Japan Women’s NT 2020

    Quote from Jeniawithlove

    Nakada is a terrible coach in my opinion. She can't even make up her mind who is the main setter at this moment. Recall Miyu Nagaoka back to national team is disaster decision. Miyu Nagaoka just told she can't train 100% in club team in interview months before. But Nakada insisted to recall her. What Nakada did was just tell the rest of female players in Japan that no matter how hard you work, I just pick my preferences even they are not 100% in shape. You know how hard Japanese players train to be in Tokyo Olympics? She just break their dreams. Nakada is totally terrible coach. She needed to step down 2 years ago.


    The worst part of Nakada is she has poor ideology of volleyball. She only knows "speed volleyball". She has been pushing the team to be fast to compete the strong teams. But it just doesn't work. Only being fast is just not enough to win the games. She couldn't figure another tactic to train the team. What a waste of 4 years!

    Just because the men's team has won a couple of games doesn't make them an exceptional team. Internationally they're still scraping by.


    Nakada's main dilemma is that she resorted to make a rash emergency decision to recall Miyu because she felt a veteran was needed to front for the NT, not because she's telling all the other rookies their efforts don't mean squat. If that was her message all along she shouldn't have gotten Seki because everyone knows Seki is a mediocre setter.


    Imagine having Yuki Ishii as the main face of Women's NT, that's a whole joke right there but that was what Nakada was pulling mere months before Risa retired. Her forcing Miyu back is indeed a really really bad decision, she might as well tell Sakoda to come back

    Quote from Sidney

    PS: I think the system is called 4-2 and not 6-2.

    It is 2 different system, 4-2 system is system with 2 setter in diagonal ofc, and player which is in front row take over the role of setter, unlike 6-2 system setter is always back row player. 4-2 is basic rotation just after 6-0 lol, and i guess that 6-2 are just customized system, because, among other things, cuban's want's to harness attacking potential of their players and want's 6 attacking player(that is why the title is 6-2).

    *in all position they have 3 attacking option in front row;



    I like a lot that unconventional systems and i would love to see what Japan prepare if they preparing something new and inspiring. Different combination is maybe top reason why i love volleyball so much.

    Quote from Bogdan123

    It is 2 different system, 4-2 system is system with 2 setter in diagonal ofc, and player which is in front row take over the role of setter, unlike 6-2 system setter is always back row player. 4-2 is basic rotation just after 6-0 lol, and i guess that 6-2 are just customized system, because, among other things, cuban's want's to harness attacking potential of their players and want's 6 attacking player(that is why the title is 6-2).

    *in all position they have 3 attacking option in front row;



    I like a lot that unconventional systems and i would love to see what Japan prepare if they preparing something new and inspiring. Different combination is maybe top reason why i love volleyball so much.

    I agree, I was also big fan of 6-2 system of Cubans. Having always 3 players available to attack is a big advantage. The downside is that in this system the setter can't be very creative due to lack of attack from zone 1. Also there is not tipping from setter since she is always in the backrow.


    Nowadays we have such strong opposites that can attack from zone 1 as well as they do from zone 2 (such as Vargas, boskovic, Egonu etc) that's why the need for such a system is not great

    Men’s team has improved in the last couple of years. It has also helped that many players are overseas. Right now other than Kobata, I don’t know of any other Japanese female players that have gone overseas and been successful under Nakata.

    After Araki retires, blocking is going to be a nightmare for Japan. Middles are still undersized and really only deflect balls. Also Japanese offense uses the middles less.

    Quote from brahmin

    Men’s team has improved in the last couple of years. It has also helped that many players are overseas. Right now other than Kobata, I don’t know of any other Japanese female players that have gone overseas and been successful under Nakata.

    After Araki retires, blocking is going to be a nightmare for Japan. Middles are still undersized and really only deflect balls. Also Japanese offense uses the middles less.

    Yamada Nichika and Irisawa Mai are hope.

    Quote from Jeniawithlove

    Yamada Nichika and Irisawa Mai are hope.

    There are a few more young MBs in the pipeline who are at least 180cm LOL I like, but it's so hard to predict how they will grow. I still stand behind Shion Hirayama. And her HS team mate SAGA recently picked up, Ayaka Araki, could be worth keeping an eye on. She's built well (184/74) and is fast but didn't impress me as much as Hirayama.


