Aug. 16, 2001
During the second week of its Journey to Japan, the Baylor volleyball team has been in the Yamagata prefecture. Two cities have hosted the Bears - Yamagata City and Tendo. Baylor stayed in a Yamagata City hotel the first night (Saturday), a Tendo hotel the second and third nights (Sunday and Monday) and have since been at the Yamagata Sports Center.
This week, Baylor has been going through heavy training with the Pioneer Red Wings, one of the top professional teams in Japan. The Red Wings are owned and funded by the Pioneer entertainment corporation. Chances are, most Americans have listened to music on a Pioneer stereo system at one point or another. Founded in 1938, Pioneer has its central headquarters in Tokyo. However, the Tohoku Pioneer branch of the Pioneer Corporation is located in Tendo, and that is where the Red Wings train and call home.
Red Wings' head coach Arie Selinger coached the United States National Team from 1975 to 1984. Selinger is credited with developing women's volleyball in the United States more than anyone else in the sport's history. He coached Team USA to gold medal victories at the 1980 World Championships and at the Games of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles, Calif. During this second week of training, the Bears have had the opportunity to learn from Selinger and to test their skills against the Red Wings. Heading into the last session of scrimmages, Baylor has dropped all 19 games against Pioneer. However, this can be compared to the Baylor baseball team going 0-19 against the New York Yankees. More than half the Red Wings are members of the Japan National Team.
The Red Wings have their own training facility at the Pioneer complex in Tendo, and this has been the sight of most of Baylor's training sessions this week. Twice, the Bears have practiced at the Yamagata Sports Center. Originally, many of the Baylor part thought the YSC was the Japanese Olympic training center. As it turns out, the YSC is simply a community sports complex that can be used by virtually anyone. However, it is more than nice enough to be a training center for Olympic teams. The center covers more than half a square mile and consists of various sporting venues. At the center of the complex is a 34,000-seat track and field stadium that can also be used for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. Also on grounds are three gyms, several weight rooms, numerous baseball fields, a plethora of tennis courts (including 16 of the clay variety), an indoor training pool, an outdoor Olympic-sized pool and even a water-slide park. Baylor has been staying in the dorms at the YSC, which can be used by any team that is staying on sight for training. Some of the Japanese national teams use the YSC for training, however, it is not solely for their use.
The Yamagata prefecture has a population well over 1 million, Yamagata City is the population center with about 500,000 residents, and Tendo is the second-largest city with about 200,000 inhabitants. Located in the northern mountains of the main Japanese island, Yamagata is one of the most-lush regions in the country. Tendo and Yamagata City are located at the base of the mountains, but they are still at about 6,500 feet elevation. The surrounding mountains rise to anywhere from 8,000 feet to 11,000 feet. Despite this, the landscape is covered with thick forestation, and the mountainsides are extremely green. Daytime temperatures reach the mid-90s with high humidity ... so much humidity that the effects of the altitude can hardly be felt. During the night, though, temperatures dip into the upper-60s, making the evenings very pleasant.
Baylor concludes its training here Thursday. This week is the Obon Festival in Japan, one of the country's biggest holidays. During this time, the more rural cities are flooded with family members from the larger cities. Friday is the final day of the holiday, and traffic on the Japan highways is expected to be very bad. For this reason, the Bears will board the bus early Friday morning (actually still Thursday night in Texas) and head back to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. Baylor will arrive at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 3:40 p.m. CDT Friday and should pull into the Ferrell Center parking lot sometime early Friday evening.
The Baylor volleyball program would like to thank all those who have followed the team online during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is because of the support of many of you that this trip was possible.
Don't forget, the 2001 Baylor volleyball season will get underway Aug. 31 at the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Tournament hosted by Tulane University in New Orleans, La. However, fans will have a chance for a sneak preview of the 2001 Bears at the annual Green and Gold Scrimmage, held Friday, Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Ferrell Center. Head coach Brian Hosfeld will answer questions from the fans and address the various rule and scoring changes for the upcoming season.
