Kenshiro Daniels: Kicking Back

When faced with American-born British Filipino Kenshiro Daniels for the first time, choosing between “bloke” and “dude,” cola and tea, or even “bummer” and “bugger” clearly stands to boggle. It’s best you call the lad Kenny, give him a Hi-Chew (if none, a high five will do), and ask about his favorite meme. Armed with the wits of Heisenberg, don’t try fooling the nineteen-year-old Kaya FC player with fake accents and false facts about history—unless you can deflect his mean green fighting kicks.

A Kenny for Your Thoughts

Kenshiro Michael Daniels’s list of affiliations is quite long, but it is time for everyone to get it right, Wiki included. He’s a British Filipino who was born and raised in Los Angeles.

“I was born in Newport Beach, California. In Hoag Hospital. I pass it every single time I go to the beach, and I announce it every single time we pass it: ‘I was born there!’” proudly shared Ken.

Nineteen years old as of this writing, Ken attended McAuliffe Elementary School and La Sierra High School, which, to quote the chirpy lad, “was five minutes away from home!”

The second of four brothers, Kenshiro found inspiration in his father, Gary Daniels, Hollywood actor and Manchester United fan. With Ken’s room bedecked with fixtures and flags when he was a child, the torch had been passed—not only for the team but also for the passion for the sport. Actually, when Ken used to live in that house, it was not even Ken’s room; it was called the Manchester United room—so excuse us for discussing it without due reverence.

Having a (retired) kickboxer for a parent may have epic consequences, though. His older brother, Shane, a free runner, has made a career for himself as a stunt double—have you seen The Maze Runner, Divergent, or 300: Rise of an Empire?—and is a rising name in the world of parkour, while the other younger brother also dabbles in jujitsu.

Ken, however, grew up in his little Old Trafford room—surrounded by everything Manchester United, from wallpaper to bedsheets and pillows! So this yielded a more “beautiful” passion—that is, a career in football.

Can you remember the first time you kicked a football? “My dad said I was two. As soon as I could walk,” narrated Ken.

It wasn’t a roundhouse kick that appealed to him, but it was still his dad who taught him the ropes, and at the age of three, Ken got started on the football track.

The age of four marked joining his first-ever team, an AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) team with an unforgettable name we ought to say together, out loud … all together now: the Mean Green Fighting Machine!

Back in England, his dad used to play for his schools and burrows and got scouted for professional teams, so a trip to the park with the Daniels kids could pertain to something more like proper practice and perfecting that footwork, though within a fun family atmosphere.

As Ken pleasantly put it (in regard to his fondest football memory), “Too many to count. Too many to recall.”

No wonder Ken’s love for football never wavered; the Red Devils guided him all the way!

What’s Your Name Again?

Now Kenshiro has this curious name, considering his Filipino and British background. Let the mystery unravel; his father starred as Kenshiro in the American live-action version of the Japanese mange Fist of the North Star. His brothers’ names follow the same nomenclature pattern.

Even for an athletics-oriented family, Ken had a positive streak on the scholarly side of life as well. Now we are being serious here. While he recalled a funny story from tenth grade, fifth grade was an entirely different—all right, genius—story.

“Funniest thing was that my tenth-grade history teacher heard about my dad, and in the middle of the class, she Googled him and just yelled, ‘No way, Kenshiro! Your dad’s actually an actor.’ In the middle of class. While everyone was working. It was so funny.”

“I was an A-B student until freshman year. I skipped a grade! I skipped fifth grade. I did three months, and teacher said she couldn’t teach me anything else, so I went to sixth grade.”

This is one of those instances in life when gloating is permitted. Okay, next story!

Ken-Do Attitude

“Calm, energetic, hungry, athletic, and I try to be funny!”—Ken described himself in five words and managed ten.

The thing about Ken is that when he mentioned wanting to be a professional football player, he actually meant it, with the proper endorsement of his parents. His dad and mom were his inspiration and number one fans.

“My parents would drive me every week, forty-five minutes or an hour, there and back, to watch my training sessions two or three times a week. We would have games in San Diego at seven in the morning, so my mom would wake me up at four and drive to San Diego for two hours or whatever it was. They supported me every step of the way.”

For the sake of history, which also happens to be his favorite subject, Ken played for the same team, albeit they had a few name changes, in the Coast Soccer League prior to playing for his high school football team.

“First was Irvine Lasers. I started with Irvine Lasers when I was seven, and then when I was about ten, I played for SASC [Santa Anita Soccer Club] Sting, which later turned into SASC Premier and then turned into Arsenal. Arsenal bought my team, my individual team, because we were really a good team. SASC still exists, but my team changed into Arsenal. They took over us. I played for Arsenal until I was fourteen.”

While Arsenal undeniably rings a bell, it was not until later that it became directly and officially affiliated with Premier League football club Arsenal. And for Ken, playing for SASC Sting remains a significant chapter in his football life.

“One of my best memories—I was really happy!—was when I first joined SASC Sting. They were the best team in California at that time, and we played in a tournament, my first tournament with them, and I scored the winning goal in the final in extra time.”

