Japan Women's NT 2022

    Quote from Hassan Kadem

    Inoue wasn't completely awful. Probably just burned out atm

    Why would she be burned out?

    Quote from Hassan Kadem

    Inoue wasn't completely awful. Probably just burned out atm. I think they were expecting this to go even more smoothly with Hammy and Airi but some strings aren't connecting

    Japan just needs to find another "unit" that clicks. they simply don't do well with mixing and matching (like USA does well). they're not that individualized. i think that's the biggest obstacle to Japanese volleyball (apart from their height)

    Quote from sean1

    You don't think he mistimed AIri's introduction after he said all those things about her being a possible ace?

    He could have been lying and simply wanted her for Himeji. I dunno


    But , forget "talk"


    I don't consider this a trash , but an honest question: Who here has seen more than a highlight reel of Airi playing volleyball in the past 6 years? What is all the "she must be good" based on?

    Quote from sitenoise

    He could have been lying and simply wanted her for Himeji. I dunno


    But , forget "talk"


    I don't consider this a trash , but an honest question: Who here has seen more than a highlight reel of Airi playing volleyball in the past 6 years? What is all the "she must be good" based on?

    There are highlights from her NCAA. But she's not that much of a name either

    Quote from avid

    pick me pick me

    okay, tell us how her skills fit into Japan's system

    I got to watch a couple of Airi's games in the NCAA. She didn't stand out to me as an ace of Hinotori atleast for immediate impact. I think she'll be good for the next few years, specially after having her back in the Japan system way of playing. She is tall and younger than Koga and Inoue so they are probably thinking that she'll be the next in line or something like that. But Japanese playing style is different, so she might need time adjusting. In the matches I've watched her play, she never plays in the back rotation, just a front row rotation (NCAA sub rules are different), and totally different playing style than Japan so I didn't expect her to get immediate impact.

    Quote from avid

    well... she's not an ace. She's very anti-Japan. She rarely played defense or received in the NCAA.

    I'm dead

    Quote from sitenoise

    I'm dead

    i mean its true lol


    I think the biggest thing going for her is she played under Hugh McCutcheon for 3(?) years... that's a lot of good development that can be relied upon as she gets more experience.


    I think if Manabe called her an ace... (which idk if he did)... is really setting her up to fail/flop. Those expectations shouldnt be there.

    Quote from avid

    i mean its true lol


    I think the biggest thing going for her is she played under Hugh McCutcheon for 3(?) years... that's a lot of good development that can be relied upon as she gets more experience.


    I think if Manabe called her an ace... (which idk if he did)... is really setting her up to fail/flop. Those expectations shouldnt be there.

    From the NCAA matches I watched, she seems aware/intelligent/scrappy when dealing with loose balls, bad sets and shit. I'm impressed by that. Looked like an average attacker, is probably on par with Japan's current reception which isn't a high bar (although she didn't receive much in what I saw, and was certainly not the target of an opposing team for the length of a match), but I was not impressed at all with her "two tier" passes , which seem vital to current Japan. I don't think I noticed her as a blocker, can't comment on that. Serve? very USA, for better or worse

    Love how active this thread is. Every time I check there's like 3 new pages of squabbling to read.


    Yall really wanna argue about every little thing every time they lose lol. I'd like to blast some of you away tbh especially Hassan Kadem for his blackmail towards some (names shall not be mentioned to protect their privacy) of Hisamitsu's players:rolleyes:


    They'll be fine. You can't expect everything to be perfect straight away. Manabe is not the type to ghost players he likes we all know that by now.

    Quote from sitenoise

    From the NCAA matches I watched, she seems aware/intelligent/scrappy when dealing with loose balls, bad sets and shit. I'm impressed by that. Looked like an average attacker, is probably on par with Japan's current reception which isn't a high bar (although she didn't receive much in what I saw, and was certainly not the target of an opposing team for the length of a match), but I was not impressed at all with her "two tier" passes , which seem vital to current Japan. I don't think I noticed her as a blocker, can't comment on that. Serve? very USA, for better or worse

    by "USA Serve" do you mean weak? cause that's very McCutcheon. He would rather die than see a service error lol

    Quote from avid

    i mean its true lol


    I think the biggest thing going for her is she played under Hugh McCutcheon for 3(?) years... that's a lot of good development that can be relied upon as she gets more experience.


    I think if Manabe called her an ace... (which idk if he did)... is really setting her up to fail/flop. Those expectations shouldnt be there.

    What in the hell I thought her expertise was defense?

    Quote from Phoenix

    Love how active this thread is. Every time I check there's like 3 new pages of squabbling to read.


    Yall really wanna argue about every little thing every time they lose lol. I'd like to blast some of you away tbh especially Hassan Kadem for his blackmail towards some (names shall not be mentioned to protect their privacy) of Hisamitsu's players:rolleyes:


    They'll be fine. You can't expect everything to be perfect straight away. Manabe is not the type to ghost players he likes we all know that by now.

    Shut up you love it