Choi Tae-woong (47), head coach of Hyundai Capital Skywalkers, made a flurry of remarks. Hyundai Capital Skywalkers lost 0-3 (24-26, 17-25, 16-25) in a match against Korean Air's Jumbos in the 2023-2024 V-League at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on Sunday.
On the day, Hyundai Capital scored 13 points for Ahmed and 12 points for Heo Soo-bong, respectively, but they were not good enough to win. Notably, although the team was leading 23-18 in the first set, it failed to maintain the mood as it suffered a painful upset loss of 24-26. In the third set, it tried to change the mood by leading 9-5 in the beginning, but ended up with a 0-3 complete defeat.
After the match, Hyundai Capital coach Choi Tae-woong looked stiff. "I thought I had to make a change. In order to become a true professional player, words cannot be enough. You have to let your body feel it," Choi said. "I thought at first that I felt pressure and pressure on the field was because I felt soft-hearted or lack of confidence, but that's why I felt that way because I lacked confidence."
It was a message aimed at young players. Choi Tae-woong said, "There are a lot of players in our team, and I thought I was ruining Korean volleyball. I tried many things about my mind, starting with the system, to develop Korean volleyball, but it's not working. I'm at a crossroads of choice."
Choi's remarks continued. "I am not just playing volleyball by name. This is why young players are replacing generations. However, we need to know how hard the veteran players have worked to achieve a championship that they had not won for 10 years, and there have been times when they sweated and sweated in training to maintain the performance. Young players seem to automatically have the mindset that if they come to Hyundai Capital, they will win the title," Choi said.
"I don't want to bully others mentally through strong training or make them do so in retaliation," Choi said. "I have been continuing education on personality and mind, but seeing that my players are not showing signs of improvement, I think I lack the mental strength, determination and passion that can re-emerge in times of crisis. I think I need to increase my training volume and intensity going forward," Choi said in expressing his commitment to change.
Lastly, Choi said, "Our team will produce many national team players in the next two to three years, and these players will have to play for the national team. However, with this mental state, he will fail again in the national team. To avoid that, when I was in the team, I thought a lot about the basics," he said.
Choi also played without Ahmed in the third set. "Ahmed was good in the beginning, but he seemed to have lost his stamina. As the team's lack of confidence increased, the team was shaken," Choi said.
Hyundai Capital seemed to have succeeded in changing the mood by winning two consecutive games, but suffered a humiliating 0-3 defeat to Korean Air on the day. Hyundai Capital is currently ranking sixth with four wins and 12 losses (15 points) this season. It is only one point ahead of KB Insurance, the lowest ranking. It is currently reorganizing itself with young players, but has yet to produce any tangible outcome.
"What is surprising about this season is that even if we lose games, we are rapidly changing the mood in training and games. We have an atmosphere that can be expected in the second half," Choi, who was confident before the game, must have thought a lot during the game. 안전 토토사이트
Meanwhile, Korean Air coach Tommy Tilikainen said after the game, "Hyundai Capital came out strong in the beginning, and we held on until the end and reversed the first set. Overall, I would like to say that our team's performance was good. There are some things we need to make up for, but the players did a good job today (17th)," adding, "Han's strength is that he is confident first. He doesn't care what mistakes he makes. He also performed very well today. It is true that Especo did a good job. He also praised Han and Especo, who showed great performance on the day."