A silent leader: Rine Yonaha

Rine Yonaha grew up in Okinawa, Japan, where her family’s focus was always soccer. She was born and raised to love it. Now, the midfielder is one of Utah State Soccer’s greatest assets.

Her dad coached, and her two brothers played competitively, one with the Japanese national team. She watched all of their games and learned from them for years.

“We’re a soccer family,” Yonaha said.

This passion for soccer pushed her to pursue a new opportunity.

After playing three years at Hinomoto Gakuen High School, including a national championship during her first year in the program, Yonaha came to the United States.

“They have tryouts in Japan, and some of the coaches from the USA came to watch us play. I also made a film that my agent sent out to lots of coaches,” she said.

Snow College, located in Ephraim, first recruited Yonaha. She played with the Badgers for the 2021 season. She appeared and started in each of the Badgers’ 19 matches, totaling nine points behind two goals and five assists.

Coming from Japan to Utah was unlike anything she had imagined.

“I had no idea. I had no idea what Utah was,” she said. “When I came here, I was so surprised by so many things. I didn’t speak English, and I couldn’t understand anything. But I feel like the people were so nice to me, and they helped me a lot.”

Even the gameplay was different than she expected.

“I feel like we do like more paths and more technical stuff in Japan,” Yonaha said.

Head coach Manny Martins said it’s a different game because of the cultural aspect. Teams in Japan spend hours focusing on small technical details, trainings which he says are not typically done in the U.S.

“The level of technical ability of every player (in Japan) is quite phenomenal,” Martins said. “Typically, it would be frowned upon in a training environment, doing one activity for an hour. We would say, ‘Oh it’s boring,’ and then you have an unmotivated athlete. In countries like Japan, they do that and have no issue with it.”

While Martins watched film in the recruitment process of Nicole Hadlock, he noticed Yonaha. The two played together at Snow and to no surprise, Yonaha made a good enough impression that Martins wanted her at Utah State.

“On the field, she is everything and more than what we expected. Very composed and very intelligent in how she plays. Her soccer IQ is really something that is pretty special,” he said. “But then we’ve also seen a part that I hadn’t necessarily seen in the video, which was her competitive edge and her ability to be physical.”

Yonaha, the first international player in program history, joined the Aggies in July 2022. During her first season, she played a total of 874 minutes, earned academic all-Mountain West honors and was a MW Scholar-Athlete. She scored four total points from one goal and two assists and started in eight of their matches.

There is an adjustment for all players coming to college and this level of competition. For an international player, it’s even greater.

Martins has recruited internationally at every other institution he’s worked at. He’s seen players go through adjustment both culturally and on the field.

“A lot of times, internationals tend to be a little bit more mature than kids that grow up here. You’ve got language barriers, food, other cultural things and certain things that we sometimes take for granted,” he said. “There’s an adjustment in a new team, but I think the key for an international to adapt to an environment is helping them feel valued.”

Although she enjoyed her time at Snow, Yonaha is glad she is at Utah State because of the growth she’s had.

“Snow College was fun, but I feel like it’s different here,” Yonaha said. “Everything is so professional. The coaching style, the way they treat us. I like my teammates, the team and the coaching staff and the people around here because everyone’s so nice, and we have so many fans.”

Yonaha’s biggest fans are her parents and siblings back in Japan. They haven’t been able to come in person, but they are watching every game online.

“If it’s like 5 p.m. here, it’s 7 or 8 a.m. in Japan, so they watch every game,” Yonaha said.

Yonaha is very close with her family, especially when it comes to soccer.

They were excited when she had the opportunity to play here and hope to come to watch her in person one day.

“She’s very close to her family. And after every game, she’s always talking to her mom about the game, how it went,” goalkeeper Diera Walton said.

Walton and Yonaha have become close friends since playing on the same team, Oly Town FC, in Seattle this summer.

The change hasn’t always been easy, but Yonaha says her teammates make all the difference. Off the field, they are roommates. They watch movies, play FIFA and support other teams at their games.

“[My favorite part is] spending time with teammates. We’re always together. We always eat together and practice every day,” Yonaha said.

On the field, they are sisters.

“We’re like a sisterhood. We can always depend on each other for anything. We’re always like hanging out and making plans outside of soccer. We’re just super close, and we’re just very comfortable with each other,” Walton said.

Yonaha is a woman of few words. She describes herself as “very shy and quiet.”

Martins described #17 as their “silent leader.”

“She brings a little bit of a quiet leadership because she inspires people like her and people look up to how she plays without her necessarily having to be a voice that’s telling people what to do,” he said.

But for those who get to know her on a more personal level, she is sweet, funny and open about her culture.

“Rine comes off as very shy, but getting to know her, she’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She’s very open and willing to teach people about her new culture. Every day, she’s like my teacher, she’ll just give me new words every day, things like that,” Walton said. “We just push each other out of our comfort zone, so it’s fun and new every single day.”

Yonaha is most excited about winning the Mountain West Championship. She is confident the team will continue improving and learning from their losses. Her coach and teammates are confident in her.

“She’s willing to sacrifice anything just to be better every single day. She’s just someone that you can like learn from, whether it’s attitude, skills or anything like that. You can always learn off of Rine,” Walton said

Martins is excited to see how Yonaha continues to grow in her career as an Aggie.

“I want her to be healthy so that she can have the opportunity to really contribute in ways that I know she can and enjoy everything that comes with it,” he said. “The healthier she is, the fitter she is, the more freedom she can play with, the more she’s going to enjoy the experience and the more she’s going to contribute to the program.