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

    Quote from voly

    why don't japan try to convert their taller blockers to oh/op? shion hirayama isn't gigantic for an mb but like someone else mentioned she should take nagaoka's place as op

    because that would require thinking outside the box. You are tall you should be a blocker, meanwhile the rest of the world shifts to having a super tall opposite.

    It’s not like Japan has many tall women and hence finding the few tall girls in junior/high school, they try to turn them into passing outside hitters, like Saori Kimura or middle blockers.

    Why is Imoco so tough, because their opposite is really tall and good at spiking, and they have some more than capable players at the other positions. Egonu frees up others, but she is also able to carry the load if needed.

    Quote from brahmin

    because that would require thinking outside the box. You are tall you should be a blocker, meanwhile the rest of the world shifts to having a super tall opposite.

    It’s not like Japan has many tall women and hence finding the few tall girls in junior/high school, they try to turn them into passing outside hitters, like Saori Kimura or middle blockers.

    Why is Imoco so tough, because their opposite is really tall and good at spiking, and they have some more than capable players at the other positions. Egonu frees up others, but she is also able to carry the load if needed.

    But what makes Kimura or Megumi Kurihara different if they weren't set up automatically to become blockers? I haven't seen the ones sitenoise mentioned but I think that's exactly what Japan needs right now -- thinking out of the box especially after their "historical defeat" at the Olympics but I guess they already have Valdes so that's enough?

    Quote from sitenoise

    Gunma Bank is a good V2 team, Champs two years running, but they lost one of their best players, 183cm MB Hibiki Suzuki, this summer to Saitama. They played Kurobe last year in the Challenge match and lost 0–3 twice and 1–3.


    "Promote to V1" is a popular motivational slogan for a few V2 teams. I'm surprised ... did someone from Gunma explicitly call out Kurobe as the target?


    As long as V1 teams have imports no V2 team will ever beat one of them unless a bunch of V1 players exit en masse to V2 teams as protest against being benched by said imports. That would be cool :thumbup:

    Gunma said they'd like to challenge Kurobe again in one of their vbm articles. If someone like Takahashi who doesn't do V League (where does he even play?) can go straight to the NT and beat out Yanagida whose team won last season. And then another NT guy Onodera I think quit his team and won't do V League anymore as I understand so how will JVA decide if he's fit to join the NT based on his performance where? Also Ebata came from a V2 team and was selected for the NT before, they might not want to overlook anyone in that division

    Quote from voly

    why don't japan try to convert their taller blockers to oh/op? shion hirayama isn't gigantic for an mb but like someone else mentioned she should take nagaoka's place as op

    Hirayama and Araki can both spike hard. I think Araki can be better than Yamada. Imamura isn't as forceful as she used to be but I get the vibe that she doesn't fully trust setter Inoue. Shirasawa also lefthanded should be the next main OP but Sakai loves to push Nakagawa.


    Display Spoiler

    I remember Aihara talked about the taller players issue before. I'm still tryna find the article.


    Saori was extremely agile and had the perfect physique to be a spiker. She was very light on her feet and didn't have a problem speeding up when necessary. On the other hand, can you imagine Nana Iwasaka as a spiker? It's highly dependent on a player's movement. I don't follow HS and College volleyball so I can't say if the younger generation has more taller players now.


    I don't know how China does it. I'm curious about the height ratio of their younger players.

    Quote from sarinseu

    For example, Sarina is with NEC's Social and Public Planning Division. Taishi probably had something similar in JT. He left that division to just play with JT Thunders.

    I'm still trying to understand the difference between 任意引退 and 退団 that shows up on the Player Announcement list.


    任意引退 translates as "voluntary retirement" or "retire arbitrarily"

    退団 translates as "leaving the group"


    Zayasu 任意引退

    Iwasaka 退団


    brahmin explained this once before but I couldn't understand it. And this Taishi thing throws in a new wrinkle


    I believe "retire arbitrarily" (Zayasu) must mean they just stop playing volleyball but continue to work for the company in some capacity, for the team (as a manager, secretary, or some such) or just for the company doing data entry or whatever.


    The Taishi thing seems backwards to this. I've never heard of someone continuing to play volleyball and not work for the company. I truly wonder if any girls are doing this. I doubt it


    "leaving the group" (Iwasaka) must mean they quit volleyball and working for the company.


