Japan Women's NT 2021

  • Speaking of Opposites, in reading blurbs about the HS Championship I came across a mention of Tsugumi Fukasawa (Shujitsu) playing OP and Coach Lovebunny's name was close by. I can't find it again, but no matter. I searched through the JVA site and found these Rosters for initial training camps for U-Squads 2020 (dated 11.25.2019).


    Tsugumi is indeed listed as OP (she played MB in the Championships), and her twin sister Megumi (MVP) is OH. Melissa Valdes is there as OP along with many familiar names. Some portion of that group would have played the U19 Asian Junior Championship in 2020. But. canceled.


    I notice several players listed at different positions than they just played in the Championship. It remains to be seen if the U-Squad World Championships will be played this year. I bet/hope we see more of the Fukasawa Twins, MeguTsugu, as they are known.


  • I'd give Risa some props, not as a big scorer but as someone who can score 10–15 consistently. She was there to defend against those International OPs shooting cannonballs.


    There's the rub. Nagaoka can score but her defense is suspect. Risa can defend and her scoring is good but not high volume. But the fact that she needs to be covered helps the setter and other attackers.


    My thing, when I say OP, is a visual. Sort of like judging a setter, not by stats, but by watching them. Japan has only a few who seem genuine OPs to me: YOLO, Miyu Kubota, and Rei Kudo is moving up. YOLO's performance in V.League has been pretty dismal, Kubote has been bumped from Hitachi lineup by a kid. Don't know what's going on there. Anxious to see how Kudo grows with NT training under her belt.

    What are we gonna do about that? Shinnabe isn't around anymore. I would exchange her for Ishii in a heartbeat but that's not going to happen.


    I still don't understand why she all of a sudden felt the urgency to retire. She never clarified that part other than her having an existing injury but she was willing to play had it been last year? it doesn't make any sense.

  • What are we gonna do about that? Shinnabe isn't around anymore. I would exchange her for Ishii in a heartbeat but that's not going to happen.


    I still don't understand why she all of a sudden felt the urgency to retire. She never clarified that part other than her having an existing injury but she was willing to play had it been last year? it doesn't make any sense.

    maybe she has insider info that the tokyo olympics are gonna get cancelled (jk)

    *knocks on wood*

  • Shouldn't Japan be more concerned with forming their potential Olympic roster rather than prolonging their league games?


    Who do they use as a main setter and main attacker? Japan hasn't produced a female superstar after Saori Kimura. No one can say Araki because she was never a hyped figure which is a problem on the surface since the rest of the world don't know who represents them. It's only for the women's team since the men's team have Ishikawa and a trendy player like Nishida.

  • More concerned about the NT than the league? Like missing a week or two of practice is going to hurt. European club teams are playing into May.

    While that extra week will help, Japan has ridiculously long training breaks. They still don’t finish in the medals.

    At least in the Chinese gym, you know that it many players have a multiple medals. Not so in the Japan gym (non-junior level) other than the head coach and Araki, 2014 World GP players.

  • More concerned about the NT than the league? Like missing a week or two of practice is going to hurt. European club teams are playing into May.

    While that extra week will help, Japan has ridiculously long training breaks. They still don’t finish in the medals.

    At least in the Chinese gym, you know that it many players have a multiple medals. Not so in the Japan gym (non-junior level) other than the head coach and Araki, 2014 World GP players.

    Nagaoka is a medalist too. But Hisamitsu has been sinking since 2019 when they still had Shinnabe around and now they're not on the radar anymore. People don't remember Kotoh but she was their best setter. Also why didn't Nakada exert any effort approaching Ebata like she did with Nagaoka to reinforce her veteran formation alongside Araki. Nakada getting hmm players like the girl from Ageo and then the MB from Hitachi who flopped this season leaves a big hole as to other questionable selection by the time VNL happens

  • More concerned about the NT than the league? Like missing a week or two of practice is going to hurt. European club teams are playing into May.

    While that extra week will help, Japan has ridiculously long training breaks. They still don’t finish in the medals.

    At least in the Chinese gym, you know that it many players have a multiple medals. Not so in the Japan gym (non-junior level) other than the head coach and Araki, 2014 World GP players.

    Other countries and especially these European countries have a solid NT roster they still have all their key players. There's no comparison


    Where is Japan's Boskovic, Zhu, Robinson/Larson, Gabi/Natalia, Egonu... even Thailand has Nootsara. When they lost Saori they also lost a representative that everyone knows. Nakada should be prioritizing her own army and start practising at an international level not league level.

  • Other countries and especially these European countries have a solid NT roster they still have all their key players. There's no comparison


    Where is Japan's Boskovic, Zhu, Robinson/Larson, Gabi/Natalia, Egonu... even Thailand has Nootsara. When they lost Saori they also lost a representative that everyone knows. Nakada should be prioritizing her own army and start practising at an international level not league level.

    I'm pretty sure this was already brought up multiple times in the last 3 months and I don't want sitenoise to post feet pics again :rolll:


    I just wanna add that's where Araki comes in as the captain and acting figurehead that the world is familiar with. The rest is all up to each players performance in the coming events.


