Kaz was born and raised in Japan. From his childhood, Kaz was very active and played many sports such as running, swimming, basketball, and baseball but his passion always laid in soccer. He played soccer competitively until university and his dream was always to become a professional soccer player. However, when he was in the 2nd year of the university, he decided to go to the UK for a full year to study English, which changed his mind and led to seeking other possibilities with his broadened vision. After the completion of his degree in Physical Education in Japan, Kaz spent three years working in a sales position that supported the career development of Japanese business professionals. He enjoyed his job but something was missing, and after a few years of self-discovery and career exploration, Kaz came across the idea of physiotherapy as a profession. 

 

In 2009, Kaz moved to Vancouver and got a personal training certification. He worked as a personal trainer in Vancouver for 6 years focusing on exercise rehab for people with Cerebral Palsy and Spina Bifida as well as fitness training for people ranging from youth soccer team to the elderly population. In 2016, he was accepted to a Master of Physiotherapy program at McGill and therefore, he moved from Vancouver to Montreal with his wife and two young children (3 years old and 2 months old at that time). During his physiotherapy program, Kaz was exposed to the evidence-based running injury prevention presented by The Running Clinic, which is a Quebec based company teaching running injury prevention to healthcare professionals in 15 countries around the world. He always had a vision of bridging a gap in healthcare education between Canada and Japan, so he showed his interest in bringing their courses to Japan. As a consequence, he started working for The Running Clinic as a Business & Education Coordinator and Speaker in Japan.

 

Upon the completion of the Physiotherapy program, Kaz moved back to BC but in Kelowna this time and met Rob while he was working in KGH. Kaz has completed an injury prevention course specifically for running and constantly learning new ways of treating runners from running experts and PhD researchers specialized in running injuries around the world. Also, he had the first running-injury-prevention course in Tokyo in January 2020 targeting healthcare professionals including doctors, physiotherapists and athletic trainers.

 

He is very excited to be a part of New Leaf Physiotherapy as a running specialist and ready to help communities in Kelowna especially running community by getting involved in community events, running programs and corporate talks.

 

Kaz is looking forward to helping more people to optimize their quality of life by moving better, feeling better and living better utilizing this gorgeous nature that Kelowna offers!