    A reason for my renewed interest in this is how it pertains to "Transfer Hoping" -- which I think there will be a lot more of in the future. Unfortunately, someone like Sanae Watanabe is no longer on the list to see what they declared as. But I think you have to "leaving the group" if you want to actually Transfer without saying you want to Transfer. Deceptive, a little

    Quote from sitenoise
    • Plak was there but didn't play. From a distance she looks thinner
    • Saki Tanaka won't get benched for Plak. She's way better than Plak
    • Kaya Watanabe could be a rising star if she isn't benched by Plak or the Captain

    Isn't there a possibility Plak will play as non receiving outside hitter?

    Quote from Playmaker

    Gunma said they'd like to challenge Kurobe again in one of their vbm articles. If someone like Takahashi who doesn't do V League (where does he even play?) can go straight to the NT and beat out Yanagida whose team won last season. And then another NT guy Onodera I think quit his team and won't do V League anymore as I understand so how will JVA decide if he's fit to join the NT based on his performance where? Also Ebata came from a V2 team and was selected for the NT before, they might not want to overlook anyone in that division

    Kind of before my time but V1 / V2 was different back then. V2 teams had foreigners and there was more movement between V2 and V1. V1 had 8 teams. If we lopped off the bottom four V1 teams now and sent them to V2, things would be different.


    Also I think Manabe had a different approach to finding NT players than Nakada. I read that he hired a group to go look everywhere instead of just at the top 4 or 5 big corporate dual citizenship BCS hiring V1 teams

    I have never heard of any player ever retiring from a company's "business side" whatever that means. Each player is involved with the team's company division as long as they are employed and are playing by that team so it doesn't make sense for him to remain there just to play? so if they promote the team will they crop him out? after all he will be the only player that won't contribute to promoting the team:/

    Quote from Let's go orange

    Isn't there a possibility Plak will play as non receiving outside hitter?

    I think that's exactly what will happen

    V2 GSS Sunbeams have this leggy monster


    Quote from Phoenix

    I remember Aihara talked about the taller players issue before. I'm still tryna find the article.


    Saori was extremely agile and had the perfect physique to be a spiker. She was very light on her feet and didn't have a problem speeding up when necessary. On the other hand, can you imagine Nana Iwasaka as a spiker? It's highly dependent on a player's movement. I don't follow HS and College volleyball so I can't say if the younger generation has more taller players now.


    I don't know how China does it. I'm curious about the height ratio of their younger players.

    That is a good question... how is China able to have very tall players while Japan can't. Surely it's not a matter of luck as it's not just a single player but many

    Quote from Let's go orange

    Isn't there a possibility Plak will play as non receiving outside hitter?

    I should add, that's what Neriman did with NEC last year. It's just sort of awkward in Japanese volleyball, especially, or depending, on the makeup/skills of the rest of the team. In Himeji's case, Tanaka is a solid receiving OP. Their best receiving OH, Aikiho Matsumoto, tore her ACL last year. It's unknown if she will be back this year. Their Captain (the big problem), receiving OH, Riho Sadakane is a mediocre player, so if it's Tanaka, Plak, Sadakane on the pins, that could spell trouble --

    Quote from staccato lightning

    That is a good question... how is China able to have very tall players while Japan can't. Surely it's not a matter of luck as it's not just a single player but many

    It's genetics and millennia of culture. There are a million 190cm girls growing up in China. There are 12 in Japan :)

    If you go to the Olympics website > Athletes > search for their names > Occupation:

    • listed as "Athlete": only Erika Araki for Hinotori Nippon + Yuki Ishikawa and Yuji Nishida for Ryujin Nippon (Ran Takahashi and Otsuka Tatsunori were listed as students because they're still in university; Taishi Onodera was still listed as an "Athlete, Office Worker");
    • listed as "Athlete, Office Worker": everyone else (for example: Yuki Ishii).

    However, I don't know if these are 100% accurate. Some of their social media links were not, for example :D


    When Taishi Onodera announced his "retirement from the business side" he said he's gonna become a "professional volleyball player" (same case as Ogawa - men's NT). So... everyone else is not officially a "professional volleyball player" yet?