    I'm honestly more worried about this whole Corona variant ruining everything

  • I love the Japanese teams. Right now the men’s team has a ton of promise.

    On the women’s side, I just don’t see it. Look at the teams at the top right now.

    Serbia, China, Italy, Brazil and USA.

    In 2018 at the World Champs they were 1-4, not playing China.

    2019 VNL 1-4 against those same teams.

    2018 VNL 1-4

    2019 World Cup 1-3 (No Italy).

    4-15 in the 2 years of playing.

    Erika Araki can only do so much. Height plays a role in the offensive difficulty. The major of error to win matches is really small, for Japan against the big teams, it is even smaller.

  • Although I really admire and appreciate the defensive skills of the Japanese players, when most of their wing spikers are now below 1.8m (many are even below 1.75m...) and most MB are below 1.85m, sadly it’s really hard for them to be a real threat to the powerhouses in the world.


    Another big problem of the current team JPN is their reception. They need extremely good reception to play a fast game to compensate their lack of height, but the fact is there’s no stable receiver in the team anymore. Look at the perfect reception line of Saori + Shinnabe vs the current one of Ishii/ Koga + Ishikawa/ Ai Kurogo...

  • 4-15 in the 2 years of playing.

    Whoever lost those 4 games against a group of 175cm weaklings that nobody know should be ashamed :white:


    Another big problem of the current team JPN is their reception. They need extremely good reception to play a fast game to compensate their lack of height, but the fact is there’s no stable receiver in the team anymore. Look at the perfect reception line of Saori + Shinnabe vs the current one of Ishii/ Koga + Ishikawa/ Ai Kurogo...

    I don't know about that. Since Risa wasn't a major scoring threat, other teams never served to her to keep her out of the offense. (A tactic I don't understand, really, because if you watch Japan play it's more often than not the person who receives who makes the attack--but I suppose hammering someone for an entire match wears them down). So Risa's 'great reception' didn't matter. She never got the chance to show it. "Avoid #4! Avoid #4"! Risa was there to field batting practice against the big world leaders.


    If you look at the stats of the last few years, Kobata and Ishii are the golden receivers. I sort of agree that Ishii's toes are fading but that doesn't mean we can re-write history. She's been a damn good receiver. Koga made a brief appearance in the WCh with good reception but her overall performance this cycle was pretty dismal. I'm very anxious to see if whatever re-ignited the spark in Koga's butt keeps firing. Her reception isn't what it was like a 3-4 years ago, but it's not bad. Could be that serving has just gotten better.

  • Although I really admire and appreciate the defensive skills of the Japanese players, when most of their wing spikers are now below 1.8m (many are even below 1.75m...) and most MB are below 1.85m, sadly it’s really hard for them to be a real threat to the powerhouses in the world.


    Another big problem of the current team JPN is their reception. They need extremely good reception to play a fast game to compensate their lack of height, but the fact is there’s no stable receiver in the team anymore. Look at the perfect reception line of Saori + Shinnabe vs the current one of Ishii/ Koga + Ishikawa/ Ai Kurogo...

    Kurogo is not a defensive player. Hayashi has improved more on defense than Kurogo. Mayu is doing well but we don't know if she can actually keep up at a beast pace


    Maybe get rid of Nabeya

  • Kurogo is not a defensive player. Hayashi has improved more on defense than Kurogo. Mayu is doing well but we don't know if she can actually keep up at a beast pace


    Maybe get rid of Nabeya

    Haha, I agree, but Nabeya might be the best receiver Japan has at this point. And Uchiseto might be next but let's not go there :white:


    Hayashi is poised to be a sleeper hit.

  • Nagaoka is a medalist too. But Hisamitsu has been sinking since 2019 when they still had Shinnabe around and now they're not on the radar anymore. People don't remember Kotoh but she was their best setter. Also why didn't Nakada exert any effort approaching Ebata like she did with Nagaoka to reinforce her veteran formation alongside Araki. Nakada getting hmm players like the girl from Ageo and then the MB from Hitachi who flopped this season leaves a big hole as to other questionable selection by the time VNL happens

    Ebata can't even make the court with PFU. I honestly don't know if it's because she doesn't want to or what. But the page has tuened on her career.


    "The girl from Ageo ... and the MB from Hitachi" :sos:


    Hearing Nakada say Yoshino was the new "Power Player" scared the crap outta me. She's a skilled young player but but but but but

  • Haha, I agree, but Nabeya might be the best receiver Japan has at this point. And Uchiseto might be next but let's not go there :white:


    Hayashi is poised to be a sleeper hit.

    No really but is she? Nabeya I mean. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. The only time I liked Nabeya's style was during her HS days where she packed a mean punch and then she got so flimsy I gave up rooting for her. It doesn't help that I haven't seen her play much during vleague

  • No really but is she? Nabeya I mean. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. The only time I liked Nabeya's style was during her HS days where she packed a mean punch and then she got so flimsy I gave up rooting for her. It doesn't help that I haven't seen her play much during vleague

    I'm serious. I probably threw you off with the Uchiseto reference. Nabeya is wiggly and soft. Reception is very good. She's not playing much this year in league though.