"I'll smash it from above." Park Seo-yoon, who picked up a volleyball after seeing Kim Yeon-koung on TV, has grown into a 194cm high school ace who led her team to silver medals for the first time in 19 years [Interview]

*This content was translated by AI.

A girl who picked up a volleyball after seeing 'Bae Gu (황제)' Kim Yeon-koung (38) play on TV has become a top prospect for Korean women's volleyball. The protagonist is Park Seo-yoon (17), a middle blocker at Jungang Girls' High School.

Park Seo-yoon recently met with StarNews at Jungang Girls' High School in Seoul and said, "I became interested in volleyball since the second grade of elementary school. I saw Kim Yeon-koung and the national team sisters playing on TV and thought they were so cool that I wanted to play volleyball."

She was told she was too young to start right away, so she waited. She transferred to Chugye Girls' High School in the fourth grade of elementary school and began handling the volleyball seriously. Although she is not from a family of athletes, thanks to her tall parents, Park Seo-yoon was already 167cm tall by the fourth grade of elementary school. Since then, she has grown steadily and now stands at 194cm.

Park Seo-yoon is a middle blocker with rare physical conditions and mobility for her age group. With fast attacks and stable fundamentals, she has been called up to the 'Yeon Ryeong-byeol (CEO)' team since her time at Jungang Girls' Middle School. Along with Son Seo-yeon (16, Seonmyeong Girls' High School), she is evaluated as a talent who will lead the future of Korean women's volleyball and won the Volleyball Mirae Star Award at the '2025 Futures Star Awards' hosted and organized by StarNews last year.

She is not a player whose only strength is her height. After enrolling in Jungang Girls' High School, she has entered a stage where she connects that advantage to actual game performance. Her movement attacks, fast attacks, and overall movements have noticeably improved. Coach Jang Yun-hee (56) of Jungang Girls' High School explained, "When Seo-yoon was a freshman, there were comments that her power and movement were a bit lacking because her height was so great. But now, her body has become much stronger." He added, "Her movements have become much livelier and better."

When asked to introduce her own strengths, Park Seo-yoon said, "First of all, my height is an advantage because I have height, and I am not slow compared to my height." She added, "My movement attacks, fast attacks, and movements have improved significantly since middle school."

This year, she has been evaluated as having grown one step further both at her school and with the national team. The stage where this growth could be confirmed first was the national team. Park Seo-yoon served as captain of the Korean U-18 national team at the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Championship held in Thailand last July, leading them to a runner-up finish for the first time in 19 years. She was also selected for the tournament's Best 7.

Park Seo-yoon said, "Last year, I was following the lead of my older teammates, but this time I had to take the lead and pull the younger players along." She added, "I thought that would help me develop more, and it went better than expected, so I am happy."

Her sense of responsibility also helped promising players grow rapidly during the tournament. Park Seo-yoon recalled, "When the setter was shaken, I told her, 'Just confidently set to me, and I'll figure out how to score from above.' There were many well-rounded players on the 'Lee Beon (CEO)' team, and by building trust in each other, we were able to navigate difficult matches well."

In the final, she faced tall Chinese players. While she often utilized her height domestically, on the international stage, she had to battle opponents of similar height across the net. Park Seo-yoon laughed, "Since we were at a similar height, I thought it would be difficult at first. But instead, I could see the blocks and even use blockers to hit them down. My techniques have improved significantly."

The confidence and experience gained from the national team continued with her club team. Jungang Girls' High School defeated Seonmyeong Girls' High School with a set score of 3-1 in the final of the 18th-and-under women's division at the 2026 IBK Industrial Bank of Korea Cup National Middle and High School Volleyball Tournament held at the Jecheon Indoor Gymnasium in Chungcheongbuk-do on the 6th, claiming their first national tournament championship of the season. They also overcame the pain of losing to Seonmyeong Girls' High School twice in the finals of the March Spring League and the May Category Championships.

Looking back, Coach Jang Yun-hee cited health and passion as the secrets to her student's growth. For a tall player during their growth period, training consistently without injury is the greatest asset. Coach Jang praised, "Seo-yoon's advantage is that she doesn't get injured. Her mother has managed her care very well since she was young. Because she has no injuries, she can train more, and she puts in a lot of effort herself."

Her ambition is also extraordinary. She wants to do so well that if her performance doesn't go as planned, she becomes more upset than anyone else. Coach Jang smiled, "Ambition is necessary for athletes, but Seo-yoon is a bit different. She gets too immersed in the game and excited, and when things don't go as she expects, she becomes very upset."

When asked why she can immerse herself so deeply, there was still a sense of excitement befitting a 17-year-old athlete. Park Seo-yoon shyly smiled, "It's thrilling when I hit the ball during a rally and score in a difficult moment. It's most fun when we save the ball in an unexpected situation and it leads to a point."

Because of her 194cm height, various possibilities such as outside hitter or opposite spiker rather than middle blocker have been discussed. Coach Jang takes a cautious stance. While having fundamentals like receiving is a definite advantage, she believes the priority now is to gradually build upon Park Seo-yoon's height, mobility, and skills.

The player herself also feels there is still much more to learn. Especially after experiencing the world stage, she felt some deficiencies. Park Seo-yoon emphasized, "I think my blocking has improved a lot at this Asian tournament. But when you go to world championships, there are many taller players. I want to improve my blocking reads even more, and I want to show everything I can, including movement attacks that I couldn't showcase much this time."

The girl who grew up looking up to Kim Yeon-koung now wants to absorb the strengths of other players as well. Park Seo-yoon said, "I used to only talk about Kim Yeon-koung, but as a middle blocker, I also look up to my school seniors Lee Ji-yoon and Lee Da-hyun. In terms of versatility, I want to model myself after IBK Industrial Bank of Korea's Choi Jeong-min."

She continued, "I watched all of Ji-yoon's professional games last season and felt she had little mental fluctuation and good fast attack timing and volleyball sense. Da-hyun is great at hitting with impact, and Jeong-min has the advantage of being able to play various positions beyond just center, so I want to learn from them."

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*This content was translated by AI.