＝＝＝＝
Head Coach of the Tamaki Commercial High School Girls’ Volleyball Team
POV: Kumada Daigo
＝＝＝＝
This training camp—if I had to put it simply—started as something like a show of our pride.
In student sports, not just volleyball, there are technically no strict regulations on practice time.
Especially in private schools, they sometimes even cut down on class time—which is supposed to be the main purpose of school—in order to dedicate more hours to practice. In extreme cases, they let students spend all three years of high school barely attending any real classes.
I mean, if the goal is to raise top-tier athletes, maybe that’s the more effective approach.
But the truth is, only a tiny fraction of students will ever make a living in the world of athletics. The vast majority will end up living in a world that has nothing to do with sports. I’m not saying student sports are meaningless—far from it—but they’re not everything. That’s what I, what we, want to say.
It was in that spirit that I got together with some like-minded public high school volleyball coaches and we launched this joint training camp. So that one day, the students we’ve raised can win on the national stage...
To that end, this training camp also considers the students’ development as people. That’s why we deliberately set aside time at night where we don’t supervise them.
Our stated reason?
“To help them develop autonomy.”
Saying it is easy. But this requires that we trust the students—and that they hold up their end of the deal.
If something goes wrong, it’s on us.
Back in the early days, we were pretty nervous. I mean, there’s a big supermarket within a five-minute walk. There’s a convenience store too.
We even secretly posted lookouts, worried they’d sneak off and buy alcohol or cigarettes.
But it turned out to be all baseless fear. These days, we don’t bother with lookouts anymore.
Apparently now, the upperclassmen properly guide the underclassmen, and they all enjoy the nighttime hours of camp responsibly.
They even follow lights-out time to a fault, believe it or not.
We do sometimes threaten them like, “We might come around to check on you at night,” but come on...
If I actually snuck into the place where they were sleeping at night, I’d be the one getting arrested.
And it’s not like we’re out partying at night either. Officially, we call it “drinking communication,” but in truth, it’s a pretty serious meeting.
Sure, we have a bit of alcohol to loosen up the conversation—one drink per person, max.
Anyone who gets drunk off that...
“Whew! I said it yesterday too, but Tamaki Commercial really is amazing, huh!!”
...Yeah. That would be Uesugi-sensei from Matsubara Girls’ High. One beer and his face is beet red, his speech barely coherent.
It’s not about gender—it’s just physiology—but man, as an old-school Showa-era guy, I can’t really handle seeing someone this weak with booze.
“Someday, I wanna lead a team that can play with such brilliant teamwork, just like Kumada-shensheii!”
Uesugi-sensei may be a lightweight, but he’s passionate. Last night, when the topic was “What would you do if you found a student hiding an injury to keep practicing?”, he shared a heartfelt story from his own experience.
He’s still not even 30—a young teacher whose thinking and point of view are close to those of the students. And since he’s also a volleyball novice, he often brings a fresh perspective to us veterans who can be stuck in our ways.
Then he said something like this:
“Kumada-shensheii... could you entrust Tamaki Commercial to me and Saeki-sensei for just one day, please?”
＝＝＝＝＝＝
The next day. Day 3 of the joint training camp.
That morning, Matsubara Girls’ High led a session on core training, something they apparently emphasize in their daily practice. I was definitely interested.
Compared to other schools, Matsubara’s girls jump about 10 cm higher. Their serves and spikes are noticeably faster and more powerful. This is likely the foundation behind that.
“Core training is low-key, but it’s a very high-intensity workout. Don’t overdo it—train at a level that suits your own body.”
As they said this, the Matsubara girls demonstrated exercises with three levels of intensity.
I see. So they adjust the intensity based on each student’s fitness. Their body control is also something to learn from.
...Well, except for one of them. That “level 4” exercise, which even the other Matsubara girls couldn’t do, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that one.
＝＝＝＝＝
After about an hour, it was break time. I used the opportunity to call out to Nakagawa, our new captain.
“Hey. Nakagawa. How was it?”
“Tougher than it looked. But it definitely felt like we were working our muscles!”
Hmm. I’m not doubting her words, but apparently some of those exercises were things the small one from Matsubara learned at the All-Japan training camp. In other words, it’s cutting-edge training.
