is truly one of the best at what he does. He has a hard time admitting it because he is so humble but it is a fact. He has never shied away from asking questions and he is ALWAYS learning so even when he is in a position of leadership you still know that he is listening to your experiences no matter your role. He makes sure there are collaborative experiences for all involved, he is definitely a servant leader, which really draws people to him.
-Rebekah Hibbert, Director of Sports Medicine
K2 is a special person who is uniquely slanted to helping others. He is also completely intentional with his time. Nothing will interrupt his time with you and he will be undistracted. He truly wants to engage in the betterment of you. He is also a great listener. He doesn’t listen just to respond. He will often ask for a moment to give you a proper response. He is extremely passionate about the work he has dedicated his life to and this is infectious to those around him.
-Trent Rincon, Spooner Sports Institute Clinic Director
K2 has been a mentor to me for 12-years now. As humble as he is, he probably doesn’t realize the impact he has on myself and others. His ambition to genuinely help his clients and those around him, in whatever form that takes, is second to none. Over the years I’ve heard him say “I want to help them/you” countless times. In my experience, when something is repeated that many times it tends to lose it’s true meaning over time. With K2, when you hear him say it, you know he has the same level of personal commitment to it as the first time he said it. Without question, collaborating with K2 has made me a better coach. I know he will give everything he has to a client or project he’s part of. This motivates me to give more, care more, and commit more.
-Chip Gosewisch, Spooner Sports Institute Head Coach
He’s one of those people that makes you better. He asks great questions, and nothing is ever personal. He really taught me as a leader to be open and to share- especially when it comes to patients. He’s been a great sounding board for me after all these years of just sharing knowledge and sharing experience. When thinking of time we collaborated together, the word unity comes to mind. Everybody has different philosophies, but we are here to try to help the patient and to be able to share those ideas with each other is important. But I think also, sharing the passion of wanting to help people at a deep level- K2 has that … that’s a unique thing. It was like destiny that I met him. Just so many things in our lives paralleled and we were meant to come together. God had a plan for him to be here, and that’s what happened. I have so much respect for him.
-Brett Fischer, Founder of the Fischer Institute
K2 has a remarkable sense of humility. He often wants to take on the role of student, to soak up the knowledge and wisdom of others. But he does not hoard this wisdom. He wants to share, to teach, and to change. He wants to make sure his professional peers are treating patients and athletes in the best way possible. He does not take pride in his own accomplishments, but he does take pride in his ability to share his knowledge. With this, he is helping the Hawks, other therapists with Spooner through the Spooner Practice Performance team, and every person he interacts with, be the absolute best version they possibly can be.
Meet the rest of our fantastic team of physical therapists and strength and conditioning coaches at the Spooner Sports Institute!