Japan falls to U.S. in volleyball World Grand Prix

Sunday 22nd June, 09:30 PM JST

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Sarge at 10:31 AM JST - 23rd June

Sez - "jumping ability compensates for lack of height"

You can't be serious. You can be the best jumper in the world and you won't jump higher than someone 10 cm taller than you. But they're never going to have height limits, so the shorter teams ( especially Thailand ) will simply have to rely on their speed and skill to overcome their height disadvantage.
westurn at 10:41 AM JST - 23rd June

"westurn - "you need to jump higher than your opponents!" "Being taller helps"

According to what data ? Sorry Sarge, taller people do not simply jump higher ! Verticle leaping ability has more to do with "fast-twitch" muscle fibers than length. Maybe if team Japan can't jump, they should employ a strategy of quick ball movement and add more dinks, dunks, and quick spikes... be more deceptive ! But then again, that all takes skill... which is obviously what team Japan lacks... bit of a connundrum isn't it ?
SezWho2 at 10:59 AM JST - 23rd June

Sarge,

It's my turn to be serious. westurn has given you one example (Spud Webb) of a person who could out-jump people 10cm taller than himself. I'll give you another--Michael Jordan. The height and ability to jump are not correlated, not directly anyway.

Anyway, you didn't answer the other points. I still wonder why we shouldn't have height categories in the 4x400 meter relay, or for that matter, weight categories in the marathon.
nigelboy at 11:03 AM JST - 23rd June

Gotta agree with westurn here for a change. He's absolutely dead on about Japan's need to employ a quick ball movement in order to compensate for their lack of height.

But I disagree on Spud Webb. The guy got "sympathy" points for being only 5-7. Dominique Wilkins displayed much more eccentric dunks in that competition.
SezWho2 at 11:15 AM JST - 23rd June

nigelboy,

I don't think that the point about Spud Webb was who was the greatest dunker. I think the point was that Spud could do what taller men could not.
pathat at 12:47 PM JST - 23rd June

Sarge: Why did the Japanese women compete at such a high level in volleyball in the 1960s and `70s but they have been so poor over the past quarter century? I guarantee you the women who are playing for them in recent years are taller on average than the ones who played 30/40 years ago.

I think the simple fact is that in general in womens sports worldwide over the past quarter century, the quality of female athletes is vastly superior to the ones who perfomed in most sports back in the60s and 70s. Id say the opportunity factor has played a big part in all this.

You`ve argued the height factor to death in years past on JT. I think the simple reality is that theJapanese players lack not only some height compared to most other teams, but they also lack athleticism and, more specifically, come up short as far as jumping ability is concerned. Even the ever-present home court advantage cannot give them quite enough of a "boost" to overcome their physical deficiencies.

Olympic Games 1964 - Gold Medal 1968 - Silver Medal 1972 - Silver Medal 1976 - Gold Medal 1980 - did not compete 1984 - Bronze Medal 1988 - 4th place 1992 - 5th place 1996 - 9th place 2000 - did not qualify 2004 - 5th place (tied)

[edit] World Championship 1952 - did not compete 1956 - did not compete 1960 - Silver Medal 1962 - Gold Medal 1967 - Gold Medal 1970 - Silver Medal 1974 - Gold Medal 1978 - Silver Medal 1982 - 4th place 1986 - 7th place 1990 - 8th place 1994 - 7th place 1998 - 8th place 2002 - 13th place 2006 - 6th place
devdave at 02:32 PM JST - 23rd June

Japan played a bit better against the U.S. last night than they did during last year's World Cup. However - to address the "showing all cards" comment above - last night the Americans were without veterans Logan Tom and Robyn Ah-Mow Santos, two of the key factors in the U.S. 3-0 rout in the previous match.
Sarge at 04:42 PM JST - 23rd June

pathat - Well, of course the Japanese haven't dominated in recent years like they did up until 1980 - other teams have finally learned how the hell to play!

westurn - Hey, it's all about spiking and blocking ha ha ha!
thepossum at 10:45 PM JST - 23rd June

Size alone does not make for great leapers or league championships, you got to have more. Japan obviously doesn't, and complaining about size advantage is a moot point.

Westurn is right, it's all about spiking, blocking, and game strategy. The US is a world class team, Japan is not. Best get used to that, it'll make losing out early in the Olympic tournement less painful.
Sarge at 11:03 PM JST - 23rd June

"Size alone does not make for great leapers or league championships"

No, but it helps.

"It's all about spiking, blocking and game strategy"

Yeah, if the matches are between players of similar size.

"The US is a world class team, Japan is not."

Funny how the world class team lost 2 sets to the team which is not a world class team, and won the 5th set by a mere 2 points.
thepossum at 11:54 PM JST - 23rd June

"Size alone does not make for great leapers or league championships" "No, but it helps."

That's the point Sarge, no it doesn't !

It's all about spiking, blocking and game strategy" "Yeah, if the matches are between players of similar size."

But Sarge, that will never happen ! Even if you have a rule banning 7 footers there will always be those players that are shorter or a bit taller than the others, there's no way around it. Even in sports where weight and height measurements are required, boxing, wrestling, horse racing, etc. there is always a size diference somewhere. You never get two athletes of "exactly" the same size against each other. Sorry, but them be the facts.
Blue_Tiger at 06:30 AM JST - 24th June

I will say tyhat height, to a degree, does play an important role in volleyball, but passing, ball copntrol, jumping, blocking correctly, and home cvourt advantage play a big part, as well. The university I attended had a pretty decent volleyball team. We weren't very tall (I think one girl on the team was close to 6' tall), but the things our team did do well were passing, jumping, and ball control to off-set the lack of height. We also had on the team two sisters that were probably the best setters I have ever seen play in all of my life. The older sister, when she was in the game, made the team work like a well-oiled machine, and the younger sister was just as good, from what I've heard, when she took over the setter position after her older sister graduated. In one match, we played the #1 team in the nation, and beat them on our home court. That team had three or four girls that were over 6' tall, and was one of the most powerful spiking and blocking teams in the country at my University's level. Our team beat them in 4 games, and the home crowd was going nuts. However, when our team went to their place, we, in turn, got crushced in straight sets. Home court plays a huge role.

That said, I agree that Japan could be a very strong team, but my premise is tha tthe reason they seem to be so very strong is the fact that they've played all of ther Olympic Qualifiers at home, in front of a crowd that is 99% in their favor, and the reason they took the USA Girls to the brink is precisely because of that. Had the Japan Women's team played the USA in Los Angeles at UCLA or USC, then the story would have been totally different.
freakashow at 11:42 PM JST - 24th June

">westurn has given you one example (Spud Webb) of a person who could out-jump people 10cm taller than himself. I'll give you another--Michael Jordan.

Wow! Two bloody examples. If height has no bearing on how high you can jump, then a guy like Spudd Webb should be able to jump as high as someone like a Dirk Nowitzki. I'm putting my money on Dirk jumping higher than Spudd.

If you are talking about winning a game, then height isn't everything. However, as far as being able to block better, height does have its advantages. If you took two guys of equal skill sets and equal leg power, and equal quick-muscle action, but one with let's say a 5-inch height advantage, who do you think will jump higher? I'm placing my money on the guy enjoying the slight height advantage.
rajakumar at 12:38 PM JST - 28th June

Shiny happy team USA, knock out team ,japan's sun.
Sarge at 08:08 AM JST - 7th July

I see the Italian women actually lost a match - to the Chinese women.