Takaaki Anabara

Anabara is relaxed, observant and unusually willing to let his players experiment. He does not attempt to control every rally from the sideline and accepts that mistakes are an unavoidable consequence of encouraging genuine creativity.

He is nevertheless more serious about volleyball than his team's playful image suggests. Anabara recognizes that Johzenji's freedom must eventually be supported by maturity and discipline. His frustration comes not from experimentation itself but from players failing to distinguish freedom from carelessness.

He is also receptive to talent outside his own school. His observations of Shouyou Hinata lead him to recognize qualities that make the undersized Karasuno middle blocker worth further development.

Anabara's principal strength as a coach is creating training environments that force players to think for themselves. One of his important methods is extensive two-on-two volleyball, which gives players far more responsibility for every contact than a conventional six-player drill.

Those exercises encourage Johzenji's athletes to set, attack, receive and improvise regardless of their nominal position. The resulting versatility becomes the team's defining characteristic.

Anabara also possesses enough tactical awareness to recognize the weaknesses created by that freedom. Against disciplined opposition, Johzenji can become overly eager to attempt spectacular plays and lose sight of efficient volleyball.

Anabara coaches Johzenji during its Spring High preliminary match against Karasuno. The match demonstrates the results of his training philosophy as Johzenji produces unusual attacks and improvisations that initially prove difficult to predict.

He also recognizes that the current team has not fully learned how to use its freedom responsibly. Hana Misaki's intervention helps the players understand the seriousness that Anabara has struggled to instill without destroying their creativity.

Anabara later participates as a coach at the Miyagi first-year intensive training camp. He is among the adults who observe Hinata closely and recognizes the value of the first-year's hunger to learn even when Hinata is present only as a ball boy.

Yuuji Terushima is Anabara's captain and the most conspicuous product of his free-form coaching philosophy.

Hana Misaki is Johzenji's manager and shares Anabara's concern that the players must learn to combine enjoyment with competitive responsibility.

Shouyou Hinata impresses Anabara with his athletic ability, adaptability and drive to improve.

Katsumichi Higashiyama, Takeharu Futamata and Rintarou Numajiri are among the Johzenji players developed under Anabara's unconventional training methods.