Posts by Karl

Quote from bolt

its not reasonable either to spend beyond 5 to 6 hours which the NT and V1 clubs already follow. That's going to create more strain than condition the body.

5-6 hrs is the standard anywhere in the world and in most high impact sports, usually broken down into 3-4 workouts per day. athletes recovering from an injury follow through with additional hours in order to do conditioning exercises and therapy targeted to their individual needs. As you age and depending on genetics, your joints wear down fast increasing the risk to injury so "spending more time in the gym" will only speed up that disaster.

Quote from Zack Fair

I’m referring to their a bit much time spent on ball training which seems to work better for the shorter athletes. Their atheltes with western height say Nana Iwasaka, who’s as tall as Chiaka Ogbogu, lack explosiveness which I think stems from excessive ball training, less gyming. Example, the youngsters’ greatness in the under category fades away once they move up to the senior level because that’s when they face well-conditioned professional tall athletes (tall,explosive, and agile).

Would you say for example that Sarah Wilhite is a more explosive player compared to Ishii? How would you compare Stevanovic or Aleksic to Yamada and Hammy in terms of explosiveness? I'm not sure I get what you mean.

Quote from Zack Fair

I notice that too. Science says shorter atheletes tend to be more agile, which I think makes their approach and swing look aggresive. Their one-size-fits-all training doesn’t seem to benefit their taller players that much tho. Xintian Fu at 187 cm has a very “Chinese” attitude in court but her attacks are so “Japanese.” They also had the opportunity to transform Xinmuyi Zhang (202 cm) into a monster but it seems like she’s trained the way everybody else (shorter ones) were trained. Another model is Alondra Tapia (195 cm). Her performance as a middle is becoming “Japanese.”

Melissa Valdes is a different case tho. I wonder if she receives special treatment/trained differently. Japan is meticulous about form but she does the circular arm swing, not the L-shaped one that everybody does. Her vertical jump is also monstruous (325 cm spike reach 😶). Or maybe her jumping ability has to do with her Cuban genes?? idk

What are one-size-fits-all training? If there was some sort of difference in training techniques between taller and shorter athletes that would make them more prone to injuries. I've honestly never heard of it nor have I seen any difference in training between Takeshita or Saori, Megumi Kurihara or Sano

Quote from Playmaker

Did she play in Bundesliga the same year Meg Kurihara was transferred to Dinamo Kazan?

Yes 2011. Hakuta played for Schwerin. Megumi was injured while she was at Dinamo. I can't remember what happened to her. It may have been spine related.

Quote from Phoenix

is she related to Mioko Hakuta?

No. She had a cousin at Denso. Satomi Omiya. She retired a long time ago.

I don't suppose anyone remembers Hiroko Hakuta? she was a former player from Megumi Kurihara's era. A V2 player who also had NT ambitions. She was almost promoted to a V1 team (not through team challenge) when she decided to play in Germany. Hakuta did well, won some awards in Germany and eventually retired. I think she is the closest to being the only player that did well overseas. She also worked with JVA briefly for the earlier U Squads.

Quote from Irina

i think labelling players "ace" is not giving them the right push. more like an unnecessary pressure they feel like they have to live up to.

It's not a label, it's a system. They've always done this in every sport. You cannot change it otherwise it's no longer Japanese. Don't like pressure? Don't play pro. Very simple.

Quote from Phoenix

He expects her to contribute in both offense and defense

That's too vague. Japan already has a clear ace and it's Koga. What should back Koga up is a capable scoring machine. Is that what she was meant to be?

What did Manabe say he expected from Airi? This was never fully clarified.

Quote from sean1

I don't know who Iwasawa is.

Those 2 clubs from V1 are the only ones that are known to be strict. The rest especially Hisamitsu encourages their players to post freely.

