Striker at 1m69kg? "Jump power + power. I'm confident."Il volleyball is different from Korea's.
Oct 09, 2024
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There was a special guest in the women's volleyball at the Tongyeong Dodram Cup (KOVO Cup). Aranmare of the Japanese Volleyball League participated and played the group stage as eight teams.
Aranmare is in many ways a team that is in opposition to the V League. Aranmare was a third division team when it was founded in 2015. However, it came up to the second division from the 2018-2019 season, and finally reached the first division in the 2023-2024 season.
It's an unfamiliar story because it's a very unfamiliar Japanese volleyball league, and it's a base of volleyball that can be promoted. The potential of Japanese women's volleyball, which won the bronze medal at the 2010 World Championship, the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, and the runner-up at the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL), is visible.
Aranmare faced a wall in the first division last season, finishing 12th, the lowest with all 22 losses. Still, this year, the Japanese professional volleyball league succeeded in staying in the first division in the process of changing to the SV league and expanding to 14 teams.
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Bukirich Jung Ho-young, Pyo Seung-joo and Yeom Hye-sun were said to be absent, but the match against Jeong Kwan-jang was also interesting in many ways. Jeong Kwan-jang is a tall team that stands out in the V League. Lee Sun-woo, Park Hye-min, Park Eun-jin, Lee Ji-soo, and Lee Ye-dam were full of high blocking walls that averaged well over 1m80.
Except for Setter and Rivero, the shortest player in Jeonggwanjang is rookie outside heater (OH) Jeon Da-bin (1m75). Even considering the entire V-League, the main wing spikers smaller than Jeon Da-bin are about GS Caltex's Yoo Ji-yeon and Korea Expressway Corporation's Moon Jung-won (1m74).
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Although he has no experience in the national team, Kimura showed outstanding elasticity and power based on his open shoulders and solid lower body. His fast feet penetrating through the blocks are also impressive. He said "We're small, but we learned how to fight the tall players through this tournament. I tried to show my jumping power and power," he said with a big smile.
When asked how they felt about participating in this competition, "The Korean team was tall and aggressive. On the contrary, I think our team lacked decisive power", he commented. Still, I had a lot of time. "Volleyball starts with a serve. No matter who the opponent is, he just defends and hits again. To that end, I'm working hard on my physical training", he explained.
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Coach Tsukumu Katahara Aranmare also made various preparations on how to deal with the tall players and how to target the blocking wall," he smiled. As for Kimura "He's a great hard worker. He emphasized, "A player who practices almost without a day off and does his best from training."
The goal of this season, announced by the head coach, is to leap to the middle ranks. Kimura also pledged a highly motivated season. Can Aranmare achieve his goal.
lunarfly@sportschosun.com
