#12 Makoto Sekida
In contrast to Fujii, Sekita has been on the elite road. He won the national championship in each category of junior high, high school, and university, and has been the starting setter for the age group representative since junior high school. He was blessed with seniors and juniors such as Yanagida in high school and Ishikawa in university, and continued to set up for these big aces. On the other hand, after joining Panasonic in the V League, he struggled to take the regular spot from Mitsuo Fukatsu and had no opportunities to play. His technique is impeccable, but he is still short for a Japanese setter at 175 cm, so I personally thought it would be difficult for him to make the national team. Nevertheless, he was called up to the national team for the first time earlier than Fujii and fought in the final qualifying round for the Rio Olympics in 2016. He continued to be a reserve setter for the national team for a while, but in the 2019 World Cup he started in many games as the main setter. However, in the previous VNL, it seemed like Fujii had taken back his position as the starting setter. However, he will be transferring to Rubin in the Polish league where Yanagida used to play from next season, so I am looking forward to seeing him grow even more.
In terms of play, Sekita, in contrast to Fujii, is known for his stability in setting to the side. Sets that extend to the far side antenna increase the options for side attackers and increase the success rate. His jump serves are not particularly powerful, but he has great control and has often shaken up opponents. It can't be helped that he is a gap in the block because of his short stature, but we can expect him to perform well enough to more than make up for that! Aiming to become the world's smallest and strongest male setter! (Defeat Argentina's Sanchez!)
Photo: FIVB
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