Japan Women's NT 2023

    Quote from Nurik

    Let's be honest here no other NT have starters that play for lower divisions during their club season. It's ridiculous. Everyone is subjected to a high amount of pressure to perform well at a level where they should be growing further. It's nearly impossible to gauge someone's growth in a lower level. And you just know they'll get that automatic NT ticket regardless since they agreed to play for Manabe's domestic team.

    I think Manabe has to be desperate to make sure things go well. He hasn't produced a lot of results like he promised. Come next year things will escalate. This year was his experimentation phase so he can still shuffle some players but by next year the team he goes with has to be rock solid Paris team through and through no time for any more changes.

    we're talking about the same guy that was probably bribed to take in a 196cm college girl with no experience, exploited the legendary london squad to promote the hell outta his current unpopular team, benches mayu so she wouldn't steal koga's spotlight, tried to revive miyashita and then abandons her completely, and yanked airi out of the us so she can be a translator. those were his results so far. i wouldn't be surprised if he fucks it up again next year:wavy:

    Quote from skorost

    we're talking about the same guy that was probably bribed to take in a 196cm college girl with no experience, exploited the legendary london squad to promote the hell outta his current unpopular team, benches mayu so she wouldn't steal koga's spotlight, tried to revive miyashita and then abandons her completely, and yanked airi out of the us so she can be a translator. those were his results so far. i wouldn't be surprised if he fucks it up again next year:wavy:

    Don't forget about how he ended Uchiseto's career on a sour note oof

    Quote from Phoenix

    Kotoe Inoue currently plays for a club in Israel

    https://www.instagram.com/hapoelkfarsabavbc/


    Yesterday she released some kind of statement via IG Story. I opened it but it expired already. Auto translation was useless. It probably had something to do with her situation there. I don't know if she's going to continue playing there or is being forced to return to Japan.

    From what I remember, she already evacuated to turkey a couple weeks ago, Tashiro and her had an unforseen reunion. She was stuck in Israel for a while when the war started and ofc, games were cancelled, her residence was unaffected thankfully. It's unclear what her plans are but I think she'll just be staying in Turkey for a while until things cool down (which won't happen anytime soon).

    Quote from K_kloz

    From what I remember, she already evacuated to turkey a couple weeks ago, Tashiro and her had an unforseen reunion. She was stuck in Israel for a while when the war started and ofc, games were cancelled, her residence was unaffected thankfully. It's unclear what her plans are but I think she'll just be staying in Turkey for a while until things cool down (which won't happen anytime soon).

    they had tried to get out for a CEV Champions League game, but could not. She was able to get to Turkey by herself and probably she’s not playing in Israel in the immediate future. So trying to stay close if needed, but I honestly can’t see her possibly going back to play for her club this season.

    She is staying with Tashiro because former teammate with NT and club.

    I tried to watch Mayu but all I see is Lina Alsmeier. The 2 girls have no chemistry as teammates much to my chagrin. Mayu is not yet at a point where she's struggling because of the other side's middles. Hopefully she'll realize something a move or 2 to get past that. Nishida never figured it out while he was there

    Quote from Phoenix

    I tried to watch Mayu but all I see is Lina Alsmeier. The 2 girls have no chemistry as teammates much to my chagrin. Mayu is not yet at a point where she's struggling because of the other side's middles. Hopefully she'll realize something a move or 2 to get past that. Nishida never figured it out while he was there

    You're way too biased. Not a big fan of Lina at all. She's like Nishikawa lmao

    I think both are doing well so far, especially considering it's their first time in Italian league or even abroad. They seem like a good match for a team like Firenze, and also have nice back row attacks. Just too many errors still but scoring enough in attack to compensate that. And it can only get better once they are used to each other more as a team :super: taking it back to this thread, I hope Mayu can take this experience into NT and finally get a starting spot once in a while :heart: she's a joy to watch

    Quote from Nurik

    Alsmeier is a little closer to Ishii in terms of abilities but not as flexible as Mayu. Most people pay attention to her beauty when she's not overshadowed by Orthmann. Nothing wrong with that. Both girls with strong model appeal.

    gotta suck to be noticed more for her beauty than her volleyball skills. but good for sponsorship