THE RISE of Sean Yoshiura to the Brisbane Lions' rookie list is remarkable for a number of reasons.

He is the first Japanese-born player in history to be drafted to an AFL club.

Also, he could not speak a word of English until the age of seven, let alone handpass or kick a footy.

And finally, the gifted teenager had to make the big choice between sports after representing Australia at the World Schools Cross Country Championships just two years ago.

But luckily for the Lions he chose footy, and while a rookie listing is still a world away from an established career, the quietly spoken 18-year-old could not be more excited.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” he said. “It’s a massive honour, being Japanese and getting listed.

“I used to go for the Lions when I was young so to have the opportunity [to play for them] is unreal.”

Born in Tokyo to his parents Kazu and Vicki, who hails from Tasmania, young Yoshiura was certainly not dreaming of gracing the Gabba or MCG with an oval shaped ball.

It was when his family moved to Brisbane he found the sport and fell in love.

“I couldn’t even speak a word of English,” he said. “I did a lot of extensive English outside of school. It was quite hard. I was lucky that my mum is a Japanese-English translator which was handy.

“I was flicking through the tv and saw Justin Lepptisch and thought ‘I wonder what this sport is’ and a few days later I went past a footy oval close to my house and thought ‘why not give it a try’, so started club footy there and just fell in love with it.”

He played for junior clubs Jindalee and Kenmore and eventually moved to Mt Gravatt where he made his name in the seniors last year.

That all happened by chance as well.

Yoshiura had already established himself as an outstanding distance running talent over 1500m, 3000m and the cross country.

He juggled the sports right through school but concentrated on his running after breaking his collarbone at the age of 16.

“There were some days where I did running at school, then come home and then did my footy session so it was pretty compact," Yoshiura said.

“It was really hard. When I broke my collarbone and missed a whole footy season and started playing again in (state) under-18s, I realised how much I missed it.

“There was a point where I was in Canberra at national titles two years ago where I thought I’d give footy a final chance for two years to see how I go with it and if I don’t make it to the AFL I’d get back to my running.

“The reason I did start running was because of my footy, I wanted to improve my fitness, so when I look back, that’s why I ran initially.”

Last season ‘Yoshi’ played one game in the Lions reserves as a ‘top-up’ player but put himself on the map with an eye-catching tagging job on Lion Travis Johnstone when his Mt Gravatt side hosted their state league clash.

Now part of the squad, Yoshiura won the club 3km time trial and has already added 6kg to his frame, now tipping the scales at 76kg to go with his impressive midfield height of 188cm.

“Hopefully I can develop my footy skills. I know I’ve got to put on some weight and hopefully if I have a good year with the reserves I can get another contract or get elevated to the senior list.”

Image courtesy of Steve Ripper