Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2019-2020

    Quote from brahmin

    Essentially players are on year to year contracts. If coach likes you as a “bench” player you’ll probably stay with your team.

    New coach comes to your team, you are up in the air. After 5 years have you become a starter? If not, you are probably in the retirement zone.

    Do you know how much these girls get paid, approximately? Is it a living wage, and does the team pay them bonuses if they win a championship or do those funds go to equipment upgrades and the like?


    I'm curious if the corporate team players, NEC, Denso, Hismitsu, etc., are paid by the company. The real question behind that question if it's the case, is how does Corporate NEC pay Sarina Koga a higher salary for doing data input than say, Yuna Okuyama who's played tiny bits of 30 sets in 5 years?


    Go Himeji :super:

    I forgot to mention that, while Mayu Ishikawa deservedly won "Best Newcomer" award, the Rookie of the Year was Mako Shiina by a landslide, based on how much uncomfortable extra camera time she got, so the commentators could commentate and we could inspect her during matches. Outstanding work Mako!



    I guess I'll be posting here for one more year supporting my girl Annie. I hope JT gets that 2nd straight JVL Championship.


    Who are the other rumoured foreigners? Rosamaria Montibeller to Denso is the only other one confirmed.

    As far as I can tell, rumors are illegal in Japan. Everything we get comes from the other side of the pond: the Bruno dude or volley.it ... who have been pretty accurate in the past, from calling the Hanna Tapp kerfuffle to early calls on Sinéad re-signing last year and a couple others I can't recall right now.


    I bet the top Japan teams can afford to buy almost anyone they want, but the player has to want it, too, based on career and hospitality goals.


    I hope Annie comes back but I don't get Rosamaria to Denso. Denso should play 4T instead of grasping at someone like RM. And bring on the Denso Bomber! Denso's wings were their weak spot last year but I don't see RM as much of an upgrade, especially if they lose Sinéad.


    It was really tragic what befell Denso at season's end after the exquisite Regular Round they had. I'm sure they are scrambling but they did buy 3 NT players last year. That must have put a dent in their pocketbook

    Do you know any additions/lay offs with JT for this season?

    Quote from werka

    Do you know any additions/lay offs with JT for this season?

    No resignations so far, and interestingly they've added photos of their two acquisitions from a couple weeks ago, a couple highschoolers with awards, without taking any down. JT is better than most at keeping their web site up to date.


    Nana Sakakibara #20 MB

    Yukiko Wada #21 OH Source

    Thai fans will be the first to hear about Kaewkalaya Kamulthala's future. I'd like her to stick around. The only candidate I would guess for retirement is (S) Misaki Tanaka. JT remains solid.

    Quote from sitenoise

    Do you know how much these girls get paid, approximately? Is it a living wage, and does the team pay them bonuses if they win a championship or do those funds go to equipment upgrades and the like?


    I'm curious if the corporate team players, NEC, Denso, Hismitsu, etc., are paid by the company. The real question behind that question if it's the case, is how does Corporate NEC pay Sarina Koga a higher salary for doing data input than say, Yuna Okuyama who's played tiny bits of 30 sets in 5 years?


    Go Himeji :super:

    I would say that it is a living wage, but also that players live in a team dorm, unless they are big stars. The league does not publish salary levels, however one site online says that Koga’s base salary is in 3-4 million yen ($27,600-$36,800 at current exchange) range. This is probably just for NEC only as she would make more money with the national team and also any sponsorship deals.

    Saori Kimura according to a similar site was in the 15-20 million yen ($160,000-$213,000 at then exchange) range during her time in Turkey. Saori was of course a much better player than Koga.

    If the players are living in the dorm, they can save some cash. Pay for the lower players are probably a little less than Koga, maybe 2.5-3 million yen range.


    So a team excluding the big stars would have a salary range of $300,000-$500,000, minus foreigners. I would guess an ASEAN player would at most be in Koga range (well paid compared to home), while a Drews Would probably be $100,000-$200,000 range, maybe more, but depends on team.

    Quote from brahmin

    I would say that it is a living wage, but also that players live in a team dorm, unless they are big stars. The league does not publish salary levels, however one site online says that Koga’s base salary is in 3-4 million yen ($27,600-$36,800 at current exchange) range. This is probably just for NEC only as she would make more money with the national team and also any sponsorship deals.

    Saori Kimura according to a similar site was in the 15-20 million yen ($160,000-$213,000 at then exchange) range during her time in Turkey. Saori was of course a much better player than Koga.

    If the players are living in the dorm, they can save some cash. Pay for the lower players are probably a little less than Koga, maybe 2.5-3 million yen range.


    So a team excluding the big stars would have a salary range of $300,000-$500,000, minus foreigners. I would guess an ASEAN player would at most be in Koga range (well paid compared to home), while a Drews Would probably be $100,000-$200,000 range, maybe more, but depends on team.

    Drews' salary from last season with JT was much higher than that according to what I've read last December.

