China NT 2021

    Quote from zhutingfan

    Yeah so firstly I did re-watch and yes, it did get fixed.


    I'd rather have the U20 coach talk than Nakata just call a timeout and have them stand there.

    Aihara, just similar to previous Ferhat Akbaş's function, did all the tactical coaching on court, while Nakata as the head coach was having the symbolic role. I guess in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic, Aihara was called in to help the senior NT, previously he was just in the U-19 or the second team. I did not see him around in the senior NT during the 2019 World Cup. This guy seems to be more competent than Nakata.


    Noboru Aihara 相原昇 (born 1968)

    https://women.volleybox.net/noboru-aihara-p27802/clubs


    Added by our sitenoise :whistle:


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    I think he is being groomed to take over the senior NT. Probably him or JT Marvelous coach, which would be cool. She's another quiet one, and seems sharp on recognizing player strengths. A gifted roster wrangler


    I remember watching Manabe approach the time out huddles apologetically, as if he was interrupting the girls :)

    Not the stats sheet itself, but here are some numbers:


    Tokyo Olympic Women's Volleyball Test Match Data:


    Zhu Ting 22 points: 20/39, 1 block and 1 serve;

    Gong Xiangyu 12 points: 11/23, 1 block;

    Li Yingying 10 points: 10/18;

    Yan Ni 8 points: 4/7 and 4 blocks

    Yuan Xinyue 7 points: 3/9, 4 blocks

    Wang Yuanyuan 4 points: 2/2, 2 blocks

    Zhang Changning 3 points: 1/11, 1 block and 1 serve;

    Ding Xia 1 point: 1/1

    Liu Yanhan with 0 points: 0/3


    Zhang Changning's state was ups and downs, in the first set of 6 attempts 0 points, in the second set, Li Yingying replaced Zhang and played till the end.


    Wang Yuanyuan and Li Yingying replaced Yuan Xinyue and Zhang Changning respectively in the third set. Obviously, in order to train Wang and Li and give them more playing time, and Lang had Yao Di's performance in the third set was also good. Generally speaking, it was only when there were difficulties in the third set that the Chinese team got the training value.


    https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20210501A0AAGD00


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Women's Volleyball China vs Japan, Tokyo Olympic Test Match 20210501

    全场：中国女排vs日本，东京奥运测试赛，国手轮番出场强势依旧


    Full Match Replay, 1080P:



    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Who takes these up close videos of the team? How does a super fan know the exact time and place where the NT is going to be? lol


    Gong Xiangyu with the gloves, safety first! :heart:

    Too bad Yao Di still does not know how to set to Zhu.

    Quote from macchiato

    Zhu ting and Yao di seems so close. They are always beside each other and have couple coats and LOEWE bags. It’s so adorable ❤️

    In CHN VB forum it's said that Yao is quite sociable thus she makes close friends with many teammates. Jocularly she has the nick of "concubine", and always take the center position in team's photograph :whistle: and most observers believe that it's she who will grab the sub spot (Diao will miss the Tokyo cycle)


    I guess in the 1st pic the team was visiting Harbin Ice Show.


    Btw, how do you know the team's light blue ladies light backpack is LOEWE one? Does the Spanish brand sponsor the team? I noted each NT member carries this bag.


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    I'm happy with all the positive Yao Di vibes lately :rose: I thought she got thrown under the bus a while back

    Quote from sitenoise

    I'm happy with all the positive Yao Di vibes lately :rose: I thought she got thrown under the bus a while back

    If only you read about those factional comments from the hardcore "anti-Tianjin" fans with all kinds of weird things --- I just skip the club-centric ones coz they're bizarre, unreal :P


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Quote from samsara

    If only you read about those factional comments from the hardcore "anti-Tianjin" fans with all kinds of weird things --- I just skip the club-centric ones coz they're bizarre, unreal :P

    ah, Tianjin and jiangsu, the two provincial teams with the most wholesome fans :saint::saint::saint:

    Quote from zhutingfan

    ah, Tianjin and jiangsu, the two provincial teams with the most wholesome fans :saint::saint::saint:

    yeah, the two strongest teams dominating the domestic league, as well as the two teams contributing the most players into NT... some fans of two sides bring their fierce rivalry online on the NT 😜😜😜


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Quote from samsara

    In CHN VB forum it's said that Yao is quite sociable thus she makes close friends with many teammates. Jocularly she has the nick of "concubine", and always take the center position in team's photograph :whistle: and most observers believe that it's she who will grab the sub spot (Diao will miss the Tokyo cycle)


    I guess in the 1st pic the team was visiting Harbin Ice Show.


    Btw, how do you know the team's light blue ladies light backpack is LOEWE one? Does the Spanish brand sponsor the team? I noted each NT member carries this bag.

    The first photo was from December 31, 2020. They went to Shanghai Disneyland to welcome the New Year and watch fireworks. If I am not mistaken, it’s only the two of them who went there. They were also together on Christmas.


    The one in grocery store was taken by a fan who saw them in supermarket around first week of January. This was days before they both had to fly to Beijing for the training.


    For the LOEWE bag, I love the brand so I immediately identified it when I saw the airport photos. Only Zhu and Yao has it I guess as I can’t find any photos of the team use one (at least on the airport). Most of the girls were using their standard Adidas backpack.


    When the grocery photos came out, the comments were saying how Yao is “holding on to Zhu’s thigh” (it’s a Chinese saying) meaning she is only using her for her own benefit / so she can go to Tokyo Olympics. I don’t think Zhu is naive enough to let someone use her and as a fan of Zhu, their friendship made me happy. They build legos together and seems to enjoy each other’s company enough to spend their short holidays, watch movie premiers, attend dinner with Lang Ping and hangout with people who are close to them together but I guess people always have something bad to say about everything.

    it is nice to see Zhu Ting found a teammate whom she feels comfortable and share more personal stuff - Yao Di helps ZT to open up. ZT said she is an introvert. I think Yao Di will be chosen over Diao because YD has more experience / exposure to international competitions and she is familiar on setting the ball to Li Ying Ying especially and Zhu Ting.

    Quote from benchwarmer

    it is nice to see Zhu Ting found a teammate whom she feels comfortable and share more personal stuff - Yao Di helps ZT to open up. ZT said she is an introvert. I think Yao Di will be chosen over Diao because YD has more experience / exposure to international competitions and she is familiar on setting the ball to Li Ying Ying especially and Zhu Ting.

    I remember her saying that fighting loneliness is one of the most difficult thing for her. She used to stay in her dorm during her school days because her parents were poor and couldn’t afford to give her money to hang out with her friends. Now, she has enough money to literally do anything she wants with anyone she wants to hangout with and yet people are still bitching about how it has to be Yao Di.


    I agree that her setting skills is not great. I was a huge Nootsara fan so my standards had always been high but I think it’s wrong for people to always bring out the “she’s only good with LYY” card or the “she is using Zhu” card. They are not kids, let Zhu be happy with whoever she wants. If you watch the videos of them in the airport coming from Shanghai to Tokyo and the Tokyo to China, Zhu always stays beside YD. YD would sometimes walk slowly or ahead of Zhu when cameras are around (maybe because of the issue) but Zhu would wait for her or try to catch up with her. I think that they genuinely like each other. I’m just really happy to see Zhu happy these days. She’s precious and I hope YD doesnt get hurt anymore.