Japanese NT 2017

  • While Ishii Yuki, Horikawa and Matsumoto are in Manila with the team, Miyashita is back in Okayama. She is the roster for the qualification of the National Sports Event on August 20. I'm not sure if she will train with the team for the Grand Champions Cup after that.


    Does that mean she is already done? :S I hate that Okayama Seagulls is not letting her go.

  • While Ishii Yuki, Horikawa and Matsumoto are in Manila with the team, Miyashita is back in Okayama. She is the roster for the qualification of the National Sports Event on August 20. I'm not sure if she will train with the team for the Grand Champions Cup after that.


    Does that mean she is already done? :S I hate that Okayama Seagulls is not letting her go.


    I saw the three of them sitting in the stands and wondered where Haruka was. So this "National Sports Event" is a club thing? And Okayama insists Miyashita fulfill some contract obligation or something?


    Do you have any news on Arisa Sato?


    I read somewhere that Nakada said her rotations and such were not based at all on any injuries. She was just giving everyone a chance to play at an international level for experience, and everyone would get a chance. Where's Arisa? ;( She's just out, not picked for the team at all?

  • I saw the three of them sitting in the stands and wondered where Haruka was. So this "National Sports Event" is a club thing? And Okayama insists Miyashita fulfill some contract obligation or something?


    Do you have any news on Arisa Sato?


    I read somewhere that Nakada said her rotations and such were not based at all on any injuries. She was just giving everyone a chance to play at an international level for experience, and everyone would get a chance. Where's Arisa? ;( She's just out, not picked for the team at all?


    About the "National Sports Event", which is "国体" in Japanese as I'm not sure if my translation is correct or not, I guess you can say it's a club thing - the clubs representing their perfectures to compete for the title. But it's only the qualification round at the moment, Seagulls could have enlisted the second setter to play, like they did in the Summer League.


    I don't know much about the contract situation of the Japanese League, but I somehow I do feel like the players have to stick to a certain club for a long time or maybe till their career ends. But there are also some who can have a say on their wish for transfer. Maybe someone on here know more about this issue.


    I don't have any information Arisa Sato's situation. The worst is to think she is out alongside with the two Tanaka's from JT and Takahashi Saori :S
    For more of her information, you can check out her official website (https://arisa-sato.com/), which was published about a month ago :)

  • Coach of the Year - Fumi Nakada is the coach. Ferhat is a big bag of hot air who gets off on telling the girls stuff they already know at every timeout so he can say "I told you so". Maybe this western style mansplaining crap is what'll push Japan back to the top, but I'll never like it. Nakada makes all the important decisions, and she's playing a long game. The WGP and AVCCh were practice for the WGCh Cup. Nakada wants to win that (unimportant tournament) for the home crowd and embrace the momentum it'll bring to propel them into the WCh next year. That's the micro to the macro of the Olympic cycle. If you have watched these last couple months of matches closely, and the little highlight moments between sets and such, you can see Nakada has a real bond with the girls. Ferhat offers cooties with an occasional fist bump or high five. Ew. So far I can mostly overlook him. I assume he is Nakada's decision, and at this point I trust her. If Nakada trusts him to say things like: "Attackers. We're hitting to six a lot. Haven't seen a Block Out in a while. Go Go Go!", I'll play along.


    The Cool Cat MVP Award - Risa Shinnabe. No competition. She's still practically invisible, but my gosh. She does everything so well (and I take her for granted). She never swings hard but has such good wrist snap technique she doesn't need to. Since she doesn't commit early to a beastly swing she has extra milliseconds to aim the ball better. That's why this tiny girl can play with the big girls. She also receives, passes, serves, digs, and floor defends as well as I need. Most importantly, she's open about treating Ferhat like an ex-boyfriend who shows up at a party he wasn't invited to that he is, and who tries to insinuate himself into your circle of friends with a "Go Go Go!"
    Go away, man. Rock on, Risa!


