profile
Kento Miyaura
Position: Opposite
Club: Nysa (Poland)
Date of birth: 1999/2/22 (24 years old)
Birthplace: Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Height: 190cm
Highest reach: 347cm
Dominant hand: Left
Grades
team
Stal Nisa
League: Prz Liga (Polish first division)
Participating teams: 16
Regular season: 8th place
Final ranking: 7th place
Toshiki's on-site coverage: 14 games
individual
Number of matches played: 34
Number of sets: 90 sets
Total score: 86 points
Set average: 0.96 points
Serve
Number of pieces: 153
Score: 21 points
0.23 pieces per set
attack
Number of pieces: 135
Score: 63 points
Decision rate: 46.67%
Effectiveness rate: 28.89%
block
Score: 2 points
0.02 pieces per set
Season Review
A season of patience, but the serve is a powerful weapon
Miyaura Kento's first year in an overseas league was a season of patience.
While Ishikawa, Takahashi, and Tsuiki, who also played in Europe in the 2022/23 season, played most games as starters, Miyaura started most games on the bench. He only started in two games out of the more than 30 games played in the season.
He was aware that once the teams were decided he would be mainly on the bench rather than in the starting lineup, but he told me midway through the season, "I never thought it would be so tough not being able to play in the games."
Tunisian Bentala, who was Nisa's starting opposite, is one of the league's best opposites, ranking third in the league's total points rankings. His high evaluation is also evident from the fact that he has decided to transfer to Perugia, a big club in Italy, next season.
It was extremely difficult to get a chance to play as an opposite, beating out Ventara. Combined with his stability in play, Ventara was the starting opposite who was the hardest to replace in the league.
Also, while the opposite often uses a double substitution, Nisa's starting setter, Zukowski (Croatia), was taller than Miyaura at 196cm and had better blocking skills, so they did not tactically use a double substitution.
So this season, Miyaura was given the role of serving.
He was appointed as a relief server from the first game of the season, and thereafter played as a relief server in almost every game, instilling the image of "Kent the Serve" in Nisa fans, and he hit service aces one after another, until it became a normal occurrence.
Miyaura's service aces per set this season is 0.23. This number is almost the same as Takahashi Ai's (0.24), who played in Italy this season. Miyaura's number, who was a relief server and only had one chance to serve in each set, is almost the same as Takahashi's number, who played in most starts and consistently hit aces.
Generally, if you play a full set in a match, you will serve about three times, so if you do simple math, if Miyaura was in the starting lineup, his number would be 0.69 aces. This is higher than the number one record in the Polish League this season (0.65, Boyer (France)) and the number one record in the Italian League (0.59, Leon (Poland)). This means that he will serve at least two aces per match.
Miyaura's serve also had a very high break rate, and I think she was able to break almost every match (every time?) even without a service ace. In particular, in the match against Bielsko-Biala, there was a scene where she broke Miyaura's serve eight times in a row despite only having one service ace.
In the midst of all this, he himself said that he has "made great progress" in terms of his serve, and I think he can now confidently say that it is one of his weapons.
Miyaura's serve, which he has honed through the Polish league, more than demonstrated its true worth in the recent friendly match against China (he only played the full fourth and fifth sets, but still managed six service aces).
It can also be said that this has led to an improvement in his serve, but he has also become much bigger and stronger physically throughout this time in the Polish league.
Since he couldn't play in many matches, he didn't have to spend the day after the match recovering, so he did strength training even on his days off to remodel his body. Miyaura, who is short for a volleyball player at 190cm, not only improved his jumping ability to compete with the height of overseas players, but also realized the need to have the power to blow away and block out the spike even if it was touched by the opponent's block.
In the friendly match against China, he showed us a powerful spike that roared through the air from a high jump, which was clearly different from his previous performance. I think he also had a very high success rate.
The impact of Sutar Nisa
There is no doubt that the Nisa club also had a major influence on his development as a volleyball player.
Here are three reasons why.
First of all, the Polish League is one of the top leagues in the world, just like the Italian League, and not only that, but my team, Nysa, had monster players such as Ventala and Gerzhod (Poland), so I was able to gain high-level experience through daily practice.
In particular, when it comes to Gerjot, who Miyaura likely faced off against many times in practice, Miyaura himself said, "No matter how far I stretch my arm, I can't even imagine touching the ball," as Gerjot had such a high hitting point, so I think he was particularly conscious of countering the ball's height.
Next, Nisa had a great atmosphere as a team and they all got along well.
As it was his first time playing in an overseas league, he must have had a lot of difficulties with the language, especially at the beginning, but his teammates were kind and helped him out on many occasions.