    NEC signed a couple good college kids as well. One, Kasumi Nojima, is also built well, about like Yamada. The other, Moeka Kinoe, is skinny and meek looking but she was a scoring machine at Uni, garnering both Best Spiker and Scorer in the last Championship. That's wild for a middle blocker to net Best Scorer (which I take to mean scored the most points). Caveat: Moeka looked pretty terrible in the NEC scrimmage match I watched recently.


    I'm crossing my fingers for Mayu Oikawa as well. I teased and mocked her for all the camera time she got when she showed up mid 18-19 with the NoSmilers. Then I went and watched her Uni games and she was very good there, especially at the blocking part of being a middle blocker for a change. She's got good school pedigree: Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku --> Aoyama Gakuin. Both winners. It's unusual for Okayama to get someone with her resume. Hence the camera time, I guess. Then she made the wide roster this year:thumbup:

    If Irisawa is hope then Japan is doomed. She's not quite as alert or quick. Akutagawa has more presence and range, a lot more aggressive, and faster and lighter on her feet.


    Oikawa is also one to watch for sure for the same reason as Akutagawa

    Quote from Phoenix

    If Irisawa is hope then Japan is doomed. She's not quite as alert or quick. Akutagawa has more presence and range, a lot more aggressive, and faster and lighter on her feet.


    Oikawa is also one to watch for sure for the same reason as Akutagawa

    I'm conflicted over Irasawa. "not quite as alert or quick" is accurate.


    She was very good in 18–19, not quite alert or quick, but ... check these stats (she's ranking it in kill %, blocks, and serve). She seemed like she didn't even play in 19-20. I noticed her only a couple times and thought she looked good/better. She's not bodied up right. Maybe she'll grow into that 188.


    This why I'm hopeful for SAGA's Araki. She's 184, filled out and solid. Runs around like she's 174. She can't jump, though. And she's not scary at all :S

    Quote from sitenoise

    I'm conflicted over Irasawa. "not quite as alert or quick" is accurate.


    She was very good in 18–19, not quite alert or quick, but ... check these stats (she's ranking it in kill %, blocks, and serve). She seemed like she didn't even play in 19-20. I noticed her only a couple times and thought she looked good/better. She's not bodied up right. Maybe she'll grow into that 188.


    This why I'm hopeful for SAGA's Araki. She's 184, filled out and solid. Runs around like she's 174. She can't jump, though. And she's not scary at all :S

    She is dependable but her delayed reaction is the problem, her sense of timing. She gets confused when things accelerate or just plain late reaction which is even worse. There's a lot of hesitation also on whether she should go for the attack or just block.


    You're talking about Ayaka Araki right? I should look into her.

    Quote from Phoenix

    She is dependable but her delayed reaction is the problem, her sense of timing. She gets confused when things accelerate or just plain late reaction which is even worse. There's a lot of hesitation also on whether she should go for the attack or just block.


    You're talking about Ayaka Araki right? I should look into her.

    Irasawa also goes after balls she's got no business going after. I still support her, though :)


    Yes, Ayaki Araki. She's not impressive yet. She's so much bigger than everyone else but doesn't dominate anything. I hope that changes

    You say this, but other national teams develop those players. Even Korea had KYK and Lee Jae young. The reality is you only need two or three good hitters on the starting six for volleyball

    Quote from zhutingfan

    You say this, but other national teams develop those players. Even Korea had KYK and Lee Jae young. The reality is you only need two or three good hitters on the starting six for volleyball

    I don't think I'm following you here. I'm saying knock KYK and LJY off Korea and see how well they do. Other teams, Serbia, Italy, for example, you only need to knock one off.


    If you're simply pointing that Japan doesn't do well at developing players ... :drink: . They're scaredy-cat conservatives. As you know, as I've been saying for a year, they had a plateful right in front of them and balked at the opportunity.

    Quote from sitenoise

    I don't think I'm following you here. I'm saying knock KYK and LJY off Korea and see how well they do. Other teams, Serbia, Italy, for example, you only need to knock one off.


    If you're simply pointing that Japan doesn't do well at developing players ... :drink: . They're scaredy-cat conservatives. As you know, as I've been saying for a year, they had a plateful right in front of them and balked at the opportunity.

    I'm saying that the current trend is having star outside hitters and opposites, which leads to only two hitters good at hitting required on court (usually the third would be more of a reception/defense role; see boskovic/mihajlovic/busa or zhu/zhang/gong or egonu/sylla/bosetti). So by removing the two players from many teams, you're taking away the majority of their attacking players. Japan isn't like that, at least since saori kimura retired, so removing the two best hitters Japan has isn't as big a hit for them as it would be for Serbia or China or Italy.


