Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2021-2022

theloneracer posted over in K-land that he'd never seen a Uni girl get drafted by a pro team. I thought "wow"

Completely different worlds, though. Biggest difference is that Japanese leagues aren't "Pro"

Anyway, here's some sitenoise shit about Uni girls in Japan:

5 Uni grads made the NT wide roster this year, 2 are going to the Olympics

Most Uni grads enter mid-season in December, so the 2021-2022 numbers aren't complete, but so far:

• 14 Uni grads have entered V1
• 3 Uni grads have entered V2
• 9-ball rosters aren't out yet for this year ***

For the 2020-2021 Season:

• 20+ Uni grads entered V1
• 40+ Uni grads entered V2
• 3 Uni grads (that I know of) went 9-ball

*** Don't laugh at 9-ball. Three years ago the Intercollegiate Champion MVP and Best Blocker went 9-ball. That's why I started watching it. 9-ball kicks ass

Quote from wargirls

did you write V2 before V1 by mistake for 2020-21?

No, and I was just looking at it and thinking it is confusing. There's a story as to why that happened ... ... but I'll just edit the post to be less confusing/questionable

wargirls It's funny that I was really looking at my post thinking someone might think exactly what you questioned when the little red bell up there started wiggling with your question

Here's the High School numbers:

For 2021-2022 (incomplete because more will join in January)

6 High Schoolers entered V1

2 High Schoolers entered V2

For 2020-2021

22 High Schoolers entered V1

3 High Schoolers entered V2

This makes sense to me: basically the young talented high schoolers go to V1. They are the ones who are talented and taking it seriously. Not that the girls who choose to further their education and go to college aren't talented but ...

Since Japanese leagues aren't really "pro": the girls are paid a pittance and have to work for the company that owns them, a lot of them look at it like getting a job that suits their long term career goals and volleyball is just an added benefit. They play a few years and quit (or not)

College Championship is the first week of December. It's right after that when the Uni girls start signing with V.League. The better ones, a small percentage, sign with V1 teams. So, like, 14 of about 40. The rest will trickle in over the summer or in the early fall before the next V.League season starts (mostly to V2).

High School Championship is the first week of January. Same thing happens. The really good ones sign right away and the rest go to college, I guess

I've only been hardcore tracking this for a couple years. I'll be interested to see if the patterns stay the same. I think they will.

Finally, I count the transfer for the season they put on a uniform, even though it's mid season. Some don't actually play, but many do, and some have an impact. Kotona Hayashi is a good example. She MVP'd the high school Championship in January 2018, put on a JT Marvelous uniform right away, and started for them in the Final Stage of 2017-2018.

Quote from wargirls

shouldn't it be 14 out of +20 hahah

I don't know. I'm really bad with numbers

Quote from brahmin

Aya Watanabe signed with Hitachi per Sportsnavi.

I wanted her to go home to Sendai

This is the 2020-2021 thread, though. We keep tossing stragglers over here I posted about her move in the 2021-2022 thread

maybe sloth can move these last few to 2021-2022. The ones from after the Hisamitsu Kimono photos--a fitting end to the thread, I think. Doesn't really matter though

PFU's gonna have to work on their ... whatever this is

A lot of people don't care about web sites any more, like Toray Arrows for example, but Hitachi's revamped web site is beautiful, and useful. It must have cost them a lot of money, or someone there thought outside the box and hired a crew who gives a shit and knows what they are doing

Quote from Hinotorious

Hattaya for Toray, and Chachu-on for Hisamitsu?

According to their wikipedia pages, yes