I thought this was common knowledge though. Korean NT players all have extremely curated IGs that goes the same for Japanese players. Image is very important after all. And Japan's fan culture is extremely obsessive they have to be careful of what they post especially the people involved. That's also the reason they can't just let people know they're dating.

I'm sure Toray also restricts their players as to what they post online. Remember when Kurogo was a newbie at Toray she posted a bunch of party photos with her Seitoku friends. Not the usual dorm ones but actual party photos. She had to delete those too.

Sakoda didn't open her Instagram until after she retired. Saori's Instagram became the Hinotori Instagram around 2014/15.

Quote from Blue Moon

Eda really rattled Ogawa tbh. She couldn't concentrate at all.

I don't think it's Eda, I just think she's panicking at that point. Yokota would have been better for this 3rd week. Much more calm on the net.

I'd like to see more of Shimamura instead of Ogawa.

We're seeing more Yamagishi since Kojima is starting to get off track. She's not good with pressure once the team is struggling. Very far from how Kobata was. Understandbly so since this is her first international experience.

Quote from Zack Fair

I think Momota Shimada (Lerbach’s interpreter) is no longer part of Hinotori’s coaching staff because he deleted his posts related to Hinotori on his ig.

They're not allowed to leave just like that

Quote from Phoenix

I think this is about her following Tomoko Yoshihara's footsteps in promoting a V2 team to V1

That's definitely it. IF she can that is. The major difference is that Yoshihara was a natural leader, a stickler for the Japanese way of volleyball. Saito not so much.

Quote from sean1

Gunma must be dead serious about ousting Kurobe. Their new coach Mayumi Saito was a former NT ace around Nakada's time but probably earlier? First time hearing of her being a coach though.

This is her first time coaching a team so it's more of a stepping stone for her. She only helped out during training camps organized by her bestfriend Naomi Masuko who has her own foundation. Saito was quite notorious for not following what her coaches tell her to do, more on that if you google Masuko's talks where she emphasizes balancing soft and tough techniques for growth. She would always namedrop Saito as one of the rebels in her examples. Which is why I find this all the more ironic now that Saito is a coach herself.

Quote from Nghiphong

Kawakita? He was Saori Kimura's "spokesperson" while she's with Vakifbank too. This guy spent quite a long time in USA Volleyball scene as technical analyst and assistant coach.

He was also Miyu's translator at Imoco.

I don't think he ever left the US. He's also part of OHCA Volleyball Camp somewhere in Boston I think https://www.ogs-volley.com/

Koga's interview from Nishi Nippon https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nsp/item/n/922713/

Koga wants a more united team in order to have a shot at winning a medal. But I strongly disagree with her outlook.

__________________________________

She also said of the Japan national team, "There is a limit to how much you can do with just the players on the court. It's important for the entire team to face the same direction. However, a truly strong team has a relationship in which they can say what they feel and what they want to see done. They don't have to be good friends."
__________________________________

A team with merely good players is not a "real team" nor does it count as strong. Forming a bond is absolutely critical. Which is what makes the men's team united because Yuki Ishikawa as the captain values friendship and sees relationships extremely valuable. I sense none of that in what Koga said. Her statement sounds very cold, detached and just indifferent. The London and Rio squads have all formed longlasting friendships. I believe this is also a factor as to why USA and Brazil are unstoppable. They form true bonds with each other so the players know each others strengths and weaknesses and who they work better with. It's always different from a players pov and a coach's pov. There are things that only the players themselves are able to observe.

Quite disappointed with her statements so far. Not a very mature thought process of someone who is leading a team.

Some of the best players aren't good at coaching. Saori is an example of that. Sakoda may be better but her booking fee is quite pricey. Sano is not very stern but not so soft either that you can goof around with her. Takeshita used to say Sano is the most majime (serious almost to a fault) out of all of them, Yamaguchi comes close.

Ten is short for Tensai meaning genius since Takeshita is considered one of the miracles of Japan along with Saori and Yuko Sano.

Who is it? from which club?