From our special court side commentator from the Olympic qualifiers in Japan: Trevor Carroll

The organization and venue were the best I have ever seen.

As westerners we stood out like sore thumbs. As we entered an English speaking attendent approached us and assisted us personally to our designated seats. Our seats were the best, front row about three metres above the floor and about 8 metres from the court and about 4 metres to the left of the ref. Especially for us a handwritten sign in English (the only english sign at the event) said that we could not hang our banners on the rail in front of us. (the rails around most of the stadium held Japanese banners)

We hung the aussie flag on the rail in front of us and within minutes an official was there to have us remove it. This happened each day.

The game against Japan was an eyeopener. An hour before the match the stands were full, 9,997 Japanese, Hilde and myself and Ian Thorpe who was sitting a few rows behind us in the VIP area. This also held the boy band, 4 cameramen and about 10 security guards. The venue had no fewer than 26 cameras operating for the match.

Back to the pre match fun: the dancing girls or cheer squad came out and with the announcer they had cheering and chant practice. Everybody joined in, chanting players names and whacking their little whackers. We felt very small, but the Japanese around us were very polite and when they found that we were parents of an Australian player, we became minor celebs.

After the cheer practice and Mexican wave practice, the cheer squad moved off and the boy band came on. That sent the crowd crazy. Thank goodness they were over quickly!

The lights went down and and deep drums started. With flashes and booming drums, each of the aussie players entered the stadium alone, just like a rock star coming onto the stage. It was done really well. Each player ran on to deafening cheering and they each had a small volleyball which the Aussies threw high into the crowd. Our guys were on a mission, and each attempted to put the ball the furtherest into the stands. Each big throw earned a 10,000 OOOHHHH. Phillip DeSalvo went for the Aussie rules kick into the crowd.

The same happened with the Japanese, but their throws were timid little ones.

Both teams played well with the Aussies dominating. The Japanese looked worried, until the Aussies choked. It was really difficult for us to get any cheering down as 10,000 vs 2 found us left out of it. Although each time we won a point, we had a window of about 3 seconds. It was silence before the 10k started again. That 3 seconds allowed us to get an Aussie Aussie Aussie in and wave the flag. Japanese sitting around us also helped wave our flag.

The game was great to watch even though the result was not one that we were seeking. Our guys were tired, the Japanese were good. When they won the game, their reaction was one of relief, as we were the team to beat.

In relation to volleyball in Japan, I would go again in a heartbeat. As I said, the venue etc was great. We had a good hotel 20 minutes walk via the most beautiful gardens. We expected Japan to be expensive. Not so. It was comparable to Australia for hotel and transport; meals were cheaper.

Pictures courtesy Trevor Carroll - click to enlarge