There has always been a fascination with Japanese women’s volleyball ever since legendary tough and no-nonsense coach Hirofumi Daimatsu shaped championship teams.
Under Daimatsu, Japan won the gold medal the first time the sport was played in the 1964 Olympics. The Japanese would never let the ball drop, diving and spinning on the floor like swimmers. Daimatsu knew the Japanese would be smaller than their European opponents so that they had to be faster and more tenacious.
In time, the world discovered that the relentless defense was a result of rigorous training that stretched players’ physical and mental endurance.
Much has changed since Daimatsu’s day but the culture of Japanese teams remains: The volleyball is kept alive at all costs and it takes a team effort to do it.
This was evident in the Kobe Shinwa team that played as the seeded foreign squad in the Philippine Superliga Invitational. The team emerged as co-champion with Cignal HD and treated Filipino fans to a spirited approach to the game so deeply rooted in Japanese culture and volleyball tradition.
PSL president Ramon Suzara explained that for the invitational tournament, the league, “regularly sends out invitations to volleyball associations in Korea, Thailand and Japan.” Kobe Shinwa, a highly ranked university team that had played a tune-up game against the visiting Ateneo Lady Eagles, was the one available for the tournament schedule.
Suzara said Kobe Shinwa was “a very Japanese team, defense-oriented and with excellent skills.” True enough, the Japanese rolled over their three opponents without too much power but with using a skills-based game that kept the ball in play.
It would be ideal for Philippine teams to play more friendlies with foreign teams to continue learning from them while honing our own game. We don’t have to resort to Daimatsu’s volleyball-for-samurais style but learn only the spirit of its approach.