At the recent Paris Olympics, the Japanese men's team was considered one of the favorites to win, but lost narrowly in the quarterfinals and missed out on a medal.
I hope to use this disappointment as motivation to win a medal at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, but I have compiled a list of what I personally think will be the challenges I will face in winning a medal at the Olympics four years from now.
① De-dependence on Ishikawa
At the Paris Olympics, Ishikawa's poor performance in the qualifying rounds had a major impact on the results.
Since the Tokyo Olympics, the three main scorers for the Japanese men's national team have been Ishikawa Yuki, Takahashi Ai, and Nishida Yuji. However, in 2023, Miyaura started in place of Nishida and the team finished third in the Nations League, and this year, Otsuka started in place of Takahashi Ai and won the silver medal, so the team achieved results even without the two players other than Ishikawa.
However, Ishikawa was the only one who had always been on the court and had been the center of the team in both name and reality. Although Ishikawa has been replaced by Otsuka and Tomita more often in the backcourt since last year, his presence on the team was still enormous. However, I think that this made it difficult for the team to effectively manage his poor form, which is something we rarely see.
The central player of the French team that won the Paris Olympics was Ngape (Ngapet), who also won the MVP award. France had also won the Nations League held just before that, but they won while Ngape was out of the starting lineup after recovering from an injury. Ngape had always been on the court when the French team had won medals up until that point, including the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, but personally I think that winning a medal without him at this year's Nations League helped the team to further improve its level, which ultimately led to the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
In the same way, if Ishikawa, who has been an indispensable member of the Japanese men's national team until now, is able to win a medal at the World Championships even when he is not in the starting lineup, then surely the Japanese national team will become even stronger if Ishikawa joins the team in that form.
I don't know if Otsuka, Kai, or Tomita will play in the match, but I think it would be a good idea to take a bold step and let Ishikawa rest for next year's Nations League. Personally, I would like to see the match between Ai Takahashi and Kai as outside hitters.
②The rise of the next generation of middle blockers
Of the three middle blockers who were members of the Paris Olympic team, Takahashi Kentaro has hinted at retiring from the national team, and Yamauchi has also made comments that seem to suggest retirement, so the emergence and growth of the next generation of middle blockers is essential.
If all goes well, players like Larry, who accompanied us to Paris as a practice member, and Asano, who has been active on the national team B team, will likely be promoted.
However, as mentioned in the previous article analyzing data from the Paris Olympics, modern volleyball demands middle blockers who can score directly with their serves, not just with spikes and blocks.
Unfortunately, such a Japanese middle blocker has yet to appear (though perhaps Otake (Tokyo GB) is the closest possibility?).
In that sense, it would be the strongest if Kai returned to middle blocker for the first time since high school, but that seems unlikely. Kai can also play opposite, so I really want two more (laughs).
③Second setter
I think Sekita, the starting setter for the Japanese national team, will probably be fine until Los Angeles.
The problem is the second setter. Fukatsu played in the Paris Olympics, but it will be tough for the Los Angeles Olympics. I also think it will be tough for Sekita to play until the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, so we need to train a post-Sekita player well in the four years leading up to the Los Angeles Olympics.
Ideally, it would be nice to have a Japanese setter like Italy's Giannelli or France's Brisard who is about 2 meters tall, is good at tossing, and can score lots of points with serves, blocks, and spikes (laughs), but unfortunately, it is unlikely that a Japanese setter like that will appear in the next four years.
Even so, it would be desirable to have a player who is at least 185 cm tall, can toss the ball accurately, and can get aces with a jump serve, just like we would want a middle blocker to do. There are Italian player Porro and German player Tille who are 185 cm tall and have strong serves, so I would like to see a player like that appear in Japan (of course, these two are not only good at serving, but also at setting).
The player that comes to mind right now as a possibility is Yamamoto.
I also believe that most high school players who are over 185 cm tall and are skilled tend to play as outside hitters, but I hope that there will be at least one more player among them who wants to play as a setter and make the Japanese national team.
At 175cm tall, Sekita is naturally an excellent setter, but there's no doubt that being taller is an advantage in volleyball.
I'm looking forward to the appearance of the real Kageyama and the real Oikawa.
4. Win a gold medal in the Nations League or World Championships
Almost every team that wins an Olympic medal has won a major world tournament or European Championship at some point: France, who won gold at the Paris Olympics, won this year's Nations League, and Poland, who won silver, won the Nations League and European Championship titles in 2023.
Before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, there will be four Nations Leagues and two World Championships, giving a total of six chances to become world champion.
For Japan, who came in second in this year's Nations League, winning these tournaments is no longer a pipe dream but a realistic goal. If they can win a gold medal in even one of these six tournaments, their chances of winning a medal at the Los Angeles Olympics will surely increase dramatically.
National team activities for Los Angeles won't begin until next spring, so it's still a while away, but I'm already getting excited thinking about all the things that will happen.
I'm really looking forward to the next four years!!!
[PR] "ALL for DREAM -Footsteps to Glory- Japan Volleyball National Team Nations League 2024" will be available on U-NEXT from July 27th (Sat.)
A documentary program that closely follows the unknown behind-the-scenes of the "Volleyball Nations League 2024" and traces the fierce battles will be streamed on U-NEXT.
[Distribution date and time]
July 27th (Saturday) 5pm Boys #1 Boys #2
August 3rd (Saturday) 5pm Women's #1
Saturday, August 10th 5pm Women's #2
Saturday, August 24th 5pm Men's #3
Saturday, August 31st 5pm Women's #3
September 7th (Saturday) 5pm Men's #4
Saturday, September 14th 5pm Women's #4
(Quoted from TBS TV release)
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Photo: Volleyball World
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