Come high school, Ken left Arsenal and played for his high school’s team when he was a freshman. He became part of La Sierra’s JV (junior varsity) team and then, eventually, the varsity team in senior year, where his team won and he scored twenty-seven goals. Another notable accomplishment!

Here’s a quick recap of his achievements: “I had a lot of Golden Boot awards. My high school senior team won. I got offensive MVP, First Team All-League, First Team All-CIF, and Golden Boot.”

Evidently, instead of focusing on (or obsessing over) the SATs and other college mumbo jumbo, high school life meant practice and preparing for a football career. There was nothing technical or laborious about his drills; maybe it’s because he once lived in little Old Trafford—just a trivia, he has been to the real Theatre of Dreams twice already!—plus the nearby beach, but he just made it seem like life’s a ball, so roll with it. Rock it too if you can, which took him Down Under!

“When I was fifteen, I went to New Zealand and played there for three months. My uncle was a coach of a semipro team, Metro, and I played for their U-19 team and reserve team for three months. It was my first time playing with grown-ups, and I was fifteen. I went there three days or a week after my fifteenth birthday! It was a really good experience.”

When he was sixteen, Ken had a fortuitous brush with his soon-to-be teammates. During that time, Aly and Anton ran the national team (Azkals) tryouts in San Francisco, and Ken’s mom was quick to catch some valuable Azkals news. That was also his first sighting of would-be mate OJ Porteria. Of course, the stars were to align a couple of years later and seven inches taller—for Ken, that is. 

A Kuppa Opportuni-tea

“There’s one thing Chris said to me that’s really good. Chris said, ‘Success comes when preparation and opportunity meet.’”

It was in 2012 when Ken found himself in Manila with no club in mind. Perhaps it was Darren Hartmann or the news of football being big—or maybe, just maybe, he wanted a side trip to Boracay. Still, Ken moved to Manila and briefly joined Laos FC.

In 2013, social media made sure Ken was well within the UFL loop this time, and he tried out for Kaya FC.

“I just went to the open tryout, and Kaya kept me in the training all the way until they signed me.”

Joining Kaya was not a difficult choice for Ken because aside from Darren’s recommendation, the initial impression was that it was a “big” team. And what decided the matter required no flowchart or weather forecast. Simply put, Ken just thought, “This is interesting!” That sealed the deal, no candies needed.

Of course, being “big” was not the only good thing about Kaya, as Ken would later discover.

Ken, or Kenny, as he is fondly called by teammates, was confounded trying to determine his best experience with Kaya, and he could only respond with “Getting close with the team and playing with them every day.”

On their moments of battle: “We just tell each other and tell ourselves that we know we need to pick it up and play better.”

Conversely, it would be easy to ascertain the terrible: “The first season with Kaya when I was injured for two and a half months because of my ankle injury. Not being able to play sucked!”

He flew back into the game the moment the ankle grew back … to normalcy. And good thing the young lad healed in no time as he played with zest and ultimate ambition—scoring goals and sprinting with ease—leading to the Kenshiro jersey making UFL game highlights!

Right Back at Ya

“I love scoring. I was born to score. Literally in every single league I’ve played in my life, I was always top goal scorer until I moved to the Philippines. I’ve grown up as a center forward my whole life, and then when I came to the Philippines, I started playing wide on the left.”

In March 2014, all that soaring down the wing and scoring for Kaya got Ken a place on Coach Dooley’s list, a call to join the national team. While Coach Dooley was fairly new to the local scene, his was a blank slate in terms of player profiles, and this was favorable in Ken’s—and other new players’—case.

Moving to the Philippines, though, thrust him out of his center forward comfort zone; he’s now a winger for Kaya and right-back for the national team.

“I was surprised when he [Coach Dooley] first put me there, but I want to play, and he did his best to teach me how to play it before the Peace Cup. I mean, I still haven’t fully adjusted or learned it, but I was just happy to play in both games in the Peace Cup.”

As a young and ambitious player and a new name on the Azkals roster, it brings us comfort to find someone like Ken who is willing to tackle different positions and adjust to where the tide takes him. It’s not an easy feat, especially for someone who grew up with the mantra “I love scoring!”

Coach Dooley has been compassionate with this shift and made sure his right-back recruit was in tip-top defensive shape in no time.

“Yeah, one training session during the game, he literally followed me everywhere, stood behind me and in front of me, and told me where to go.”

The chance to play for the national team was hard to resist, and so was the privilege to serve, so these minor adjustments, Ken believes, are part of the national prerequisite. With hard work and training, he can competently fill the right-back post and go places, and we mean competitions everywhere, and Ken has his own list: the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, the 2014 Peace Cup, and the 2014 Hassanal Bolkiah Cup.

“One advantage is I get to do what I love and train and play every day. I also get to travel. One is being away from family and friends,” shared Ken about the advantages and sole disadvantage of playing football.

While there are so many players worthy of admiration, Ken cites Ruud van Nistelrooy as the center forward standout: “I’ve never had a favorite player, but I’ve always watched players that play my position, and because I’m a Man United fan, during my younger years, Ruud van Nistelrooy was a center forward who scored a lot of goals.”