“Coach, are we going to include this in our future practices?”
“Still undecided.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Because it might kill what makes us strong.”
“?????”
Nakagawa looked puzzled. Before I could answer, Ichikawa—the former captain—spoke up.
“Chiaki. What do you think our strength was? It was that anyone could set and spike from anywhere. Each player had a wide range of skills. And where did that come from? From our relentless two-on-two drills that sharpened individual technique and eliminated weaknesses. Then we refined that into team play in full practice. To do that, we needed to spend as much time as possible touching the ball. But you heard it, right? At Matsubara, they spend a third of their practice time on core training. That’s probably why they’re physically stronger, but with that limited time, they can’t develop the same versatility. They just don’t have enough hours.”
“Exactly. Practice time is limited. It’s a trade-off. We can’t just wholesale adopt what they do. If you and the others really want to try it, I’ll consider it. But I don’t believe that’s the optimal way to get better at volleyball.”
“……”
Oh? She's thinking about it. Good. That’s a promising sign. Ingenuity is a weapon.
To be blunt, that was muscle training—not volleyball skill training. But it’s also true that athletes need strong bodies. And Matsubara is living proof of that.
I don’t think their technique is especially refined, but they have high jump power and powerful spikes.
How do we reconcile that? Honestly, two months ago I wouldn’t have believed Nakagawa would even be capable of thinking like this. Ichikawa didn’t choose her as the next captain just because she was a regular.
“That’s right. Nakagawa. Keep thinking. What will make us stronger? What should we do?”
“What do you think we should do, Coach?”
“Well... It’s a cliché, but—we incorporate some of it. The part we bring in is———”
Of course, even if we incorporate it, that “level 4” routine that only that small girl did? That’s not happening.
How many boys could even pull that off?
＝＝＝
Time passed, and it was now afternoon. For some karmic reason, the girls of Matsubara Girls’ High School were standing before me.
“Well, you’ve probably already heard, but just for today, I’ll be acting as your coach. I’m Kumada from Tamaki Commercial. To be honest, I don’t really know much about you all. So, I’ll mostly let you do things your own way and just give advice when I notice something. But there’s one thing I want you to absolutely follow while playing under my guidance. Don’t let the ball drop between you in a silent collision. That’s just a waste. If you touch the ball, your teammate might manage to cover it, or by some stroke of luck, the ball might even make it back over the net. But if you let it drop, that’s the end. You lose any chance for a miracle.”
This wasn’t exactly a result of drunken impulse last night, but I’d agreed to take charge of these girls for the day to give them some guidance from a different perspective.
Meanwhile, I left the A team of Tamaki Commercial under the care of the two advisors from Matsubara Girls.
Well, if they get something out of it, great. If not, at worst, we lose half a day.
This afternoon’s practice match. Our first opponent is the A team from Tamaki Commercial—the team I was originally supposed to coach.
“Before the match starts, let me say one thing. Their weak point right now is that girl wearing bib number 6—Ohashi. She's bad at receiving. Aim your serves at her first."
“…Is it really okay to say that?”
“Of course it is. What’s wrong with exploiting a weakness? Naturally, I intend to have that fixed by November when we might face each other. Which means she’s gonna get a ton of practice. You all should also train by going after your opponent’s weak points without mercy. I’m sure you know full well what that feels like, since you’ve been on the receiving end too, right?”
We put Ohashi on the A team for her height and potential, but her receiving is still poor. She got targeted relentlessly the day before yesterday and again yesterday. There’s no point in worrying about her getting targeted now—it’s better to let the opponents go after her hard so she can improve.
On the other hand, one of this team’s weaknesses is probably their personalities—they're too kind for a competitive sport. They don’t have the mean streak it takes to relentlessly pick on one player.
Well, I’m just a temporary coach. I don’t intend to be too strict, but I’ll at least provide some minimum level of guidance.
＝＝＝＝＝＝
Perspective Shift
POV: Kanako Saeki
＝＝＝＝＝＝
“Hey! You two—Tachibana’s sister and Maejima! How many times are you going to have a collision like that since the day before yesterday? What is this, are you getting married or something? And the rest of you! Especially you, Tohira! Aren’t you the captain?! Use your voice and call the ball for them!”
