On the 16th, at the Chungmu Gymnasium in Daejeon, the GS Caltex players are rinsing with coach Sang-Hyun Cha after the ceremony for the 1st place awards ceremony for the professional volleyball 2020-2021 V-League Women’s Regular League. Daejeon/Yonhap News
‘It started with Kim Yeon-kyung and ended with Cha Sang-hyun.’ 16th GS Caltex’s championshipThe 2020-2021 Dodram V (V) League, which ended in the regular league, can be summarized in this one sentence. The first half of the league was the solo stage of Heungkuk Life Insurance’s Pink Spiders, with Kim Yeon-kyung ahead, but in the second half of the league, coach Sang-hyun’s GS Caltex played a big role. I summarized the V-League campaign over the past six months in hot words.
???? ‘Kim Yeon-kyung’
In June of last year, Heungkuk Life Insurance officially announced the joining of Kim Yeon-kyung (33). It was a return to Korea after 11 years after entering Japan in 2009. Concerned that the salary of his juniors would be reduced due to the salary cap, he stamped on the signing contract at a’low price’ of 350 million won per year. After the opening of the V-League in October, Kim Yeon-kyung was weak in women’s volleyball. Due to the’Kim Yeon-kyung effect’, women’s volleyball has succeeded in hitting the box office with the highest rating exceeding 2%. Kim Yeon-kyung proved to be the best star by winning the most votes of both men and women in the All-Star poll. Even in the situation where the team became a mess due to the last-minute school violence problem in the league, Kim Yeon-kyung, as the team leader, led the team by reading through his juniors. Although he allowed the GS to play back at the end of the season and slipped to 2nd place, Heungkuk Life made the strongest team in the history of women’s professional volleyball by setting a new record for 10 consecutive wins (regular 14 consecutive wins and tie) in the beginning of the league. He ended the regular league with first place in attack (45.92% success rate), first place in sub (0.28 sets) and first place in open attack (44.48% success rate). ‘Heungkuk Life has two foreign players’ was not a joke. Although it is difficult to express the hardship of the heart in the second half of the league, the three letters of’Kim Yeon-kyung’ were forever imprinted in Korean volleyball history.
Kim Yeon-kyung of Heungkuk Life Insurance. yunhap news
????’3rd place’
In addition to the fight for 1st and 2nd place between Heungkuk and GS, competition for the last train tickets for the spring volleyball last train of the 3rd place IBK Industrial Bank Altos and 4th place Korea Expressway Corporation Hipass was also fierce. The last minute ice of the season continued to the point that the rankings change after sleeping. Eventually, IBK entered the playoffs with a difference of 1 point. IBK’s final record was 14 wins and 16 losses (42 points), and the Korea Highway Corporation was 13 wins and 17 losses (41 points). It was painful to lose at the Heungkuk Lifetime War on the 6th. However, the road construction’s back feeling was great. He recorded 6 consecutive losses at the beginning of the season and showed an amazing ability to go up from last in the league to third in the middle rankings. The main striker Park Jung-ah showed a bad condition throughout the league and did not match his name. Veteran Libero Myung-OkThe remarkable activity of the road was the source of the sudden rise in the road construction. Myung-ok Myung-ok proved to be the best defender in the league, ranking first in receive (52.63% efficiency) and first in the digg (5.69 per set). Myung-ok Myung-ok, nicknamed’God of Defense’,’Im Libe’, and’Im Soo-bi’, was one of the best in Korea along with Kim Yeon-kyung in the offensive field. After the end of the league, Myung-ok said, “I had the best year personally. Next season, I will show you a more upgraded appearance.”
Myung-ok Lee of Korea Expressway Corporation. Provided by the Korean Volleyball Federation
????Cha Sang-hyun and children
December last year GS’ left Kang So-hui interviewed the 〈Hankyoreh〉“I think it will be difficult to be ranked first in the league.” At the time, the score was 11 points, and Heungkuk Life’s solo system was very strong. However, GS players pursued Heungkuk Life with healthy energy. It was Manager Cha Sang-hyun who united the unique players together. Coach Cha asks the players to always play brightly and actively. The players became more united in the modest leadership that gave down their authority while exchanging jokes with the players. Coach Cha himself communicates with the players without hesitation enough to say, “Sometimes I’m treated worse than the uncle next door.” It is especially famous for taking good care of backup players. It is famous for the anecdote that if the backup player succeeds in serving ace, he calls him directly after the game and gives him pocket money. However, when players play passively or timidly, they issue an unholy order. The word’Heo Heo Sil-sil leadership’ did not come out for nothing. Coach Sang-Hyun Cha, who first took the baton in 2016 and put the team at the top in five years after starting from fifth place in the league, has risen to the ranks of masters through this league. By Lee Jung-guk, staff reporter