    The Sixth Man of the Year Spark-plug Award - Yurie Nabeya. No competition. This is an MVP Award as well. Every team needs someone who can come off the bench and change the game when things aren't going well, or kick things up a notch if they are. I don't like her as a starter and if things are going well she can sit on the bench and stew about it, making her even more effective when she is needed. She's clumsy and that puts me on edge, but I'm cool with being on edge. She swings hard and seems to stumble or tumble into a great dig every now and then. Serves okay, too. Love you, Yuri!


    The Almost All You Guys are Almost All Wrong About Me Award - Nana Iwasaka. Yep, Iwasaka needs some serious footwork training, but it's limited to the front court. She is surprisingly quick and agile when she's in the back court. Weird, and I'm not sure how useful it is. But she's the best back-court MB on Japan, and she'll sacrifice her big body to a full on swan dive belly-flop. Points! There are other MBs and there are others who could be Captain. The grass is sometimes greener. She can't do a pick and roll worth mud, but she's acceptable at the Pleumjit middle smash. Blocking? I dunno. She did improve throughout these tournaments. No question. Maybe it's just a conditioning thing. We should stop hating on her. She's not going away.


    The Sarina Koga Award - Sarina Koga. What up, girl? Why are you so puzzling? I thought her emotional outburst at 13-13 in the fifth set against Brazil in the WGP was going to be an epiphany. An opening of the flood gates. But she disappeared the next game. She's an average OH against big girls and I, sadly, am losing confidence that this is going to change. But she's great in the back-court, so I love her. If she never becomes an elite level OH, say, at Saori's level, she needs to be really really good, better than Shinnabe, at everything else. Right now she's better than Risa at blocking and in back-court defense (by a little). At the end of this year the "She's still young" excuse will no longer be valid. It's time to grow up, my love.


    The You Don't Know Me, You May not Love Me, but I am Worthy Award - Haruyo Shimamura. She plays MB and can come off the bench and score 20 points. She might be the only one on the roster without a hairstyle malfunction. Enough said.


    The Blink and You'll Miss Me on the Floor Award - Kotoe Inoue. I love how fast this girl bounces back up. And I love the buff toned body the little pipsqueak sports. But she's got to improve on block coverage. If Arisa is done, I'm worried. Maybe a little less worried after studying her a bit but I haven't fully committed to seeing her as other than temporary. Although i do want her to take off the Libero top and serve one for us. She has a good serve. It's not her fault Arisa and Miyashita made me fall in love with Japan. She may be serviceable but she's got to make moves to get more camera time.


    The Grownup in the Room Award - Koyomi Tominaga. This is one of those "I know it hurts but look at the bright side" moments. To my not-so-trained eyes, Koyomi appears to be a pretty good setter. I try to see her in the awesome criteria Sisko95 pointed out: precision, deception and athleticism, but I'm not smart enough yet, especially at seeing deception skills. One thing I notice is that there are fewer instances of an attacker settling for just saving the ball over the net. I have witnessed Koyomi making some pretty good sets on the run. She'll attack the ball every now and then. I love that. Most importantly, she has a stabilizing leadership court presence. More than Miyashita and Sato combined. A setter needs that. I'm trying to overcome my bias of judging a setter first on her defensive skills. I do that with everybody. Seems kind of silly to me now but I can't ditch it. See below.


    The Who's Should Get Cut? Award - Miya Sato. This is painful. As I've said, I think Miya is a clever and elegant setter. I just can't kick my demand for defense. Drives me crazy. It only recently occurred to me that when a setter is in the back court she will always move to Zone 1. I dunno if that's true but I have no images in my mind of her at 5 or 6. I have too many of her in 1 with balls bouncing off her arms. If I can see this, it's in a scouting report. It's a big vulnerability. This is tough love, Miya. Miyashita. Miya Sato.


    The Pleasant Surprise Award - Mai Okumura and Rika Nomoto. Only a surprise because I didn't know them. Okumura was almost a revelation. Japan gradually started using MBs as attackers more from the start of the WGP to the conclusion of the AVCCh. I credit Okumura for the wake-up call. She lead by example. She's going to be a valuable asset when used appropriately, probably not against Russia. She's athletic and has a good sense of timing. A good add to the team. Nomoto proved to be a more than adequate solution when Koga was struggling. She's listed as OP, but her best contributions were from OH. She hits hard.


