Taka Minowa takes on another role for Akari, Nxled PVL teams

Nxled Chameleons coach Taka Minowa. –PVL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Taka Minowa was named Director of Volleyball Operations for Akari and Nxled ahead of the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season.

Akari on Thursday announced the promotion of the Japanese coach, who will still call the shots for Nxled while overseeing the Chargers.

The team said that Minowa will take on the role of supervising the volleyball program of the sister teams starting next year.

Akari will soon announce its interim coach with new assistant coaches for the Chargers and the Nxled Chameleons.

Minowa, the husband of Japan V.League star Jaja Santiago, showed his impressive and disciplined coaching style in his first PVL season with the Chameleons, who finished ninth out of 12 teams with a 4-7 record.

The Japanese coach was previously part of the coaching staff of the Saitama Ageo Medics — Santiago’s former team — in the V.League and Liaoning Tengda in China and also worked as an assistant coach for Japan women’s volleyball team, which competed in the 2022 AVC Cup for Women in Manila.

Jorge Souza de Brito resigned after the 2023 season amid his best finish in the PVL with a 5-6 record in seventh place of the second All-Filipino Conference.

The Brazilian coach has been the coach of the Chargers since they joined the PVL in the 2022 Reinforced Conference and had an 11-21 record in four conferences in the PVL.