    PFU must enter a new era next season. They got a new coach in 19/20 who I think did pretty well. Now he's gotta go into rebuilding mode. Six more players (after Thanacha Sooksod resigned earlier) are saying goodbye: their tall foreign MB, two of the veteran "Tough Cookies" and all their liberos:


    #2 Jennifer Doris (MB) Resigned (after 7 years)

    #3 Haruka Yoshiyashu (OH/L) Retired

    #4 Saori Uda (C) (OP) Retired

    #12 Mai Shimizu (MB) Retired

    #16 Minori Wada (Libero) Resigned?

    #17 Sayaka Tsutsui (Libero) Retired


    It's unclear at this point whether Minori Wada is Retiring or Transfer Hoping. She's an award winner who came up through Kinrankai and Tsukuba, and only 23.

    The Bruno dude says, according to his blog, Annie Drews followed Coach Kiraly's advice to stay in Japan.


    I believe it's probably going to happen but there's nothing official from the team ... or from her that I've seen

    Quote from werka

    Drews' salary from last season with JT was much higher than that according to what I've read last December.

    how much we talking? :white:

    Quote from werka

    She's still in the team website though

    I don't know when Japan teams actually sign (or agree to) contracts. The 19-20 season isn't officially finished yet (except that it is because of Covid-19), but for all practical purposes if Annie whispers to a friend that she wants to stay in Japan, and that friend messages Bruno and tells him Annie told her that, or whatever, we can feel confident it's going to happen because if she wants to stay JT isn't going to say no.


    I don't think I've ever seen a team make a post that says "We've renewed contracts with these players for next year". If the player stays on the web site and we never get a "This player has resigned" notice we just deduce it from there.


    The V.League site is more reliable in terms of when paperwork has actually been submitted (coming and going). They add and remove players in a very timely manner. Usually.

    Quote from Midwesternvb

    how much we talking? :white:

    probably the equivalent of the budget for the entire rest of the team :P


    JT would have likely won the Empress's Cup which would have netted them another 10,000,000 yen to help cover it. I don't know how much the Kurowashiki tournament pays.

    Mako Shiina graduated best in her 2018 HS class along with some very fine players <cough>YOLO</cough>. I had no idea!


    She and YOLO were both Middle Blockers at the time.


    Award Player High School

    MVP

    Kotona Hayashi (JT)

    Kinrankai

    Best 6

    Kotona Hayashi (OH) (JT)

    Kinrankai


    Mako Shiina (MB) (Saitama)

    Shimokitazawa Seitoku


    Hickman Jahstice (OP) (JT)

    SEIEI


    Haruna Soga (MB) YOLO (NEC)

    Kinrankai


    Saki Goya (OH) (PFU)

    Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku


    Miyu Nakagawa (OP) (Toray)

    Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku

    Best Libero

    Rena Mizusugi (Toray)

    Kinrankai


    I couldn't find any matches of Mako's team for that year but I found the 2017 Final: Shimokitazawa 3–0 Shujitsu (Yuki Ishii's alma mater). It was all about Ai Kurogo and her headband optimized hairdo, but beyond that it turned out to be a Gold Mine.


    Mako Shiina wasn't much. Kind of a big doofus vibe, she didn't even pretend like the play might be for her offensively. That's because, besides Kurogo, Shimokitazawa had: Mayu Ishikawa, and Miyuki Horie and Shuri Yamaguchi (both w/Saitama now) swinging from the wings. Those three all seemed more powerful than Kurogo, Yamaguchi especially. She was beastly and wore #1 and seemed like the captain. These kids all swing more aggressively in H.S. than they do once they go pro.


    Of note on the Shujitsu side were Erina Ogawa MB (Toray) and Yuki Hyodo, she of Denso Bench Celebration Routines fame. Both were impressive, but the magic for me came with Manami Mandai. It was a surprise to me when she walked on court. Acute observers will note she's been on my short list of Favorite players for a long time. Her team mate Ayaka Shirahama won best setter award in 2017 but Manami was on court as much as she was, playing the middle of sets 1&3 and all of set 2.


    Manami is the setter I'm most looking forward to coming to V.League. She's won best setter all three years she's been in college (one more to go), two Championships and one Silver. She's very edgy.



    VTV is opening up and showing some 2019-20 matches free of charge (with free registration). I can't google-translate if they are only streamed at a specific time or they are open for VOD all day each Tuesday and Friday


    ◆ DIVISION 1 WOMEN

    Delivery date Match day 　　　　Match Card 　　　
    4/10 (Friday) 2019/11/23 NEC JT
    2019/12/1 PFU Hitachi
    4/14 (Tuesday) 2019/10/27 Toyota body Saitama Ageo
    2020/1/13 KUROBE Himeji
    4/17 (Friday) 2019/11/16 Himeji Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical
    2020/1/19 DENSO Toray
    4/21 (Tuesday) 2020/1/5 DENSO Okayama
    2020/1/18 JT Toyota body
    4/24 (Friday) 2019/12/21 JT Saitama Ageo
    2020/1/19 Toyota body Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical
    4/28 (Tuesday) 2019/10/26 Okayama Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical
    2019/11/24 NEC KUROBE
    5/1 (Friday) 2019/11/2 Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Hitachi
    2019/11/9 Toray PFU
    2020/1/26 DENSO Saitama Ageo
    2020/1/26 JT Okayama


    I haven't matched these up to see if they are VTV broadcasts, which are often pretty crappy, or DAZN.