MOMII Aki

General
POSITION SWITCH
She played as a wing spiker while in middle school, but she began to doubt her ability in that position in grade 10 of high school. Her head coach at the time then suggested that she played as a setter and she got her opportunity when the team's player in that position was injured. "I was about 172 centimetres tall at that time, so I didn't have a problem with height for being a spiker, but I thought it wouldn't work at national level because I couldn't hit the ball strong enough and the wall of the opponent's block was high. Then, our regular setter was injured and the coach had already said he would let me be a setter some day. That's how I made the change and I watched various videos of games to learn about the movements of various setters. I especially wanted to see the movements of overseas players and play like them." (jti.co.jp, 01 Sep 2020)

HERITAGE
She was born in Sagamihara, Japan but had Peruvian nationality as a child due to both of her parents having been born in Peru. Her maternal grandfather was Japanese and she was granted Japanese nationality in 2019. She had been inspired to apply for a change in nationality after her friends had been selected for the national junior team in Japan. (vbm.link, 16 May 2021; nikkansports.com, 13 May 2021)