After all, volleyball was a team sport played by six people on the court, not alone by an ace.
It was a lesson left by the women’s championship game, which wrote a new history on April 6 and finished the V-League campaign for the 2022-2023 season. Everyone predicted the victory of Heungkuk Life Insurance, the league’s number one player. Even when I won the first and second games easily, I was even worried that the championship match would end too easily. it was raining
It seems that the volleyball god was preparing something completely different.
After the 3rd game, it was impressive to see the players of the Korea Expressway Corporation play calmly while comforting their teammates who made mistakes and their great concentration on defense. It was literally ‘heart hot, head cold’. During the championship match, coach Kim Jong-min slowed down a beat and gave the operation instructions in a quiet voice. He said, “I did it by deliberately slowing down his words. He also gave the players time to catch their breath. When I get excited, the players get impatient and their mentality can be shaken, so I lowered my voice.” Even if I did something wrong, I didn’t get scolded. He only talked about the necessary parts and gave me courage. The coach, who said, “It is not possible to talk a lot,” believed in the players and let them solve the game on their own.
Coincidentally, Heungkuk Life Insurance against the net looked like everyone was excited. The hot-tempered foreign coach continued to give instructions to the players in a loud voice. He also reprimanded the room. One player clearly showed an expression of intimidation at the manager’s point behind the sub room. In the midst of this, the foreign player was unable to control his emotions throughout the series. Performance went on a rollercoaster. There was also another player whose mouth was constantly swearing on the broadcast screen. It has been compared to road construction where everyone laughs and encourages each other while playing the game.
Heungkuk Life Insurance fans would have been quite surprised by the foreign coach’s remarks on ‘mental strength’ in the 4th game. Instructions during time-out were not much different from those of native coaches. The more tense it is, the more important it is to share the situation and move in the same way, but it was not easy for a foreign director who speaks a different language.
Highway Corporation players considered the championship game a bonus match. The director said that. Having lost the first two matches, there was nothing more to lose. The easy-going players enjoyed the attention that was pouring in after the third game and the tension of the game. Heungkuk Life Insurance was different. The thought that I must win did not make me enjoy or calm myself before. Because they easily won the first and second games, the pressure grew like a snowball as the match went on. After the reverse in the 3rd set 20-15 in the 3rd match, when he was on the verge of winning, the symptoms of anxiety were noticeably exposed. For the players whose minds were shaken, everything that was ahead of them in terms of power was useless.
The road construction that overturned the 0% probability took away the championship with the combined mind of 6 players.
During the Incheon 1st and 2nd matches, many players caught a cold and were in the worst condition. Ahead of the second game, coach Kim Jong-min called the main players separately. He bought me delicious Korean beef. He, who has often dine with the players, said, “I thought the players would not have an appetite,” and said, “It’s a miracle that we’ve come this far, but we talked comfortably to cheer up.” After losing Game 2, everyone thought, “The series is over.” On the other hand, director Kim Jong-min said he saw hope. He said, “I thought it would be possible because I played well in the third set of the second game. He believed that the atmosphere could change if he took just one chance. There will be a physical burden on that side, and if you lose, you will become more and more anxious,” he said, recalling the watershed of this series.
Coach Jong-min Kim left many predictions and sayings during the Champion Series. Those words became reality. After the 1st and 2nd games, “Who would have known that we would catch a cold as the championship game started. No one knows what will happen,” he encouraged the players not to give up. Before Game 5, he said, “We may go down in history or we may go down in memory.” In the end, the road construction left both records and memories.
Coach Jong-min Kim talked about the true power of the road construction in an interview after winning the championship match.
“’We are a team that can win or lose to any team. Even if it doesn’t work out, let’s go through the season by helping the person next to us. It won’t be easy if I’m good. Let’s stick together,’ he said. Looking back, he won 2 losses against Pepper Savings Bank and 3 wins and 3 losses against Hyundai E&C and beat Heungkuk Life Insurance. No one person is outstanding, but when 6-7 people come together, it is a solid team. The championship match was the same. There was nothing to lose. The opponent would have been more burdensome. The players endured well,” he confessed.
Head coach Kim Jong-min, who has been guiding the road construction for 7 years, created a strong teamwork based on a solid bond with the players. The Korea Expressway Corporation played volleyball with organizational power and division of labor, which gave greater strength as a team rather than individual capabilities, centered on an older sister with a lot of experience. Those who did not understand this accused him of ‘old-style volleyball’ and ‘a manager who failed to nurture players’. The coach said, “Only the setter has changed over the past seven years, and the rest is almost the same. People say that we made a strange team, but we made what we could do well better. If each person does well in that position, there is a team that becomes stronger.” The team, forged by the time spent together for 7 years and good memories while supporting and roasting each other, did not collapse easily.
Certainly no player was greater than the team. Veteran sisters in their 30s and 40s held the center well. The volleyball of mutual aid, in which the players truly help each other, was even touching. Director Kim Jong-min said, “I was moved by myself. It looked so hard that I wanted to tell him to take it easy. eyes were alive. Experienced players were able to win by understanding and operating the rhythm and pace of the opponent.”
Heungkuk Life Insurance also played a big role in veterans, but only one was seen in Heungkuk Life Insurance this season. Fans and the media just repeated his story every day. Currently, he is the best star in the V-League and a box office hit, but he went too far. A team called Heungkuk Life Insurance was perceived as if the V-League existed only for one player. Of course, it’s not the player’s fault. It was the problem of the people surrounding him. In addition, the extreme fandom caught up in narrow-mindedness found another scapegoat within the team throughout the season and continued to blame others. There were many players who were hurt because of them. Even the chemistry of the team was worrying.
Coach Marcello Abundanza also knew the fundamental problem of Heungkuk Life Insurance this season. “We are a team where 90% of us revolve around Kim Yeon-kyung. A player cannot win alone. Volleyball in the V-League seems to have stayed in the past. It feels like it’s being released with two players. Volleyball should be made up of a variety of players.” As he said, this championship match was a final match between ‘two veterans’ and ‘five great sisters united as a team’. Among them, the god of volleyball gave the gift of winning to the team rather than the players.
These days, the V-League has a strong desire for foreign coaches. Native coaches are also experts who have invested a lot of time and accumulated experience in volleyball, but their efforts are increasingly not recognized. Coincidentally, the men’s and women’s championship match was a confrontation between a native coach and a foreign coach. Hyundai Capital coach Choi Tae-woong referred to this as ‘pride’ and ‘sun’. Native directors must have supported the road construction a lot in their hearts. Director Kim Jong-min, who defeated Abondanza, who was said to be a world-renowned master, had a meaningful story. “Foreign directors have a different system. He takes the big players and plays to fit them. we have another one It is not a big problem that the opponent is a foreign coach. If the club wants it, it will be written. It is a pro to use talented people.”
For those who believed that foreign coaches were the solution to all problems, the road construction victory would have been a shock. The director talks about the result. Players contribute to the team by winning. Director Kim Jong-min confirmed that both blind expectations toward foreign coaches and unfounded criticism toward native coaches are meaningless. 안전놀이터 With the Korea Expressway Corporation’s victory, an opportunity was provided for foreign coaches to be evaluated on the same standard as native coaches. A coach who produces good results regardless of nationality is a master.