Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, July 2, 2017 – By not qualifying for the top eight and by losing the 13th spot to Japan, the coach and captain of the American team don’t have a medal, but a learning experience to bring home.
Jay Hosack, coach of USA: “It is a good learning moment for these kids. They are well coached back home but playing with an international style of volleyball, you have to be a little bigger, faster and stronger. This placement is we didn’t want but we did want was the learning experience and we have accomplished that well.”
Joshua Tuaninga, captain of USA: “The main challenge for us was our side of the net. They’re a great team, I give them all the credits. It was a great learning experience for us and we should take that home with us and really do something with it.”
Kenta Takanashi, captain of Japan: “We tried to achieve a place with the top eight in this tournament but we couldn’t do it. We had a really good experience here with my team and enjoyed the tournament.”
Fumitoshi Tokunaga, coach of Japan: “It was a really good experience for the Japanese team playing in this tournament.”