Posts by Phoenix

  • Italy - Serie A1 2025/26

    San Giovanni swept Cuneo. If only they could continue sweeping all of their opponents minus I think Busto? that would be great


    Panetoni is gradually regaining her former shape. She's quietly progressing.

  • Italy Women's NT 2026

    Quote from Copravolley22

    I hope everyone except Moki will be at the European Championships in late summer. Looking at Italy's bracket, it won't be a difficult tournament until the semifinals, where you'll have to give 100%. While there's still a chance, you have to win everything, because if Russia returns, it won't be so easy:lol: Besides, a gold medal at the European Championships guarantees a spot in the 2028 Olympics, so it's a safe time for the next 2 years. I'm optimistic for today.

    De Gennaro already retired from the NT I'm not sure how you missed that everyone and their grandfathers posted about it

  • 2026/2027 Transfer Rumors & Discussion ( Female)


    He said Piva was close to striking a deal with Milano. This wasn't reported anywhere else from what I know not during that time. And I checked ivolley and volleyball_it's timeline on twitter and they also haven't written an article about it yet. Volley News only posted when Piva arrived at Milano.


    Idk if he got anything else right. I think someone said Orro follows him but I don't follow Orro lol


    https://x.com/gibbybaris/status/1941460893927424370

  • Japan Women's NT 2025

    Miyabe on playing opp this season + NT stuff

    https://sportiva.shueisha.co.j…volleyball/2026/01/03/27/


    Kinda long + copy paste from google trans







    ――Airi, you yourself have seen changes this season. You excelled as a middle blocker for the Japanese national team, and in recent years played as a middle blocker for Himeji too, but this season you're playing opposite. What prompted this change?


    Miyabe: I know, it's intriguing, isn't it? (laughs) It's difficult to give a concise answer, but fundamentally, when I joined Himeji, I had almost no intention of playing as a middle blocker. I think I was an outside hitter back then. Even at university in America, I played as either left or right hitter – essentially as an outside hitter. So joining Himeji and starting to play as a middle blocker felt like starting from scratch, or rather, it was irregular...


    However, aiming for the Olympics and playing for the national team, I felt my chances were higher playing as a middle blocker, so I decided to give it my all there. I wanted to give my all for the Japanese national team. With so many players who want to join but can't, if I'd been given this chance, how much could I increase my own probability of reaching my goal? For me, that path was choosing to play as a middle hitter.


    For a while after that, I thought I'd only just started playing as a middle hitter and needed to practise and gain experience, so I played as a middle hitter both for Himeji and the national team. But then the national team coach changed, and I felt like I wanted a new challenge too. If possible, I wanted to try playing both middle and outside hitter simultaneously – though I'm currently playing opposite. Around the New Year a year ago, I had already discussed with the team that I wanted to play opposite, so this wasn't a sudden decision; it was a choice I'd thought through.


    With the national team, it was the first season under the new coach, so it was difficult to suddenly try something new or different, hence I played as a middle blocker. But now, turning 27 this year, I want to take the time to make significant changes, take on challenges, and gain new skills and experience. I wanted to challenge myself slowly, taking a long-term view, and that's how I arrived at this point.


    ――Even so, your time to play as an opposite after the national team was limited. Wasn't it tough?


    Miyabe: It was absolutely brutal (laughs). I joined the team about two weeks before the league started, so it was hard to switch smoothly. It was a messy situation right from the start.


    ――Has your experience playing as a middle blocker for the national team and at Himeji helped you in your role as an opposite hitter?


    Miyabe: I haven't felt it in any particularly concrete way yet, but perhaps I've become able to think things like, ‘They'll probably want to use the B quick now, so I should go help here,’ or ‘If I go in to help, the middle blocker can more easily go to the right-side block.’


    In matches, I actually say things like, ‘I'll cover the quick, so you can focus more on the right side.’ With the national team, Sarina Koga would give specific instructions about blocking, like, ‘I'll jump and block here, so please do this.’ Just having that conversation made things much easier, so that's something I want to do too.


    ――Moving from middle blocker to opposite hitter felt like something quite special, but there is a precedent: during the 2012 London Olympics final, (Dmitry) Muserskiy (Russia) switched from middle blocker to opposite hitter during the match.


    Miyabe: When I mentioned wanting to play opposite, Mr Nagae (Shoji) – who was previously the Himeji coach and is now the Queens Kariya coach – told me about Muserskiy's story. Before coaching the women's team, Mr Nagae coached the men's team, so he had that kind of information. I hadn't known about it, so it was very fresh to me. Moreover, I heard it completely changed the flow of the match, so I think it's truly remarkable.

  • Italy - Serie A1 2025/26

    Quote from serdar

    I think mayu ishikawa will be one of the hottest player in volleyball transfer market for next season. Many top teams need an allrounder like her. I could see her coming to Turkey. Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Zeren, Eczacıbaşı all could use her

    Kinda OT, Tobias Shigeto said there are very limited translators (Japanese to Turkish) who are available and it's a big problem for players who want to play in Turkey. There are a lot of male Japanese players that want to play in the Turkish league including Keihan Takahashi initially but he went to France because there wasnt any available translators. I don't know Mayu's agency and she's not under her brother's agency but sometimes the agency itself already have connections to translators working in the field.

  • Italy - Serie A1 2025/26

    Quote from alvaro

    i don't understand consolini's standing. do they still stand a chance or are they going to be completely relegated at this point? and why did they send reinforcement so late. did fenerbahce really not assess the quality of their local roster. if they get relegated they won't get any financial support so what's the point?

    There's still a good chance San Giovanni overtakes Perugia even without Piovesan. I don't know who their new player is but I doubt she'll get any court time


    but definitely not in their next match against Imoco