Korean NT 2021

  • OJY was hiding amongst KYK and LSY for the receives... Her positioning was odd in the games.

    And she's going to GS Caltex which has no need for an additional libero. Oh wells.

    KHR is legendary but to get her body/game instinct in shape by August (if it even happens), would be tough.

  • Japan defense is something else, korea attack means nothing.


    i feel like Lavarini time out doesnt mean anything, nothing change on court lol


    Korean players are pillow punchers. Zero power... It looks great playing among themselves in V-League or sandbagging teams like Thailand, but put a little height on those blocks and you neutralize their attacks.


    There is no need to write an extended sociological analysis of their performance right now, they just lack talent. When your starting OH (Lee Jae-yeong), OP (Kim Hee-jin), MB (Kim Su-ji), Setter (Lee Da-yeong) and Libero (Kim Hae-ran) are out, your team is much weaker. And Korea simply lacks the depth (except at the MB position) to just plug in a player without any loss in performance... The Covid-19 pandemic has been a disaster for the team. On top of all the drama, for an aging team, one more year of wait is simply pushing them one more year further from their prime...


    It's a very small sample, but we can already make a few observations.


    Han Song-yi OUT

    Let's be honest here, all Korean MBs, Yang Hyo-jin included, rank in the bottom at the international level. If you're not a blocking presence, you should at least find a way to score a few points like Kim Su-ji. Han Song-yi doesn't do either. She's often late on plays or moving in the wrong direction. Park Eun-jin or Lee Da-hyeon or both please.


    LDH is more skilled and has a higher volleyball IQ but she has never been tested against tall 190cm+ MBs and lacks experience, being the 3rd MB in the rotation at Hyundai. Park Eun-jin is more mechanical and predictable but a little bit taller and played well against top teams during the World Cup. I find she lacks strength in her spikes though. If and only if Lee Da-hyeon proves she can overcome the hurdles of facing taller opposition, she should go to the Olympics.


    Jeong Ji-yun is a front-row weapon only

    She's simply not ready to play as an opposite. On the back row, her attacks go out wide or hit the net more often than not. She's also still too weak as a defender to cover for the short setter. In front, you need to be both a weapon and a shield. At only 180cm high, she's a liability as a blocker. When your setter ends up in position 4 and you do a double switch, going from a 187cm Park Jeong-ah in the front row to Jeong Ji-yun is a huge loss of power on top of making you more vulnerable and penetrable. You could even be in a situation where you have Jeong Ji-yun - MB - Lee So-young in front. Teams are already waiting to feast on that. She needs to smarten up too. How do you lose a 1 vs 1 against a girl with a hurt ankle just waiting for the play to end! Yeah, let's just hit right into her hands even when the middle of the net was left wide open... Kim Hee-jin was proficient in cross-court attacks from position 2. Ji-yun only seems to hit the ball straight... For some reason, she also hits much better from the left than from the right. The same could be said about Park Jeong-ah by the way... Maybe because V-League teams almost exclusively only recruit OP foreigners, nobody knows what to do on the right side of the net!!!


    All three setters are subpar... for now.

    The coach seems to like An Hye-jin. I find her a bit too slow in her decisions. In V-League, it was only a matter of raising the ball in a stable manner as she had three top players to solve her sets. Now, against bigger taller opponents, you only stand a chance if you outwit them and run a faster attack. She has to think quicker. That extra half-second of hesitation makes it much easier to read. Granted she was only a backup against China, I don't feel her chemistry with KYK yet. She found Park Jeong-ah with ease yesterday, but that was against Thailand, every player looked good...


    Yeum Hye-seon was beyond bad today. Is she still injured? Just a bad game? We'll have to see more, but it doesn't look good... When she's in her game she can be really good, but she also has a history of crumbling in the worst moments, and instead of being able to calm down and move on, it keeps getting worst and worst. If she can't wake up, she'll lose her spot for Tokyo!


    Among the three, Kim Da-in has the most potential. She's the most creative, the most unpredictable, she takes risks, and is the sneakiest among Korean setters. I like her foot speed, and she never seems to chase after the ball. Her flaws are very obvious, however... In the first game, the Chinese players went for the easy points by chipping the ball slightly above her. If she's the starting setter, middle blockers have to help her more and Park Jeong-ah has to react and move faster in the back. It's a team effort! I'm very scared of a Lee So-young - MB - Kim Da-in front row... She also needs a lot of improvement on defense. A couple of balls lost that went just right in front of her. Korea is a team that will live and die through floor defense. As a setter on the back row, she HAS to be better.


