Becoming the first Japanese female athletic trainer in major league baseball this year was, for Junko Yazawa, the completion of one journey and the start of another.

In a story that could well be called "Pride and Prejudice," Yazawa's path toward being a trainer with the Arizona Diamondbacks this year started after the realization that no such position would be available in Japan.

[Photo courtesy of Junko Yazawa]

A certified athletic trainer in the United States and the daughter of a former pro ballplayer, she asked a Chunichi Dragons player to arrange an incognito visit to the training room at Nagoya Dome, the home park of her dad's old club.

"I wanted to see the training room of a Japanese baseball club," she told Kyodo News in Phoenix, Arizona. "I was talking to the trainer and assistant trainer and they showed me around. One of the assistant trainers asked me, 'What do you want to be?'" I told him I want to be a baseball athletic trainer, and he said, 'You're a female, so no way you can be one in Japan.'"

"I was already in the U.S. at that time. I had already been certified, so I was thinking, 'OK. I can be one in the U.S.'"

But that, too, proved extremely difficult.

While in school at Texas State, Yazawa interned with the San Diego Padres and had a good relationship with then manager Bruce Bochy, but the club hesitated to sponsor her for a visa. Instead, she went to work as an athletic trainer at Texas Christian University.

"I lost a few times getting my green card. I had to go back to Japan," Yazawa said. "When I was working for TCU, it was kind of like part of my contract and they were going to do the green card for me, but after three years there, they ended up not doing it."

"As a foreigner, I had to always compete for a spot with other American candidates and had to be good enough for an employer to support my visa."

The failure to get a visa at TCU meant she had to return to Japan, but she was determined it would be only a temporary setback.

Yazawa's father, Kenichi, now a popular media analyst, was an iconic slugger for the Nagoya-based Dragons from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Rightly or wrongly, she felt any achievement of hers in Japan would spark talk of her success being due to her father. In one way, however, she admits her father and mother -- a former tennis player -- have played their part in her triumphs.

"My dad and my mom always told me, 'If you want to quit, it's easy,' but that was not my option," she said. "They always supported me and let me do whatever I wanted as long as I had a clear goal."

"They taught me, 'If you can't do it, you have to find a way to do it.' You have to, little by little, practice, practice, practice until you get there."

"That's why when I went back to Japan, I had decided already I'm going to come back (to the United States). If I can't find a job or something like that, I could still be a student and come back, so I had already applied to study for a masters or a doctorate. I'm always thinking, 'What's Plan B, Plan C?'"

A job offer came from Arizona State University, while other opportunities opened up, including a gig with USA Track and Field.

"My Texas State professor was the head trainer of USA Track," she said. "He had been watching how I worked as a student and he liked my work ethic. So after I graduated, he called me and said, 'Junko, do you want to go on a trip to Japan?' So I went on a small trip to Japan with USA Track, and since 2004, I started working with them."

"It was another hard and long journey to be selected to the USA national team for Olympics because I didn't have citizenship or a green card. After working for the U.S. Track & Field National Team at several world championships, world junior championships, and other IAAF meets, I was selected as an athletic trainer for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics."

Her history with the U.S. national team smoothed the way for her to get a green card, which she recently received. Her U.S. residence visa opened the door to her current job with the Diamondbacks.

Yazawa, who has also worked as a trainer for the victorious U.S. team at last year's World Baseball Classic, said one of her biggest hurdles early on was overcoming her own pride.

Her first step at Texas State was raising her English to the level needed to study for her degree. She attended an English language school where many of her classmates were Japanese high school students as young as 16.

"I had been living by myself since I was 12 (at the school dormitory) and I'd graduated from college, so I had some kind of pride when I came to the U.S.," she said. "But when I went to English school, my English was horrible. But the high school kids, their English, their grammar knowledge was better than mine, so I was kind of embarrassed. I'd come back from class and think 'I am stupid.' I still had pride because I was older than them."

"I was a typical Japanese. I really didn't know anything about the world. I had this stupid pride. I was saying I didn't want to talk to the high school kids and I wanted to separate myself, but then I said to myself, 'What am I doing? We are classmates. I have to respect them because they've studied. That's why they are better than me.' Since then, it didn't matter."

That mental hurdle cleared, Yazawa reached out to her young classmates and things turned 180 degrees. In the process, she lost stress and gained allies.

"I opened up to everybody and made a lot of friends. Everybody was way younger than me, but we became like a family."

Now, with the Diamondbacks, a team she chose over others because of their commitment to excellence, she has found another family. With them, she shares an ambitious vision unhindered by her being a woman in the man's world of the major leagues.

"With the DBacks, we have a mission statement: to be the best sports medicine and performance team on the planet," Yazawa said.

"I am very fortunate I have such a great boss and teammates. My next goal is to become one of MLB's best athletic trainers for my expertise in manual therapy, and contribute to the continued success of my team."