Yuya Tegoshi wants to be the best

NEWS member Yuya Tegoshi loves his friends but also sees them as his biggest rivals, reports Yomiuri Shimbun on June 19.

 

“I started playing soccer when I was at kindergarten and loved it, even now it’s a part of my life.

 

I practice with my team as captain, and we enter competitions.  No matter how busy I am at work, I have to move my body.  I love playing and being with my friends.  It gets me ready for the next day.

 

I constantly train my body.  Even if we have two concerts in one day, I can cool down properly and don’t get tired the next day.  Compared to soccer, singing and dancing at the same time is a piece of cake.

 

Soccer has made me an incredibly competitive person.  I made my debut with NEWS at fifteen, I was the youngest member in the group and had only joined Johnny’s 10 months before.  I had no dance experience.  I was literally the worst in the group and it really annoyed me.

 

Up to then I was always a leader.  The anchor in the relay team, the captain of the cheering squad, the team leader in school trips.  So for the first time I felt out of place,  and I didn’t like going to work.

 

That competitiveness in me started coming out.  I’d take dance lessons in secret.  I wanted to be a better singer so I hired a voice trainer and practiced the songs over and over again at karaoke.

 

The NEWS members are my friends, but they’re also my biggest rivals.  I want to be the best that I can.  I feel a lot of gratitude towards soccer for teaching me to push myself further.”