Thread by @vbnippon_ENG

[ENG - rough trans]

Yuji Nishida - web Sportiva (vol. 14)
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Article: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/otherballg…
Published: October 14, 2020
Interview and article by Nakanishi Mikari

@volleyball1301
@webSportiva
#西田有志
#YujiNishida

⚠ DISCLAIMER ⚠

[❗] I am not a native speaker, nor learning Japanese formally, hence the ROUGH TRANS
[❗] All mistranslations are on me
[❗] I am very much open to corrections
[❗] DO NOT REPOST MY TRANSLATIONS WITHOUT PERMISSION AND PROPER CREDITS

Yuki Ishikawa was surprised by the results of Yuji Nishida's training.
"It's the result of working out while thinking."

Yuji Nishida is the young ace of the Japanese men's national volleyball team. In the fourteenth installment of this popular series, which follows his (+)

(+) volleyball career to date and his current activities, we asked him about his activities for the Japanese national team in the Corona disaster.

The state of emergency that was declared in April was lifted in late May. In the previous article, I reported that Nishida had (+)

(+) been concentrating on his housework and other activities during the stay-home, but after the self-quarantine, he gradually returned to his pre-Corona disaster practice.

"I started to be able to practice as usual, including weight training and ball practice. I didn't lose (+)

(+) condition during the period of self-quarantine, and I didn't feel much discomfort when I practiced ball after a long time."

The interrupted national team training camp was resumed in late June, and instead of gathering all the players at once, they were brought together (+)

(+) in a gradual manner. Ran Takahashi (freshman, outside hitter, NITTAI University), the ace of Kyoto Higashiyama High School, which won the Spring High School Volleyball Tournament in January this year, and Tatsunori Otsuka (sophomore, outside hitter, Waseda University), (+)

(+) one of the "Rakunan Quartet" that won the championship the year before, were also called up to this year's training camp.

Nishida was first called up to the national team in April of 2018, when he was an unofficial member of the JTEKT STINGS team and became the focus of (+)

(+) attention as a "high school V-Leaguer". At that time, he was 18 years old and had just graduated from high school, and was also the youngest player on the team last year.

As for the younger players coming into the team this year, he smiled and said, (+)

(+) "I'm not particularly conscious of it."

"I looked at them as one of the representative players, not because of their ages. I understand that they have the strength to be invited to All-Japan. They seemed to be able to appeal well at the camp."

Nishida was not able to participate in the Spring High School Volleyball Tournament in high school, but I wonder if he had any thoughts about Takahashi and Otsuka, who became heroes in the same tournament.

"I'm sure they were chosen for the national team because of their (+)

(+) performance at Spring High School, and I think they have more experience in high school than I do."

"Practicing a lot and thinking about your body are also "efforts," but I don't really want to use that word. When I face volleyball, I think it's normal to always try hard."

The national team training camp is a valuable opportunity to communicate with players who normally belong to different teams. Yuki Ishikawa (Milan), who plays in Italy's Serie A, and Nishida had a lot of chat during this training camp.

"Yuki-san and I talked about things like, "This year is very important if we want to make the national team again next year and compete in the Olympics," but I think there were many topics that relaxed our minds. As I had been away from volleyball for a long time, I was also (+)

(+) aware of the importance of taking a break, or perhaps I was also conscious of the importance of making a change."

When Ishikawa saw Nishida at the national team training camp, he commented, "I was surprised to see how his body had grown huge.". He was surprised by the (+)

(+) results of his training during the self-quarantine period.

"When we (Ishikawa) trained together, we talked about our bodies. We weren't competing over the size of our muscles (laughs). I did get bigger, but it wasn't just because I was lifting heavier weights, it was (+)

(+) because I trained with a lot of thought. As I practice and play more games, I think my body will become more suitable for volleyball."

He also talked with Masahiro Yanagida, the captain of the national team, about the importance of communicating. Nishida has been (+)

(+) actively sending out information, including a joint InstaLive with Yanagida, but he talks about his role as more than just a player as follows.

"Masa-san and I talked about the importance of members who have a lot of exposure to the media and other media to take a (+)

(+) variety of actions. He said it was necessary for the volleyball world and for his own awareness. Masa-san really cares about the volleyball world, doesn't he? We also talked a lot about playing and about things other than volleyball, and I don't know how many minutes it (+)

(+) would take me to tell you all about it (laughs)."

At the beginning of August, a red-and-white match (three-set match) was held without spectators. Although some of the players were unable to participate due to injuries, the matches were streamed live on the Internet, and (+)

(+) many volleyball fans were excited to see their first national team match in a long time. Nishida, playing with the same team as Ishikawa, lost the first set but came back to win the next two sets.

"In the first set, I was struggling and made many mistakes in serving, (+)

(+) spiking and receiving. I was able to switch gears from the second set onward to eliminate those mistakes, and I think that's why we were able to win. It's been a while since I've had a match, so I guess I was a little overwhelmed, but it's important to relax."

It has been a long time since they played a game with new members, which increased their motivation. Nishida mentioned that the areas for improvement there was the width of the spike's course and to aim for the course more with the serve. In particular, regarding his serve, (+)

(+) which won the "Best Server" award in last season's V.LEAGUE, he said, "Some people say it's still good at this point, but I'm not satisfied. I'd like to work on it even more."

It looks like the V.LEAGUE will be playing with a limited number of spectators (+)

(+) (less than 50% of the arena capacity) for a while this season, because the risk of infection will increase if we overdo it." he said. I want many people to come and watch me, and naturally, I feel sad, but for now, I am thinking positively about being able to (+)

(+) play volleyball. Having found new stimulation and challenges at the national team training camp, Nishida is now ready to start the season on October 17.

[end of thread]

Thank you for reading!