In the Philippines, though, he names Phil Younghusband, who’s just as adept in the forward position.

Always working on his game, Ken has already managed to instill and tell us about the discipline necessary to play as an effective center forward, winger, or both: “As a center forward, awareness, movement, finishing, and for winger or both, not losing the ball, keeping possession, and having a good vision.” Those traits are essential, but getting them into the regular routine is the challenge, and Ken has managed that since childhood by playing every day as he was growing up. It really pays to live near parks.

Speaking of parks and paying, Ken wishes that the fields here were free to use as well. Imagine having a free-for-all nearby field for recreational activities—that would be an awesome breeding ground for future players and a campaign to ditch video games for some almost-Cali sunshine!

Be Right Back

“Being more physical. It’s a mentality that I’ve never really had. I’m more technical than physical, but I need to work on being more physical and holding the ball up. There’s always space to work on everything else. I’m a work in progress,” explained Ken on what he needs to improve on.

Just because he’s been inducted into the national team by no means makes him a supreme player. There is much work to be done, and Ken acknowledges that fact and is working on it.

Coach Dooley has been extending an excellent hand, while teammates, especially from Kaya, have been a source of motivation and never-ending bonding.

Being with the team for a while now has created new bonds with fellow U-23 and U-21 players as well: Matthew Uy, Jeremy Theuer, Curt Dizon, and OJ Porteria. With new ties made and the Kaya FC motivational mind-set, the national team stands to gain a lot from the locker-room camaraderie of its energetic squad.

“We’re doing really well, but I think we can win these tournaments. We need to be more clinical in front of [the] goal, and we just need to stick together as a team.”

The Ken Is Mightier than the Sword

If given the chance to live the life of a football star for a day, who would it be and why?

“Ronaldo. Because his girlfriend, Irina Shayk, is really hot. He has awesome cars and everything. And I’d be able to play like him for one day!”

Just because Ken grew up in Newport Beach doesn’t mean he’s worn out of all the California sunshine. The opposite holds true—the kid can’t get enough of the beach! Trips to beaches have been the best, and he always bags the golden sunburn award. Having been to the Philippines about seven times before his football career, he has visited relatives in Manila but always found the time to go to the beaches. In fact, if he were to retire, he wouldn’t mind being a commentator, but that comes second to the dream of living in Boracay.

Even back home, Filipino dishes were part of tradition, and he enjoys his mom’s sinigang the most—and do take note, he eats rice every day. So that (the activity he calls eating) is one off the hobby list, as you may have ascertained. His other interests are bowling and the no-brainer, playing FIFA. Of course, Ken is not that football centered, and he also gives other games, such as Call of Duty, a chance.

The big question is … did you surf?

“I boogie boarded. I can bodysurf. That’s a lot more fun for me.”

He also skated for two years, but clearly, football has and always will be his only one, which is understandable for someone who lived in the Red Devils convention center all his life.

Ken’s closest brush with stardom was a cinematic shot in one of his dad’s earlier films. It was fast, and he was young, so attempts at searching YouTube for this clip will yield nothing.

“I used to go to the sets—that’s why I’ve been to a lot of countries.” Ken mentioned some childhood memories. Despite the busy schedule, he credits his dad for the bonding adventures from HK to the City Hunter, the Iron Fist Tournament, and of course, the Philippines, among other expendable locations. It comes as no surprise that his favorite actor is his dad, followed by Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler—both comedians—fitting for his self-declaration of “trying” to be funny.

Although young and carefree, there is much to learn and emulate from the passion and hunger of a player like Kenshiro Daniels. He grew up with nothing in mind but to play football, and his parents respected that decision and supported him all the way—anywhere in the world. No trumpets heralded his coming, and Ken came to the Philippines without any concrete plan, just hope and the desire to play and a side trip to the beach, perhaps.

It was never about counting goals or making Azkals headlines; for Ken, his proudest moment was just “stepping on the field to represent the Philippines.”

The message comes across that Ken loves to score, but what makes him stand out is his quest to score for the team, not himself. No cartwheels announce his goals, just a mental check mark next to his game mission. Stepping into other positions has become an acceptable and feasible challenge (read: RB), and Coach Dooley made no mistake in subjecting Ken to this bloody trial.

A team player but a game changer, Ken makes ordinary the new extraordinary—and that’s Kenshiro for you!

It wasn’t all that sunshine that made him the Ken that we’ve come to know. His parents started it, but Ken reminds us that “hard work and dedication can take you to places … and never giving up!”

Tried, tested, and proven by Kenshiro. Now how about a Hadou-Ken on your next goal?

Kenshi-road Show

Some people who were once baffled by the Kenshiro jersey now know the guy behind the actual number. If you read the article right, you know not to use the words “gnarly,” “bits and bobs,” or even “dojo” in front of Ken. You are better off offering Earl Grey—and no, that is not a local legend.

We tried a Ken(n) diagram and the elements K¹⁹ e N⁷ S¹⁶ H¹ I⁵³ r O⁸  D a Ni²⁸ e l S¹⁶, but nothing really beats our simple table—so here’s one for the road!

Follow Kenshiro on Twitter: @Kenchurro