Biography

When Ryan “Tako” Takayama joined University of Nevada Ultimate in fall of 2013, he had never played competitive ultimate. His freshman year, the program went 0-8 at the NorCal Conference Championships. His junior year, the program attended regionals for the first time. His fifth year, University of Nevada Men’s Ultimate finished sixth in the Southwest Region, largely due to his transcendent play on the field and effort behind the scenes. While Tako regularly makes spectacular athletic plays, even more often, he wins on intuition and smart play alone. These types of plays go unnoticed because he finesses opposing players out of position, appearing as though he was not guarded at all.

He is the greatest teammate. At all times, he is looking to make plays for his teammates rather than plays for himself, making it hard to recognize when he has taken over a game. There is no one who would have been a better captain for the past three years, or teammate the past five.

He is Nevada Ultimate’s first Callahan nominee, and elected captain three years in a row. Tako is also a standout player for San Francisco Polar Bears, where he won Rookie of the Year in 2016 and Male Offensive Player of the Year in 2017.

While attending Del Oro High School, Tako excelled at basketball and golf. At the University of Nevada, he completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree.

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