On May 20th, the 17 men's national team players who will play in the VNL (Volleyball Nations League) to be held in Rimini, Italy, were announced. Among the first-time selections were university students Takahashi Ai and Otsuka Tatsunobu, who both performed brilliantly in the recent friendly match against China and the red-white game, as well as Takanashi Kenta and Ogawa Tomohiro of WD Nagoya, but there was no mention of Yanagida Masahiro, who served as captain until last year.
In a previous interview, Coach Nakagauchi had stated that unless there was an unforeseen incident, the VNL members would narrow down the Tokyo Olympic representatives to 12 people, so Yanagida's hopes of making the Olympic team have effectively disappeared.
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...Yes, I'm very shocked.
Volleyball World was also sad to see him go.
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I'm not a huge fan of his, but he was the only player of my age who was still on the national team, and I've been watching his captivating plays since high school, so he's one of the players I've always supported. At least, he's the Japanese player I support the most. When I watched a game at Buhl, I had a chance to talk to him briefly, and when we talked, I couldn't believe he was the same age as me, and he was such a reliable and good-looking young man that I became even more of a fan of him as a person. So, regardless of whether the Tokyo Olympics will actually be held or not, this incident was a huge shock to me.
There were certainly signs that this would happen. First of all, when this year's registered members were announced, the captain was replaced by Yuki Ishikawa. The timing of the captaincy change was also very puzzling. He was also not on the bench for the subsequent friendly match against China, and did not play much in the Red vs. White game.
To be honest, I thought it would be tough for him to make the final 12 players. Yanagida's offensive abilities, such as his serve and spikes, are impeccable, but he had problems with his defensive abilities, such as blocking and reception. In this season's championship with Suntory, the opponents were short in the domestic league, and Fujinaka, who was on the opposite side, was a player who was good at receiving, so he was able to make up for Yanagida's lack of defensive ability. However, the Japanese national team requires both outside players to have a good balance of offense and defense and to be at a high level in both. In that case, it is difficult to say that Yanagida is necessarily an ideal player for the Japanese national team as an outside player.
But he still has one absolute weapon: his serve. Speaking of serves, the winner of the 2019 World Cup serving award was Japan's Nishida Yuji, but Yanagida is undoubtedly a big server in Japan. He is particularly capable of hitting strong serves at key moments and turning them into points for his team. This doesn't change even when he is used as a relief server. He can attack boldly even when his opponent has a match point at 23-24. His performance at the end of the 2017 World League match against Slovenia was truly spectacular.
Of the 12 players on the Olympic team, there are four outside players. However, some countries will register a libero player as a normal player to be a receiver, even if it means cutting out one of them. That's what happened with the Italian team at the Rio Olympics. That's why I thought it was worth having him on the team, even if it was just as a relief server. Being able to serve and put pressure on the opponent when it matters is extremely valuable in modern volleyball. And I think Yanagida definitely has that.
However, the reality was that he was not selected. Moreover, I never thought that he would be removed from the VNL registration without waiting for the Tokyo Olympics. I was shocked that libero Koga was not even called up to the Red vs. White game, but I was disappointed with Yanagida because I never thought he would be cut here. I can't believe that neither of them have experience in the Polish league. The player who was at that overseas club and didn't seem to have performed well this season is still there.
Certainly, looking at the recent coronavirus pandemic, I understand that it is important to build a team with an eye on the next Paris Olympics. But even so, I wish he had been brought along at least for the VNL. I also wanted to see him deliver bullet serves against strong teams. I wanted to burn into my memory that the 2019 World Cup was my last.
But this is reality. It may be difficult, but I hope he can somehow change his mindset and continue to strive to reach higher heights as a player. I hope he will play in Poland again! I'm rooting for you!
Photo by PLS
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