We lost...again...

As you can see, I've been following the world volleyball championships these past few weeks. Japan was 6-2 going into today's match against Cuba. Unfortunately, we lost...again...

We won the first set but then lost the next 3. The coach for Japan, Yanagimoto, is one of the worst coaches ever. He is like a tyrant and makes so many errors that it's surprising he is still the coach. Papa thinks he should go to Cuba with the Cuban volleyball team because Yanagimoto has a lot in common with Castro. Yanagimoto runs his team like Castro runs Cuba.

But in all seriousness, it's so unfortunate because Japan has some outstanding players who have a tremendous amount of passion for the game. Too bad they have no leadership. One of Yanagimoto's biggest faults was highlighted today when, inexplicably, he called a time out after Japan had won several consecutive points. By calling the time out, he effectively disrupted the flow of the game when his team had built some momentum and they went on to lose the next point and were never able to recover, losing the last set 25-20. He is one of those coaches who do things automatically without thinking, like when he changes players. He switches certain players in and out according to their position on the court without thinking about the situation of the game. That's just poor, stupid coaching. Every time he made a player change, Japan invariably lost the next point. A great coach is a great leader, motivating the team and adapting to each situation based on experience, constantly refining strategy and bringing out the best from each member of the team. Yanagimoto does the exact opposite...and that's why a great team has become an average team...