    The I Miss You, Saori! Award - Saori Sakoda. Haha, made you look. Yeah, I miss Saori Kimura a lot but her retirement wasn't a surprise. I was crushed to learn Sakoda wasn't chosen for the NT, only to learn that the reason for it, or because of it, she retired. Nabeya is the only one who comes close to Sakoda's dynamic outbursts, but Nabeya lacks the ... I don't know what, Sakoda provided. Saori flew in from the back-court better than anyone and was so scrappy on defense. I Miss You, Saori. A lot.


    The WTF Award - Haruka Miyashita. We don't know. We really just don't know why or what is going on. She is so awesome as a floor defender I want her back. I'm glad she's young. I'm hopeful she will be.


    The Welcome Back My Friend to the Show that Never Ends Award - Erika Araki. She's a thirty-something MB with children and looks like she might be in the best shape of her life. I don't know if she'll make it to Tokyo but I don't care. I will enjoy her to the fullest as long as she is around. I'm making up a theory that her absence and reappearance is part of a "Hide your Game" strategy by Nakada in which Japan's MBs are going to be a bigger part of their offense. Okumura, Shimamura, Ohno, and Erika. They can deliver but they have work to do. None of them will be world class MBs in the traditional sense, but Japan plays a different game. I'm not giving up on my dream of a small ball revolution. TEAM. Erika is the real captain.


    The "I'm Sorry" Award - Mami Uchiseto and Miyu Nagaoka. I can't bring myself to like Uchiseto, but will freely admit she brings value to the team. I'll never forgive her for being late to the dump from Russia in the fifth set at the 2015 WCup. And she seems like the one standing in the way of my hero YANAGITA Mizuki. Uchiseto's a much better receiver than Mizuki, and I'm sorry to her for not knowing how important that is. She deserves more respect than I'm able to give her. So does, maybe, Nagaoka, whom I haven't missed at all and have no desire for her to return. Sorry about that. I prefer Mari Horikawa.


    The "Invisible Ishii" Award - Risa and Yuki. I did notice Risa a few times being serviceable, but for the most part she was Ishii. Yuki, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling a bit but it doesn't matter. She's got skills. I imagine the reason she didn't play much and got left off the recent roster is because she doesn't need the experience. I'm sure Nakada has confidence in her. I just don't know where room on the roster is, especially if Nakada is going to go MB heavy. I like Yuki. My Sleepy Sister animosity really came about when they were the opponent of my NEC Red Rockets. I'm willing to let them all back in my heart, now that we're on the same team.


    The "I'm on Pins and Needles" Award - Arisa Sato. It's so unsettling having no idea what's going on with her. I love watching her play. I want more.

  • According to this photo,
    Nagaoka, Otake and Miyashita are on same facility, probably natinal traning center.


    https://www.instagram.com/p/BX…/?hl=ja&taken-by=koki4629


    I guess Miyashita has some injury and doing rehabilitation.

  • Japan nt is much fun to watch at
    So now shinnabe working as their opposite?


    I think koga can be as good as kimura she can attack from 3m line


    Can nomoto/ishii worked as opposite? If yes it will be fun to watch


    My guess for 2018/olympics 2020
    OH: Nomoto, Koga
    OP: Ishii
    S: miyashita (but she need to be as fast sato/tominaga in delivering the ball)
    MB: Iwasaka,
    L: Inoue (this girl is brilliant, sorry arisa sato)


    Reserves:
    OH: nabeya
    OP: shinnabe
    L: uchiseto not a bad option here
    S: hopefully japan has younger stock or stick with tominaga


    In 2018 i think shinnabe will still be good, but by 2020 she will be 30 and that alerting

  • I didn't know Tominaga had NT experience. I'm watching the 2009 WGCC and whaddaya know. This should be queued up for her at 17-14 set two as she comes in for (tall) Inoue:
    Dig on the hairdo
    https://youtu.be/ObJ7YP7bCdQ?t=2524