    Put it this way: its pretty obvious that Zhu, Zhang, and Li are the best hitters on the Chinese team. Similar situation for Serbia and Italy. Are the top 3 hitters in the Japanese team that clear?


    So I'm saying that yeah, if you remove the top players from one of the teams that beat Japan, they wouldn't do well, but the other teams designed that system and if say boskovic never took up volleyball (I recall she had many sporting interests at a young age), Serbia would have developed someone else into that role. Maybe not as talented, but they'd still have a very good opposite hitter.

    Quote from zhutingfan

    Are the top 3 hitters in the Japanese team that clear?

    Very clear to me, in the sense of who can swing 50+ times in a match if called upon to do so. Kurogo is the only one I've seen who can do that (from the left side of the court for jumpin jeezus). I just sort of assume Nagaoka could do it from watching her past performance but we didn't see her this cycle. I think Ishikawa is also capable. Yuki, Risa, Koga, Nabeya, nope. More importantly, and this is what the good hitters you cite can do: be a Closer. Again, only Kurogo (and probably Nagaoka).

    Quote from sitenoise

    Very clear to me, in the sense of who can swing 50+ times in a match if called upon to do so. Kurogo is the only one I've seen who can do that (from the left side of the court for jumpin jeezus). I just sort of assume Nagaoka could do it from watching her past performance but we didn't see her this cycle. I think Ishikawa is also capable. Yuki, Risa, Koga, Nabeya, nope. More importantly, and this is what the good hitters you cite can do: be a Closer. Again, only Kurogo (and probably Nagaoka).


    Fair enough, I don't follow the Japanese team that closely so my main impression of them is during matches, and I've always thought their substitutes are not necessarily worse than their starters. Maybe it's because of the coaching/management as you said.

    Quote from zhutingfan

    Fair enough, I don't follow the Japanese team that closely so my main impression of them is during matches, and I've always thought their substitutes are not necessarily worse than their starters. Maybe it's because of the coaching/management as you said.

    Yeah, that's the thing. The subs aren't that much different than the starters (as much of a merry-go-round as their "starters" have been) but as much as I hate to admit it, in these big important International tournaments it seems like an individual has to rise to the occasion. Be a Closer. (Ebata in 2012) Think of that JPN v ITL WCh Quarter, Egonu is 9 for 9 or 11 for 11 (I forget which). Japan had Yuki, Risa, and Koga out there. If one of them could have gone even 5 for 5 ... well, maybe it ends differently.


    In the end, you have a good point that Japan doesn't develop that kind of system. I'm okay with that, was just pointing out that missing Kurogo and Nagaoka was a big miss, and didn't mention (too much) that the coaching staff failed to develop a workaround.

    The problem with Japan though is that outside hitters are almost damn near interchangeable.

    Kurogo, Koga, Ishii, Mayu Ishikawa, Nabeya.
    the difference between these is really small on serve receive. Spiking kurogo is probably best. again differences are small.

    Quote from brahmin

    The problem with Japan though is that outside hitters are almost damn near interchangeable.

    Kurogo, Koga, Ishii, Mayu Ishikawa, Nabeya.
    the difference between these is really small on serve receive. Spiking kurogo is probably best. again differences are small.

    Basic skill sets are close. I'm looking for Closer mentality. Kurogo is a technician. When her confidence is up and she's not nursing injury, I think she can swing it. Ishikawa's got it in spades but she's short and a little reckless. She has to work harder (and improve her reception and defense). The others don't have it. (Yuki showed it in one match last year against NED in the WC. It was surprising and lovely)


    For kicks, I just watched that WCh 5th set against ITL and counted things up:


    Italy

    Japan

    • Risa 1 for 3
    • Koga 1 for 3
    • Yuki 2 for 3
    • Araki 3 for 4

    For Japan that's pretty much what you want with that lineup in terms of spreading the love. Araki is the best player and she did her job. She also had an ace serve on Moki and a monster block when it mattered. Italy gifted them 2 service errors and two reception errors.

    Egonu was clutch in that match, no lies there. Carried the team.

    Quote from brahmin

    The problem with Japan though is that outside hitters are almost damn near interchangeable.

    Kurogo, Koga, Ishii, Mayu Ishikawa, Nabeya.
    the difference between these is really small on serve receive. Spiking kurogo is probably best. again differences are small.

    I think Japan has decent outside hitters, not world class, but they do just fine to me.


    The real problems of female team is team blocking. I know people say they are lack of height, but Japan even can't block Thailand well which is shorter than them. Japan should train more in team blocking specially in V.League.