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

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

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-yun (17), a middle blocker at Jungang Girls' High School.

Park Seo-yun 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 it was 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 186cm tall father and 171cm tall mother, Park Seo-yun was already 167cm tall by the fourth grade of elementary school. She has grown steadily since then and now stands at 194cm.

Park Seo-yun 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. Jang Yun-hee (56), head coach of Jungang Girls' High School, explained, "When Seo-yun was a freshman, there were comments that her power and movement were a bit lacking because she was so tall. 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-yun said, "First of all, my height is an advantage because I am tall, 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 school and with the national team. The stage where this growth was first confirmed was the national team. Park Seo-yun served as captain of the Korean Under-18 (U-18) national team at the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Championship held in Thailand last July, leading the team to a runner-up finish for the first time in 19 years. She was also selected for the tournament's Best Seven.

Park Seo-yun 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, which made me happy."

Her sense of responsibility also helped promising players grow rapidly during the tournament. Park Seo-yun recalled, "When the setter was shaky, I told them to trustfully set the ball to me, saying, 'I'll handle everything and score from above.' The 'Lee Beon (CEO)' team had many well-rounded players, and by building mutual trust, we were able to navigate difficult matches successfully."

In the final, she faced tall Chinese players. While she often utilized her height in domestic games, on the international stage, she had to compete against players of similar height across the net. Park Seo-yun 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 3-1 in sets during the final of the Under-18 women's division at the 2026 IBK Industrial Bank of Korea Cup National Middle and High School Volleyball Tournament held on the 6th at the Jecheon Indoor Gymnasium in Chungcheongbuk-do, 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, head coach Jang Yun-hee cited health and passion as the secret to her student's growth. For a tall player in their growth phase, training consistently without injury is the greatest asset. Coach Jang praised, "Seo-yun'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 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-yun 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-yun shyly smiled, "It's thrilling when I hit the ball during a rally and score. 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 are also discussed. Coach Jang takes a cautious stance on this. While having fundamentals like receiving is a clear advantage, she believes the priority now is to steadily build upon Park Seo-yun's existing height, mobility, and skills.

The player herself feels there is still much more to learn. Especially after experiencing the world stage, she felt some deficiencies. Park Seo-yun emphasized, "I think my blocking has improved a lot at this Asian tournament. But at 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-yun 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 emulate IBK Industrial Bank of Korea's Choi Jeong-min."

She added, "I watched all of Ji-yun's professional games last season and felt she had little mental fluctuation and good fast attack timing and volleyball sense. For Da-hyun, I want to learn from her impactful hitting style. For Jeong-min, I want to learn from her all-around ability to play not just the center position but various positions."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original