Kumada-sensei, who had temporarily taken charge of the Matsubara Girls’ High School volleyball team—which was supposed to be our student team—was already acting like a proper commander. He was earnestly coaching the students from another school, who were supposed to be our opponents in November.
Kumada-sensei’s coaching style is easy to understand.
First, he doesn’t tolerate silent collisions.
Next, he praises good plays. He’s forgiving toward aggressive mistakes.
And most importantly, he emphasizes calling out and communication.
All of that is simple stuff. But… had I really been coaching those things regularly myself?
Without thinking, I found myself watching the opposite side of the court instead of my own Tamaki Commercial side.
And then—
BAM!!
Tamaki’s attack was blocked by Matsubara’s defense.
Tch…
At the very least, until yesterday, Tamaki’s attacks had never been blocked so cleanly by Matsubara.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the ball got “sucked in,” in volleyball terms (where it drops between the net and blocker), so we got the point. But that was pure chance.
Tamaki’s ever-changing attacks had never been blocked that perfectly before…
Was it my lack of coaching? Or—
“Well done! That’s what I’m talking about! Don’t be scared of the block. Challenging it head-on is important too!”
Standing beside me, Uesugi-sensei was offering what I saw as totally misguided praise.
After the match, during a short break, I questioned Uesugi-sensei.
“Uesugi-sensei, why did you praise that spike into the block in the previous match?”
“Why? Because it was a good play. Those girls are wasting their potential. They’re too focused on avoiding the block. So I told them: jump straight up without shifting sideways, be aware of your hitting point, and spike with intent.”
“But doing that will just get them blocked.”
“Even if they get blocked, the point still went to us, didn’t it?”
“That’s just a result-based argument.”
“And what’s more important than the result? They can win even when going head-on with the block. It’s just that Matsubara’s average level is high—normally, spiking from that height would give them a good shot at winning the exchange. If the opponent knows someone is going to spike from that kind of height, they’ll be on alert. And when they’re on alert, they get stiff. That makes it a good play, don’t you think?”
…
That may be true. Height is a weapon. If you know someone’s going to spike from high up, you need to jump higher to block. And to fight back against that—
“Saeki-sensei, could it be that you think ‘a coach must never be wrong’? Speaking from my long years as a teacher: that’s impossible. We make mistakes too. When we do, all we need to do is honestly say sorry. Today’s kids—well, I think you’d understand better since you're closer to their age—but they respond better if you speak to them on the same level, not from above. They’ll listen.”
…It’s okay for us to make mistakes?
“And about that spike against the block earlier—I’m no volleyball expert, but wasn’t that a second touch set or something? In those situations, you can’t run a quick attack, right? So they had no choice but to face the block. Given that, I don’t think teaching them to take on blocks head-on is the wrong approach.”
Yeah… Uesugi-sensei’s advice about spiking from a high contact point isn’t wrong either.
So… it’s okay to make mistakes, huh…
“Uesugi-sensei. For the next match, I think we should rotate the lineup a bit. Kurotsubaki High is really good at serving and blocking. So to counter that, maybe we should—”
＝＝＝＝＝＝
Perspective Shift
POV: Tachibana Yuuri
＝＝＝＝＝＝
“With that, the training camp is over. The next time we meet, we might be enemies. If that happens, don’t go easy on each other. That’s the proper way to show respect to your teammates. I hope one of the schools here makes it to Spring High—and wins it all. Dismissed!”
And with Kumada-sensei’s closing words, the training camp came to an end.
It’s been a wild ride, but our week-long camp is finally over.
It’s been basically non-stop volleyball, so we’re all exhausted beyond belief.
On the way back, Uesugi-sensei is taking us back to school by bus. I’m going to crash hard the whole ride.
Man, so much changed during this camp.
On the second night, Asuka suddenly said she wanted to play left. Then Hina randomly got super fired up. Starting on the fourth day, the other school teachers must’ve said something, because even Saeki-sensei and Uesugi-sensei started talking a lot more.
It’s like… a chaotic hotpot of a camp.
We finally started getting a clear direction for the team during this early August training camp, but now it all feels muddled again.
Two months left until Spring High qualifiers. What happens to this hotpot of a team… only the gods know.
No comments:
Post a Comment