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European Volleyball Report 7: The guesthouse I stayed at by chance was run by a volleyball family

February 9, 2023

On February 4th, I went to cover a home game of Nisa, the team Miyaura plays for.

This is my fifth visit to Nisa this season.

It takes 4.5 to 5.5 hours by train to get from Warsaw to Nysa, so it's not that close, but I love volleyball, and the Nysa fans are passionate so the venue gets really excited, plus there's a chance that Miyaura might play a big role as a spiker and I don't want to miss that, so there are many incentives to go when I can.

On that day, I took the train that departed from Warsaw Central Station at 8:45, but the train was quite delayed and I was very worried about whether I would be able to make my connecting train.

I wonder what happened, since the train was supposed to start from the next station.

According to the timetable at this point, the train was 25 minutes late, but in reality it was about 40 minutes late.

Luckily, there was a train waiting for me at the connecting station (waiting for a connection is normal in Japan but not here lol).

That day we stayed at a guesthouse near Lake Nisa.

When I checked in, the owner asked me, "Are you here to watch a volleyball game?"

Even in Poland, a volleyball powerhouse, it's rare to see an Asian person take the time to come and watch a volleyball match (laughs), so I was quite surprised by the question.

When I asked him how he knew, he told me that the family's father and older brother (or younger brother?) were both former volleyball players and coaches, and they often went to watch Nisa's games so they knew that there were Japanese players.

after thatThat Dad(81 years old) and I spoke in my broken Polish, and I learned that he was an incredibly impressive person, particularly as a coach rather than as a player. In the 1980s he even served as assistant coach for the Polish men's national team and manager of the Polish women's national team.

He said that he has also coached Prinski, the current manager of Nisa.

AlsoThe sonHe has also served as coach of the Polish men's youth and junior national teams and the Israeli senior national team, and is currently the coach of Israel's U-23 team.

Trophies in the house

There was a Polish league match on TV at the time, so we watched it together and talked.

During the conversation, my dad had trouble remembering the names of the players, but I was able to rattle off the names of Polish players and foreign players in the Polish league, and he was impressed, saying, "You know a lot!" (laughs).

When I asked the father about Miyaura, he replied, "I haven't seen him play much as an attacker, so I can't really say much, but he has a good serve."

If I'm able to play properly as the opposite in any of the remaining games, I'd like to hear your opinion again.

Afterwards, the father drove me to the NISA venue (thank you).

We arrived an hour before the start of the game so there were still very few people there.

However, the players were already on the court, individually preparing for the start of the team warm-up.

We also confirmed that Miyaura-kun is alive (lol).

The Nisa members were stretching right in front of my seat, and when I looked at them again, I noticed that they all had big thighs.

When I used to play volleyball every day, my thighs would get bloated, and when I bought jeans, they would often be loose around the waist but bloated around the thighs (so I couldn't wear skinny pants (lol)).

However, since I haven't been playing volleyball much lately, my thighs are just getting fatter.

There are adult clubs similar to those in Japan in Poland, but the level is a little lower than those in Japan, so I found it boring and stopped going...

Japan's senior national team is still in the process of approaching the world's top position, but I believe that the amateur and adult club levels are undoubtedly the best in the world.

Also on this day, Nisa's uniforms were designed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the club's founding.

To be honest, I found Nisa's regular uniforms, especially the home yellow uniform, to be a bit lame, but I thought this 75th anniversary uniform was simply cool.

When I spoke to Miyaura before the match, he said, "This is great."

Nisa was founded in 1948, so this year, 2023, marks its 75th anniversary.

By the way, the team with the longest history in this season's Przysztliga is Radom, founded in 1921 (102 years), while the oldest Japanese V-League team is JT (92 years), founded in 1931.

While this was going on, customers started coming in.

The last time I came, the game started on a weekday evening so there were a lot of older guys in attendance, but since this was a Saturday there were a lot of young people there too.

People of all ages and genders came to watch, and on this day it seemed that over 2,200 seats, or about 90% of the total 2,500 seats, were filled.

It's a small town with a population of about 44,000, but it's incredibly popular.

Miyaura-kun's back is big when practicing his serve

And so the game began.

Here's the report and impressions of the match:

The match ended in a brilliant straight-set victory for Nisa!

Nisa, victory ceremonies are always good to see.

But the excitement in the venue that day was truly amazing.

Everyone hit their paper fan to the sound of the cheering squad's drums, and when the set point came, everyone stood up from their seats and chanted "Ostatni! Ostatni!" (Last! Last!)

The atmosphere was so exciting it was truly like a home game.

Once you experience this feeling, you'll want to go again (laughs).

Of course the content of the game is important, but it's the atmosphere created by the fans and spectators that increases the entertainment value of volleyball many times over and makes you want to go again.

After the match, we asked Miyaura for his comments.

However, even before I received this comment, many local fans had been asking Miyaura for autographs and photos, so I was waiting in line as well (laughs).

Even though I don't get many opportunities to play, I am very happy as a fellow Japanese that I am so loved by local fans.

We also spoke to Miyaura's opposite rider, Ventara, who is both a good friend and rival.

Ventala is NISZA's number one point getter and one of the best opposites in the league.

There are rumors that he will transfer to Perugia, a big Italian club, next season, and as his mother is Polish, he is currently seeking to obtain Polish sports citizenship, making him a player to watch and expected to perform well for the Polish national team in the near future.

He was very friendly and easy to talk to.

The next day we had a slightly longer interview with Miyaura-kun, so please look forward to that as well (will be uploaded soon)!!

By the way, the Krakow-style cheesecake I had there was really delicious, so if you have the chance to come to Nyza, please give it a try!!

On the left is a cafe latte

Photo: Author

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