Eiji Sawakita

Year: 2nd year
Height: 189 cm
Weight: 77kg
Position: Small Forward
Jersey Number: #9
Eiji Sawakita is considered Japan's No.1 High School Player, and is the ace of Sannoh. Unlike many other characters who are extremely skilled as he is, he has a goofy attitude sometimes, and has comical moments of extreme shock when an opponent does something impressive. It was known that the high profile player, like Rukawa, has many fangirls that sends him fan mails. Masashi, on the other hand, has none and picks on Eiji because of this.
Sawakita plans to go to America following the summer's Interhigh Tournament.

Skills:
Eiji Sawakita is the best all-round player in Japanese high school basketball. His offensive ability is nearly unstoppable and is equally matched by his defensive ability. It is rumoured that no one in high school, not even college, can beat him in a one-on-one match. Rukawa attempts to play him one-on-one in the second round of the National Championships, but Sawakita proves that he was the better player and shut down Rukawa's scoring, forcing him to change tactics. His offensive power is very strong as it forces Rukawa to fail everytime and it made Rukawa with only one choice left which is to pass the ball to his team mate. Sawakita is known to be the best player within the history of Sannoh as he is currently holding the title of "Japan's #1 High School Player". His defensive skills is just as strong as his offensive skill to which he think that Rukawa dribbling is weak as he almost stole the ball on alot of occasion. He is currently unmatch in a 1 vs 1 match. He also beaten Sendoh of Ryonan High( who known as a genius) in their middle school days.

Early childhood:
Sawakita was taught basketball by his father Tetsuharu "Tetsu" Sawakita, who played him one-on-one since he was four years old. The first present recieved by Eiji was a basketball when he was just an infant.Eiji got bored by the toy net in his house and that is when his father bought a house with a real basketball net. His father would play with him every sunrise and sunset.
Primary and Junior High days:
There was no basketball club in primary school and Eiji played with his father with the goal of beating his father. When he entered Junior high, he finally beat his father. In the club he easily beat his seniors who were starters in tournaments, commenting that playing with them is boring. His seniors were unhappy about his cocky attitude and beat him out of jealously.
Sawakita beat Sendoh when they played each other in junior high, to which Sendoh note that he the only person that he lost to before in a one on one match. Sawakita is probably the best player in his middle school days also as he is currently Japan's #1 High School Player right now.