Japan Women's NT 2024

    Ayane Kitamado is climbing the NT ladder pretty quickly, imo. 182cm and generally awesome, but not totally reliable and consistent yet


    don't use the hyphenated a-word

    Quote from sitenoise

    That is weird. These kind of things always make me wonder how much intel players are privy to about what else a team is doing when they consider signing with (or leaving) a team

    In this case I think Nishikawa has dreams and aspirations. I think Nakamura just wants to keep playing volleyball for a while

    You know what I find odd in the Japanese sphere is the lack of proper representation as in being with a legitimate agency not in the interest of their own clubs especially for the top NT players. Aside from Mayu, Tashiro, Inoue and Airi the rest don't have that should I say privilege? Nagaoka and Tominaga weren't even with an agency when they went to Italy. Is that the reason why it's harder for female players to be signed?


    Yuki Ishikawa has his own agency where Mayu is. Ran is also signed since he came from uni. Yanagida who isn't even in the NT is signed to Amuse in Takeshita's agency. But Saori, Araki, Takeshita, Sakoda, Ebata they were all signed by agencies post-retirement and all for the purpose of domestic activities but they didn't have the transfer system when they were active.

    Quote from gravity

    You know what I find odd in the Japanese sphere is the lack of proper representation as in being with a legitimate agency not in the interest of their own clubs especially for the top NT players. Aside from Mayu, Tashiro, Inoue and Airi the rest don't have that should I say privilege? Nagaoka and Tominaga weren't even with an agency when they went to Italy. Is that the reason why it's harder for female players to be signed?


    Yuki Ishikawa has his own agency where Mayu is. Ran is also signed since he came from uni. Yanagida who isn't even in the NT is signed to Amuse in Takeshita's agency. But Saori, Araki, Takeshita, Sakoda, Ebata they were all signed by agencies post-retirement and all for the purpose of domestic activities but they didn't have the transfer system when they were active.

    Presumably and hopefully it's the direction things are going to move in as the league transitions away from corporate indentured servants


    I don't know who is and who isn't with an agency, but the ones you mentioned are either with Himeji or went overseas breaking the chain. I had asked someone else if the corporate teams would even allow it. I guess if Tashiro is with an agency and Shiga lets her play that's a start

    Quote from sitenoise

    Presumably and hopefully it's the direction things are going to move in as the league transitions away from corporate indentured servants


    I don't know who is and who isn't with an agency, but the ones you mentioned are either with Himeji or went overseas breaking the chain. I had asked someone else if the corporate teams would even allow it. I guess if Tashiro is with an agency and Shiga lets her play that's a start

    I'm guessing with Tashiro she probably still wants to play overseas so she's keeping that option. Airi is signed to an agency in the US.

    Quote from sitenoise

    Presumably and hopefully it's the direction things are going to move in as the league transitions away from corporate indentured servants


    I don't know who is and who isn't with an agency, but the ones you mentioned are either with Himeji or went overseas breaking the chain. I had asked someone else if the corporate teams would even allow it. I guess if Tashiro is with an agency and Shiga lets her play that's a start

    Ahh yes because who in their right minds would want to earn more money and also further their own career by playing with other top players what an unthinkable act

    I think the highest demand are for liberos. Scandicci for example could use a real libero who knows how to receive. Galatasaray only has one gorgeous libero who is well ok but I mean they could have other options too. But these are just examples. A club like GS isn't going out of their way for a foreign libero when Alexia is wayyyyyyy behind another opp should be their priority.

    Quote from Hassan Kadem

    I think the highest demand are for liberos. Scandicci for example could use a real libero who knows how to receive. Galatasaray only has one gorgeous libero who is well ok but I mean they could have other options too. But these are just examples. A club like GS isn't going out of their way for a foreign libero when Alexia is wayyyyyyy behind another opp should be their priority.

    LOVB will find a way to get more Japanese players to join their league

    The women's division in general needs to put more pressure on scouting divisions for taller youths. Akimoto, Chuganji, Nabeya doppelganger that's a start but majority of the ones competing barely even hit Mayu's height and is still a huge problem. They've already begun this process for the men's side. Ran and Nishida are both an outmoded type because anywhere else they'd be considered a libero. That was Nishida's biggest hurdle playing in Italy he's just too short and when he has to overcompensate it gets him injured and it's not like he has good defense either.


    The women's NT should be more exclusive just like the generations before them. Enough with the cookiecutters.

    Quote from Karl

    The women's division in general needs to put more pressure on scouting divisions for taller youths. Akimoto, Chuganji, Nabeya doppelganger that's a start but majority of the ones competing barely even hit Mayu's height and is still a huge problem. They've already begun this process for the men's side. Ran and Nishida are both an outmoded type because anywhere else they'd be considered a libero. That was Nishida's biggest hurdle playing in Italy he's just too short and when he has to overcompensate it gets him injured and it's not like he has good defense either.


    The women's NT should be more exclusive just like the generations before them. Enough with the cookiecutters.

    When they made an exception for players as short as Shinnabe and Sakoda that's pretty much when the need for taller players became significantly less important

    Quote from Hassan Kadem

    When they made an exception for players as short as Shinnabe and Sakoda that's pretty much when the need for taller players became significantly less important

    It was more balanced back then. It was worth giving exceptions to those shorter players because the ace is tall and the mbs are tall but Koga isn't even 185 and then Manabe started giving chances to that Okayama mb and then Okumura. It went downhill from there.

    Quote from Raf

    It was more balanced back then. It was worth giving exceptions to those shorter players because the ace is tall and the mbs are tall but Koga isn't even 185 and then Manabe started giving chances to that Okayama mb and then Okumura. It went downhill from there.

    okayama who?

    But isn't that back when they were winning medals ? Before my time :/

    I don't think anyone really questioned when Manabe got Sakoda but had that been in any other era she would've dealt with severe backlash. Sakoda paved the way for Nishida's overrated 'monster of the vertical'

    Quote from kravmaga

    I don't think anyone really questioned when Manabe got Sakoda but had that been in any other era she would've dealt with severe backlash. Sakoda paved the way for Nishida's overrated 'monster of the vertical'

    no one questioned it because she played great. no one questioned mireya luis either right? and she's the same height as sakoda. just like how no one is questioning hayashi and she is arguably stronger than sakoda in some aspects

    it's true that japan is in critical need of taller wings and middles. there's a decent amount of tall young blood they could test out depending on the head coach. no one is denying that investing in taller players is a must. japan has to continue to adapt and evolve. i'm sure there's already extreme local pressure so bad that it dwindled yoshihara's chances to becoming hc.