    One thing that definitely plays in her favor is her fast learning curve. Her transformation from an erratic backup that cried after a bad game into a starting National Team setter in under a year has been nothing short of phenomenal! IMO, even more impressive than Lee Da-yeong's 2019 year. Everyone in the world saw the potential of Da-yeong and knew she only needed a bit of polishing before becoming something great. Kim Da-in really came out of nowhere, had always been ignored for being short, and was nothing more than an afterthought even in Hyundai where they traded for Lee Na-yeon before the season. I think she still has a lot of untapped potential. Just distribute the ball well and we'll make do with your height. If you're Takeshita, I don't give a fuck how tall you are unless you're 110cm...


    Players have to forego the V-League mindset

    In line with the setting, the way they play the game in V-League and many things that make it great to watch are also flaws that will kill the Korean National Team at the international level.


    First, when players like Bae Yu-na, Jeong Ji-yun and Kwon Min-ji are starting MBs, you're implicitly signaling that blocking is only a side dish in your meal. Hey, as a watcher, I can't complain as it makes the game more fluid and we can see really long rallies and spectacular defense! But the kids like Kang So-hwi grew up without ever having to face dominant middle blockers. There is no one in Korea, except maybe Yang Hyo-jin in her prime, against whom spikers have to modify their game. So the Kang So-hwi and the Jeong Ji-yun centered their game, with a lot of success, on overpowering other 180 something middle blockers. Hit hard, think later. Chances are, it'll go through or you win a block out. Now, what if we raised the wall by 10-15 cm? Would they crash? That's a bit what happened in 2019 at the VNL. Lee So-young is slightly different as she has always been conscious of her lack of height and played a "short person's" game from the beginning. But that can only go so far, when teams see you always go for the block out on the left or trying to hit the ball high into the blockers' fingers, they'll adapt and you get exposed like today...


    V-League is a game of volume, but playing against elite players is a game of efficiency. It is not unusual for top players in V-League to hit 50-60 times a game. Heck, I believe Diouf had 70+ swings in a game multiple times! Winning the game means winning the war of attrition. Try the same thing many many times until it works! Whose team's defense crumbles first, that team loses. Stamina is then the most valued quality. The successful players in V-League are those that can endure the grind, hit very often, and stay consistent (without being fatigued). That's why Lutz was so dominant despite not being the most skilled (on top of being super tall). Against top international players, it becomes a game of making the most out of the few opportunities you have to attack, as your defense won't be able to bail you out as often. So efficiency is paramount.


    In V-League, every team plays the same static system with little movement. You the wing spiker in position 4, just wait for the ball! If you're in the back row, shut up and dig! Back row attacks are reserved exclusively for the foreigner... If you're the setter, don't be too creative, just send the ball "slowly" and "accurately" to position 4 or the foreign lady wherever she is. If it don't work, do it again! That's why Korean setters were not built to think outside of the box. Those coaches, they do like them Cho Song-hwas... Lee Do-hee was one of the few exceptions that encouraged a bit more freedom. If one wanted to be mean, one could say that a V-League game is just a series of static 1 vs 2 battles that happen in succession. It's player vs player duels rather than system against system. You ain't gonna win this way against Zhu Ting or Egonu...

  • Park Jeong-ah has to show more

    With Lee So-young as a starter to partner with KYK, it's pretty clear we're playing rope-a-dope. To win with this strategy, you suffer a bit on defense but avoid KOs and punch hard every time there's an opening. That's why Jeong-ah has to close those chances. She still doesn't look very comfortable playing on the right. She seemed a bit hesitant in her spikes. Hopefully, she'll figure it out during the next 12 games as Jeong Ji-yun is too raw and Kim Hee-jin looks out for the Olympics.


    Lee So-young has to minimize reception errors

    Never thought we'd see the day where Lee So-young is your least efficient receiver. But she did make mistakes and teams have been targeting her more on the serve. She needs to improve.


    Kim Yeon-keong is one of the greatest but Father Time is the real GOAT

    For he has never been defeated in history. As much as it pains me, even the most hardcore KYK fans have to admit that this ain't 2016 anymore. She's still a beast defender and a very good player overall, but her spikes don't strike fear no more. Her attack efficiency has been really low over the last two games, and today against Japan, she had the opportunity to close the third set more than once but failed. We expect more from our gamebreaker in the clutch. I've got no doubt she'll be better. She needs to.


