Japan Women's NT 2024

    Quote from Raf

    I don't have a reliable source or anything like that but Euro fans on twitter are saying Mayu is in Vakif's radar this is huge I want it to be true so bad

    She has liability at blocking, I feel like she will be a backup player like Busa this year so I don't think it is a wise step for her at this point in her career. Vakıfbank's previous experiment with Saori didn't go well although she was taller and better attacker than mayu

    Move Sport by Descente the sports brand's capsule collection signs a contract with Airi, making her the only other 2023 Hinotori member that's a brand ambassador. The other is Mayu with Mizuno. Koga doesn't count since that food brand whatever that was is a team contract for NEC and is a minor deal.


    good for her i like her. honestly this in most people's eyes would be a random selection since she hasn't done much with the nt that's why im hoping with araki gone no one else steals her spotlight and that includes watanabe

    Quote from Playmaker

    is it for the sake of diversity? because as an athlete she hasn't even established a brand reputation yet so i assume this is just victorina doing victorina things. business talk aside airi would make a great global model for the brand

    If you wanna go there, none of the girls in the roster have any significant brand rep. exposure doesn't equal BR, it's completely achievement based for athletes unless they're endorsing specifically beauty/fashion-related products and they still have to go through their team company and jva if it has nothing to do with sports to ensure it aligns with the integrity of their image as athletes.


    From what I've read in the PR Times article this will only be a digital campaign. MoveSport's main ambassador is still Shohei Ohtani and some golfer I don't know.

    Interview with Rui Nonaka at Sportiva


    I think Rui and Yukiko Wada are two players who suffered the most because of the pandemic. And by that I mean that they were big players from little high schools who got no glory because of it, but both made U-Squads, so Coaches were noticing them even if tweetboxers were not. Then covid hit and killed their momentum at that crucial point in their careers


    The thing with Rui is, covid hit right when she joined Hitachi (same with Wada) so she didn't train much properly coming out the gate, then suffered an injury her second year and didn't play much. Last season is like her real debut and she got that NT invite to the Asian Championship. She's continued to grow this year


    She's got skills and she is improving. I love improvement. Don't see enough of it. She's a quiet player tho and may lack the killer instinct to play with the big girls, but I get the feeling from that interview she may have a little sassy inside waiting to get out. She's 177cm and it's a laugh riot to point out that that's better than 173cm

    Nagaoka, Hayashi, Wada. Steep ladder there :)

    im so happy those 2 have each other's backs :heart:


    by the way how is nobody bringing up that rumor about seki going to imoco


    Quote from gkv

    That's gotta be a fucking typo because there's no way?! what


    First of all why her. Second of all I guess that means she will be the main setter for Paris but who convinced Imoco to get her?!

    beggars cant be choosers after we whined about having more nt players play overseas lmao

    Quote from Raf

    beggars cant be choosers after we whined about having more nt players play overseas lmao

    But make it make sense HOW in the world could she possibly land a contract with a prime team over Mayu who went to Firenze? She's not even close to being a great setter in the NT so who's asking for her

    her tosses to nwakalor worked well thank god but that's nwakalor for ya. if anything, nwakalor should be the one to go to imoco.

    1. Tashiro is playing in Turkey
    2. Tominaga played in Italy
    3. Shibata already went to France
    4. Matsui is in Brazil

    Now it's Seki's turn.


    Miyashita and Momii are the only ex-main setters who haven't played overseas but I bet y'all wouldn't be reacting so violently if the news was about either of these 2 hmm

    I would still take Momii over Seki any day but given that she missed almost this entire season it would be a miracle if she still makes the nt. That only works for a certain mediocre OH Hisamitsu's Nakagawa who no matter how little participation she does every season would still show up in the roster every time

    Quote from Nurik

    I would still take Momii over Seki any day but given that she missed almost this entire season it would be a miracle if she still makes the nt. That only works for a certain mediocre OH Hisamitsu's Nakagawa who no matter how little participation she does every season would still show up in the roster every time

    I think Momii is going through a slump. Kurogo went through it and is still in that make-or-break state which might be the hardest thing for any athlete with a promising future.

    Quote from Hassan Kadem

    I think Momii is going through a slump. Kurogo went through it and is still in that make-or-break state which might be the hardest thing for any athlete with a promising future.

    not really it just goes to show that kurogo already peaked. she had a promising future but this is her reality now. just like how miyashita already peaked. regardless of her hype in the past she never evolved but her staying in okayama might've had something to do with that as the team also has gone downhill since 2016.

    Quote from Pancake

    not really it just goes to show that kurogo already peaked. she had a promising future but this is her reality now. just like how miyashita already peaked. regardless of her hype in the past she never evolved but her staying in okayama might've had something to do with that as the team also has gone downhill since 2016.

    Koga went through a slump right around Kurogo's current age so I find it hard to believe it's over for her but again it's totally up to the individual. Koga still retained her slot in the A Team and fortunately she was able to pull her shit together