“Playing with a player who has been my idol since childhood…”
The 2024 Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO) Women’s Foreign Player Draft was held on Sept. 9 (KST) at the Holiday Inn & Suites Dubai Science Park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The official schedule, which began on the 7th, concluded with the final evaluation drill on the morning of the 9th. The first order of business at 3 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) was the probability draw.
A total of 41 players, including 37 invited players and four existing players, applied for the draft. Among them, Leticia Moma Bassoko (31-Cameroon) and Gisele Silva (31-Cuba) will be making their Korean debut after their original teams, 메이저 토토사이트 Hyundai E&C and GS Caltex, signed them to new contracts the day before.
In reverse order of last season’s results, including the clubs with priority contracts, the marbles were distributed to No. 7 Pepper Savings Bank (35), No. 6 Korea Expressway Corporation (30), No. 5 IBK Bank (25), No. 4 GS Caltex (20), No. 3 Jungkwanjang (15), No. 2 Heungkuk Life (10) and No. 1 Hyundai E&C (5).
Pepper Savings Bank’s white marble was the first to go. The next three nominees were Chung, Korea Expressway Corporation, IBK, GS Caltex, Heungkuk Life Insurance, and Hyundai E&C.
Heungkuk Life head coach Marcello Abondanza chose Turku Bourge (25-1, 91 centimeters), an apogee spiker from Turkuye, over Willow Johnson (26-USA), who joined the team as a substitute foreign player last season.
“I was hopeful, but not sure. I thought anything could happen in the last round. I was actually surprised, I was so happy. My agent told me that if I do my best, it will work out, but I wasn’t sure, and they were right.”
When asked if he spoke to coach Abondanza, he replied, “I didn’t speak to him before the tryout, but I greeted him in Turkic. He said it was an important point. We had met as opponents in the Turkiye League.”
We also got to hear what it was like to play with the ‘volleyball queen’ Kim Yeon-kyung. “I’m really excited. It’s like a dream. She’s been my idol since I was a kid, so it’s great to play with her. I can’t explain how I feel.” “I saw Kim play for Fenerbahçe,” said Kim, “and it’s a dream. My ultimate goal as a player is to learn about different cultures and play a lot of big matches in different countries. When I meet Kim, I might not be able to speak well,” he said, expressing his excitement.
Coach Abondanza added: “I actually knew her very well. She used to play for Turkkiye Fenerbahçe as their second outside hitter. He has played abroad. I knew his personality and I thought he would be a good addition to our team,” he said.
“We also considered outside hitter Anastasia Guerra, but we’re going to give Kim a lot of opportunities. I hope she grows,” he said, adding, “Her style is different from Willow Johnson. We’ll have to see how she plays with other players. We’re going to make four or five changes throughout the team. We’ll see how it goes. I think Park Hye-jin will be the main setter.”