    We need to find a more reliable backup than Pyo Seung-ju

    I want to see what Yuk Seo-young has in the guts. At this point in her career, Pyo Seung-ju is what she is, a serviceable player that lacks efficiency and consistent reception abilities. For a backup, you want someone who can come in for a very short time and give your team a new tool to use, like say a net presence to replace Lee So-young in front. Seung-ju can play all positions and do a bit of everything but doesn't have any particular skill that she excels in. She doesn't have a strong service that can destabilize another team. Receiving is one of her weaknesses, so I wouldn't really get her in to stabilize the reception. Maybe if So-young gets killed in front, she can come in and close the hole as she's certainly taller. But what is frustrating is that she could be more dominant but is limited by her poor vertical jump. I prefer Yuk Seo-young as she has more upside and room for improvement. Anyway, with Kang So-hwi pretty much out for the Olympics, they'll both get their chances...


    Korean volleyball is in decline

    This is pretty clear... It's not that there is a conspiracy out there by people who refuse to rebuild, it's just that there is NO NEW DAMN TALENT with height anymore in Korea, at least in female volleyball, to replace those old legs. The prospect pool is so thin that any kid taller than 180cm with a little bit of talent gets played automatically as a middle blocker. Or they play as wingers but get a "reception exemption" so they focus on the attack, a very short-term and dumb decision that will make them unusable as OH when they reach the pros because they won't have learned the necessary skills. Hey, at least we're churning out promising MBs? Maybe, but then you'll have 6-7 good MBs fighting for their lives to win those three spots, only to be flanked by a 180cm OH and OP. DAMN.


    Koga is the Japanese Lee Jae-yeong doppelganger

    From her height, her physique, the particular way she jumps and lands, even her haircut... Change her jersey and it's Lee Jae-yeong! I don't know who is better. I don't care.

  • Kim Yeon-keong is one of the greatest but Father Time is the real GOAT

    For he has never been defeated in history. As much as it pains me, even the most hardcore KYK fans have to admit that this ain't 2016 anymore. She's still a beast defender and a very good player overall, but her spikes don't strike fear no more. Her attack efficiency has been really low over the last two games, and today against Japan, she had the opportunity to close the third set more than once but failed. We expect more from our gamebreaker in the clutch. I've got no doubt she'll be better. She needs to.

    You would be surprised to know that she was 2nd most efficient attacker in the 2019 world cup (personally I was shocked). This is just the VNL. Wait and see.

  • I'd also like to give props to Lee Do Hee for playing a part on what LDY had and Kim Da In has been doing for the NT; though it was unfortunate that she was sacked just because Hyundai fell out of the playoffs :rolleyes:.


    A handful of players were actually tagged as the next KYK due to their outstanding HS performances. Park Jeong Ah and Jung Ho Young were the ones notable for that. But there were little to no efforts to hone them into a KYK prototype when they came into pros - PJA got exempted on receiving duties to maximise here offensive power and JHY got converted to an MB.


    I agree that the talent pool is too thin right now, especially for the WS position. Correct me if I'm wrong but only Ji Min Kyung (184cm), Lee Seon Woo (183cm), Ko Ui Jeong(181cm), and Park Hye Min (181cm) are the ones beyond 180cm who are playing as a WS for their teams.

  • I'd also like to give props to Lee Do Hee for playing a part on what LDY had and Kim Da In has been doing for the NT; though it was unfortunate that she was sacked just because Hyundai fell out of the playoffs :rolleyes:.


    A handful of players were actually tagged as the next KYK due to their outstanding HS performances. Park Jeong Ah and Jung Ho Young were the ones notable for that. But there were little to no efforts to hone them into a KYK prototype when they came into pros - PJA got exempted on receiving duties to maximise here offensive power and JHY got converted to an MB.


    I agree that the talent pool is too thin right now, especially for the WS position. Correct me if I'm wrong but only Ji Min Kyung (184cm), Lee Seon Woo (183cm), Ko Ui Jeong(181cm), and Park Hye Min (181cm) are the ones beyond 180cm who are playing as a WS for their teams.

