S.Korea - 2022-2023 V-League (Women)

    News Update


    • KOVO released the schedule for the 2022~2023 V-League last week and I have added the schedule on page 1 of this thread (link). The first match will be Hyundai E&C Hillstate vs. Korea Expressway Corp. Hi-pass on Saturday, October 22nd.
    • AI Peppers recently announced that TSEVEENRAVDAN Orkhon has finally passed the South Korean citizenship test. This means that she can play for AI Peppers when the season starts (1). Sources: 1, 2, 3
    • AI Peppers also announced on September 15th that they have recruited SON Eun-Jin [S] from Gwangju P.E. H.S. as a trainee player (1).
    • Japanese women's team JT Marvelous is currently in Korea and training with Heungkuk Pink Spiders. JT arrived on the 16th and will be there until the 22nd. During JT week-long stay in Korea, they will have 4 practice matches with Heungkuk. Sources: 1, 2, 3



    BTW the 33rd CBS Cup National Middle & High Volleyball Tournament (제33회 CBS배 전국중고배구대회) is currently been held. The tournament began on Sep 15 (Thu) and will end on Sep 21 (Wed). As there are only 6 girls' high school teams competing this time around the girls' high school teams only started playing on Sep 17 (Sat). Since most of the prominent girls' high school teams are not playing, I won't be making a post for this tournament. For those who are interested, the girls' high school semi-final matches will be played today after the conclusion of the girls' middle school semi-final matches. Tomorrow the final will be played with the high school final match to be held after the conclusion of the girls' middle school final which will start at 10:00 KST. Source: 1

    I just had a look at an article from thespike.co.kr that was talking about KIM Hee-Jin but there was another interesting revelation about another IBK player current situation.


    IBK head coach KIM Ho-Cheol has got KIM Hee-Jin to joint the receiving line in a few positions. This experiment start during IBK's practice match with the Korean women NT. KIM Ho-Cheol stated that KIM Hee-Jin receiving was more stable than Anastasiya GURBANOVA. This could mean that either Hee-Jin serve-receiving was surprising solid or that Anastasiya serve-receiving was not as good as IBK had expected.


    Toward the end of the article, it appear that KIM Ho-Cheol stated that Anastasiya attacks was still insufficient compare to her blocking. KIM Ho-Cheol also stated that after many checks, if the team needs to change then a decision will be made before the end of September.


    Yikes! Looks like IBK gamble with Anastasiya Gurbanova isn't going as well as they had hope. I wonder if she will make it to the start of the season in October.


    Sources: 1, 2

    Quote from theloneracer

    Toward the end of the article, it appear that KIM Ho-Cheol stated that Anastasiya attacks was still insufficient compare to her blocking. KIM Ho-Cheol also stated that after many checks, if the team needs to change then a decision will be made before the end of September.


    Yikes! Looks like IBK gamble with Anastasiya Gurbanova isn't going as well as they had hope. I wonder if she will make it to the start of the season in October.


    Sources: 1, 2

    This is what I don't like the most about the Korean V-League. If they aren't satisfied with a player, they can just kick them out all willy-nilly (unsatisfactory performance, injury, etc.). They should have seen these issues already before they hired her. Not very player-centric, most of the Korean clubs. I know that athletes are paid based on output, but like what they did with Rebecca Latham, there are many factors to a player's performance.


    Also, it seems Kim Ho-Cheol's magic has its limit based on their recent games. And Heejin is just a shell of her former self (her best performance was last 2019).

    There's an article on JT Marvelous which held 3 friendly games with Heungkuk and 1 with Hillstate (source)


    They compared the physical conditioning of Pink Spiders players with that of JT Marvelous throughout their 3 friendly matches, mentioning how Korean players' jumping ability dropped sharply and movement slowed down by a lot compared to Japan players who played consistently


    This part stood out to me:

    They talked about the diet of players, of how Japan players would eat more & eat better without snacking, while the Korean players liked to snack & supper outside of their diet

    And added how clubs said they could spend up to $80million krw ($80K) in a single year on snacks alone for the players :gone:

    Quote from suminj

    And added how clubs said they could spend up to $80million krw ($80K) in a single year on snacks alone for the players :gone:

    This is really funny and alarming at the same time lol


    I remember Pink Spiders had good physical conditions when Lee Jayeong was still there.

    I don't know if it's the pandemic weight or the staff simply trying to appease their players, but $80k on snacks isn't just excessive, it's downright absurd. :aww:


    I mean, now that I think about it even other teams aren't exactly looking buff/fit - particularly those in AI Peppers (Park Gyeong Hyeon is undoubtedly their best player together with Lee Hanbin, and she's still a little chubby even during the latest cup).


    The only person I can think of that lost some significant weight recently was Pyo Seung Ju.

    Quote from fire_cai_bin

    and they still cancelled her :/

    Shouldn't have listened and trusted her club in releasing that apology letter if it wasn't true, and denied it from the get go

    She could've returned asap like the male players whose clubs protected them


    Biggest mistake imo

    Unlike LDY, Jaeyeong did nothing at all and was simply 100% serious about volleyball - even her past & present coaches can vouch for that

    Korea v-league will be introducing the Asian Quarter from the 2023/24 season onwards (source)


    Players from Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar can apply.


    Asian Quarter players will be paid US$100K.


    The pay for foreigners (any) will be increased from US$200K to US$250K in the first year. Second year onwards remains at US$300K.



    Fans are pretty resistant to it as this will mean less slots for domestic players, but both the player pool and talent pool (as well as standard of play) has been sharply dropping

    Quote from suminj

    Korea v-league will be introducing the Asian Quarter from the 2023/24 season onwards (source)

    Wow. This came out of nowhere (for me anyway)


    I thought they were gonna introduce a second division league first for the men's team. Seems Korea's lackluster performance and Thailand's rise to the ranks made them wake up a bit. Pimpichaya and Thatdao really grew a lot while playing in Japan so they may want to experience how other Asian teams are playing.

    Quote from forzalube

    I didn't understand how this is going to work? How many players from these asian countries there will be and how they will be drafted?

    Each club can draft 1 foreigner (of any nationality) and 1 asian foreigner (from the 10 listed countries) - which is referred to as Asian Quarter. Total 2 foreigners on a team.

    It should be similar to Japan league. Since there are 7 clubs, there will be a total of 7 asian players drafted, 1 in each team.


    For the very first draft in 2023, it will take place similarly to foreigner draft except every club will have equal chances in the draft. Each club will have 10 balls in the lottery pick.