In particular, he said that his neighbor, Buszek (Poland), helped him a lot, taking him to and from practice before he had his own car, listening to detailed information about the Polish league and players, and inviting him to his home and getting to know his family. In addition to that, he went to a tourist spot called Wroclaw near Nysa with his teammates on his days off, and the team is also close friends in private, so I think that's why he was able to approach each practice in a relaxed and good mental state.
Their friendship was often seen during the games, and when Miyaura scored a service ace, he was lifted up by Gerjot so high that his shorts were digging into his pants (lol), and in the final game of the season, the bench members shouted "Kent" when he served, making it seem like he was especially loved by the other players. Of course, this was undoubtedly based on his own character, but I think that Miyaura's own personality was more apparent because the team had a good atmosphere.
The third is the passion of Nisa's fans.
Nysa is one of the clubs in the Polish league with some of the most passionate supporters.
The home games are almost always sold out, and the support is very passionate and intense. When we win, the fans celebrate with all their might, and when we lose, they give us loving encouragement.
He himself previously said, "There are a lot of passionate fans, the likes of which I have never experienced in my career, and I feel that playing the game is very rewarding, and I feel that I can get really excited myself." It was only because of these passionate Nisa fans that we were able to see Miyaken's passionate reaction to the crowd after scoring a goal, something we never saw in Japan.
I believe that the environment of Nysa, Poland, also contributed greatly to Miyaura's growth.
Best bouts of the 2022/23 season
Round 12 vs Gdansk 1-3 (20-25, 25-22, 14-25, 22-25)
Although the team lost, it was Opposite Miyaura's best performance of the season.
Although he didn't get any service aces after coming on in the middle of the match, he scored 14 points, the most on the team, and had a 72% success rate in attacks, making a big impact. If he had been able to get a few more breaks with his own serve, I think he could have won the match and been named MVP. In any case, it was a match that showed him that he can compete in the Polish league not only as a serve but also as an opposite.
Also, Vlazuli (Poland), who played as an outside hitter for Gdansk in this match, is my favorite player, so it was personally exciting for me to see the matchup between him and Miyaura (laughs).
Other than this match, the Bielsko-Biala match where I scored 8 consecutive service aces was also shocking. Also, in the final match of the season against Olsztyn, where I started, I performed close to being an MVP, but the opponent in that match was too unmotivated, so I didn't include it in the best bout list (laughs).
Toshiki's Thoughts
Since I live in Poland myself, Miyaura was the person I visited the most this season and spoke with.
He played in almost every game as a relief server and consistently hit service aces, which was great, but he didn't get many opportunities to play up front, which made me feel very frustrated.
But even so, he always answered my interview questions after every match in a friendly manner, and as we talked outside of that, I got to know him better and before I knew it, I had become a big fan of Kento Miyaura. The fact that we are both from Kyushu is also a big plus point (laughs).
As Fukatsu (the older brother) said at the Japan national team press conference yesterday, he may look cool at first glance, but when you talk to him he's actually quite chatty, and he really loves volleyball (laughs).
He's also a really hard worker; he watches a lot of game footage and is always training on the bench with a rubber tube during games.Even though he's content to be on the bench and has few opportunities to play, he just calmly does what he has to do without getting discouraged, which was very impressive.
That's why I was so happy to see them perform so well in the friendly match against China!!
(Toshiki expresses his joy immediately after the friendly match.)
On the other hand, his rival Nishida hasn't been in good form, so if he continues like this, I think he could seriously aim for a spot in the starting lineup for the Japanese national team this year.
This is what I'm personally most looking forward to about this year's national team season.
I feel sorry for Nishida and his fans, but even if he loses his place in the starting lineup, I think it will be a good opportunity for Nishida himself to grow further, and therefore a good thing for the Japanese national team as a whole.
Returning to the topic of club teams, although Miyaura has not yet announced which club he will play for next season, it is highly likely that he will not be able to play for a Polish club.
However, he would always say "Poland is a great place" and seemed to really like Poland and the Polish league. He told me that he wanted to play as a starter for a Polish club, so even though next season will be difficult, I'm sure he will return to the Polish league soon.
Starting next season, libero Takahashi Sho will be playing in Poland, and personally I would also like Takahashi Ai to come to Poland (laughs), so I am dreaming of three Japanese players, including Miyaura, playing in the Polish league in the 2024/25 season after the Paris Olympics (laughs).
Once again, Miyaura-kun, thank you so much for your hard work during the one season in Nysa, Poland!
For now, do your best in the national team season, and let's meet again someday at a Polish league venue!!!
Photo: PLS, author's photo
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