    I think one of her players committing suicide reportedly due to the team culture might have also contributed to her firing (not being renewed). Someone had to take responsibility. Of course, had they won a championship, it would have been difficult to can her, but the team falling out of a playoff spot just gave the admin the reason they needed to get rid of her...


    I ain't no psychologist, but it wouldn't surprise me if the players were still affected by it early into the season. Captain Hwang Min-kyoung in particular looked like she totally forgot how to play volleyball...


    I liked Lee Do-hee, but I also can't wait to see a new brand of fast-paced volleyball in V-League.


    https://sports.news.naver.com/…hn?oid=421&aid=0005377808

  • A Yang Hyo-jin + Han Song-yi pairing, SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.


    Mad respect for what they did in their career. But come on now...

    Highly agree. Too slow. And why Hang Song-yi as center? They both need to be OUT. Get the young-ins in there.

    At least have the younger crew get experience rather than depending on the oldies to try. They're just not there. Han Song-yi doesn't even look like she's trying, for goodness sakes.

  • I agree with most of you said but I disagree that Korean volleyball is on the decline. They just need to make more strategic decisions and beef up their system. Their model is outdated and it needs to evolve. Height doesn't mean everything, though I know it helps A LOT. Japan is a great example. They don't have the height whatsoever so they focus on reception extremely well. Korea just need to recalibrate their systems and focus on the right things.

  • I agree with most of you said but I disagree that Korean volleyball is on the decline. They just need to make more strategic decisions and beef up their system. Their model is outdated and it needs to evolve. Height doesn't mean everything, though I know it helps A LOT. Japan is a great example. They don't have the height whatsoever so they focus on reception extremely well. Korea just need to recalibrate their systems and focus on the right things.

    If you have height, always go for height. Ishikawa's brother is not that short for male vb so he's quite good.


    Ishikawa is good too of course, but her height determines her ceiling. The tallest player in Korea (KYK) has the best floor defence. Height doesn't mean you give up on reception or floor defense, it's a trade-off that's almost always in favor.


    Even libero selection criteria is "the taller the better, but quickness is essential" since they can cover more ground.

  • If you have height, always go for height. Ishikawa's brother is not that short for male vb so he's quite good.


    Ishikawa is good too of course, but her height determines her ceiling. The tallest player in Korea (KYK) has the best floor defence. Height doesn't mean you give up on reception or floor defense, it's a trade-off that's almost always in favor.


    Even libero selection criteria is "the taller the better, but quickness is essential" since they can cover more ground.

    Who said height should mean that you give up on reception or floor defense? I'm saying the exact opposite. :)

    I personally disagree that if you have height, always go for height. I always believe in the yin and yang. Having a balance is important. Leaning a bit more height is definitely better for sure.

  • Who said height should mean that you give up on reception or floor defense? I'm saying the exact opposite. :)

    I personally disagree that if you have height, always go for height. I always believe in the yin and yang. Having a balance is important. Leaning a bit more height is definitely better for sure.

    that's true, you didn't say that. I'm just pointing out that the Japanese having good reception has little to do with their height. USA has very good reception too.


    for the "always go for height" - I mean selection of young players. You can train the skills, but it's not possible to practice 10 hours a day to grow an extra 10 cm. Of course there are exceptions, I think I read somewhere that KYK herself was a late grower and had to play libero for quite a while.

  • saw a IG story, Kim Heejin went for her knee surgery on 24 May. Plus her rehab, that will be 2 weeks before OG.


    Hoping for the best for her!


    That's gonna be tough for the OG. She won't have any time to practice with the team and she sure as hell won't be in game shape. Plus, don't teams need to submit the final rosters like 3 weeks before the Games?

  • That's gonna be tough for the OG. She won't have any time to practice with the team and she sure as hell won't be in game shape. Plus, don't teams need to submit the final rosters like 3 weeks before the Games?

    defo gonna be really tough.

    maybe she'll go into NT during her rehab? not sure how it's gonna work.

    Korea does need her for OG.


    i actually thought she had done the surgery when that news report of her injury came out.

  • defo gonna be really tough.

    maybe she'll go into NT during her rehab? not sure how it's gonna work.

    Korea does need her for OG.


    i actually thought she had done the surgery when that news report of her injury came out.

    Me too! I thought she had surgery way before that. They better come up with better plan for her. If Jeong Jiyun doesn't deliver, better bring Kim Heejin if she's fully fit