Kyle 'Marbles' Nakazawa (born March 16, 1988 in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player.

Career

College and Amateur

Nakazawa grew up in

Rancho Palos Verdes, California Rancho Palos Verdes (Spanish for "Green Sticks Ranch") is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, neighboring other cities in the Palos Verdes Hills, including Palos Verdes Estate ...

, and attended

Palos Verdes Peninsula High School Palos Verdes Peninsula High School is a public high school in Rolling Hills Estates, California, United States. History The school was formed in 1991 when Miraleste High School, Palos Verdes High School, and Rolling Hills High School were merged ...

from 2002 to 2003, before moving to the Edison Academic Center from 2003–2005 where he was a part of the U.S. U-17 residency program. Nakazawa played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

at UCLA from 2006 to 2009; he was named to the 2006 Soccer America and

Top Drawer Soccer A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

All-Freshman first teams and College Soccer News' All-Freshman second team, was a 2007 Second-team All-Pac-10 selection and UCLA Bruins MVP, and was a 2009 First-team NSCAA All-American, an All-Far West selection, a First-team All-Pac-10 selection, and a Pac-10 All-Academic honoree. He played club soccer for the Irvine Strikers. During his college years he also appeared for both the San Fernando Valley Quakes and the Los Angeles Legends in the USL Premier Development League.

Professional

Nakazawa was drafted in the third round (33rd overall) of the

2010 MLS SuperDraft 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

. Known for providing a steady presence in the midfield and excellent service balls, he made his professional debut on May 1, 2010, in a match at Los Angeles Galaxy. Nakazawa made his first professional start on May 8, 2010 at Real Salt Lake, and he scored his first professional goal on May 28, 2011, in the Union's 6–2 victory over Toronto FC. On February 1, 2012 Nakazawa was traded to Los Angeles Galaxy with a

2013 MLS SuperDraft The 2013 MLS SuperDraft was the fourteenth SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The draft took place on January 17, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indiana Convention Center. The Colorado Rapids enjoyed returns from the 2013 draft, ...

second round pick for a 2012 international roster slot. On January 21, 2013, Los Angeles Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena announced that Nakazawa had retired from playing professional soccer.

International

Nakazawa was present at the

2005 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eleventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Lima, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura and Iquitos in Peru between 16 September and 2 October 2005. Players born after 1 January 1988 could particip ...

at Peru, scoring 2 goals.

Career statistics

Club

Updated February 1, 2012

Personal

Nakazawa has also dabbled in acting, and he was featured in

JoJo Jojo, JoJo or Jo Jo is a given name, surname, nickname or stage name used by several people and fictional characters, including: People with the given name, nickname or stage name Musicians *JoJo (singer) (born 1990), American R&B singer, songwri ...

’s music video for her 2006 hit song, Too Little Too Late alongside several of his UCLA Bruins teammates. Kyle is now a U.S. Forest Service firefighter for the Arroyo Grande Hotshots in Arroyo Grande, California.

References

External links

*
UCLA bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakazawa, Kyle 1988 births Living people All-American men's college soccer players American soccer players American sportspeople of Japanese descent Association football midfielders LA Galaxy players LA Laguna FC players Major League Soccer players People from Arroyo Grande, California People from Rancho Palos Verdes, California Philadelphia Union draft picks Philadelphia Union players San Fernando Valley Quakes players Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California UCLA Bruins men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players USL League Two players