Challenge to Korean Air and Hyundai Capital! Coach Ramirez of KB, leveraging her experience with the Korea national team, aims to break the 'two-horse race'... "We will treat every match as a final"

*This content was translated by AI.

Isanaye Ramirez (43), who once again elevated the international competitiveness of the Korea Nam Ja-bae-gu (CEO) team, has taken the helm at KB Insurance Stars and thrown down a challenge to the 'two giants,' Korean Air and Hyundai Capital.

Coach Ramirez met with reporters on the 5th at the Nambu Culture and Arts Center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, ahead of the launch ceremony for the 2026-2027 season, stating, "Korean Air and Hyundai Capital are strong teams that everyone acknowledges. Therefore, I plan to prepare for matches against these two teams as if they were finals, and I want to secure as many match points as possible."

Previously, KB Insurance officially announced the appointment of Coach Ramirez as its 12th head coach. Coach Ramirez, who had led the Korea Nam Ja-bae-gu (CEO) team until the 4th, signed a formal contract with KB Insurance immediately upon completing her term.

KB Insurance has also created a momentum worthy of challenging for the top spot. After falling to last place in the 2023-2024 season, they rebounded to second place in the regular league in the 2024-2025 season with a record of 24 wins and 12 losses, accumulating 69 match points. Despite setbacks such as the closure of their home arena and the failure to appoint a head coach at the time, they achieved a nine-game winning streak and went undefeated in eight matches at their temporary home venue, Gimin University, advancing to the playoffs.

Last season, they secured third place in the regular league with 19 wins and 17 losses, accumulating 58 match points, but suffered a complete defeat with a score of 0-3 in the single-game quarterfinal against WooCard. Although they have finished in the upper ranks for two consecutive seasons recently, they have failed to climb the final one or two steps.

Coach Ramirez acknowledged the realistic championship competition landscape while clearly stating her goal to exploit any gaps. She did not focus solely on Korean Air and Hyundai Capital. Having overseen the Korea Nam Ja (CEO) team for three years, Coach Ramirez has witnessed the growth of the seven clubs in the V-League men's division. She predicted that Samsung Fire would become stronger than last season, mentioned KEPCO's reinforcement of its roster and OK Savings Bank's stability, and forecasted, "Other teams have also improved significantly. It seems like it will be a very difficult and interesting season."

Her assessment of KB Insurance was also positive. Coach Ramirez said, "KB is a very strong team with good players," adding, "Unfortunately, I believe there were aspects where we did not achieve results that could have been fully obtained due to various circumstances over the past few seasons."

She continued, "The V-League will not be easy, but just as I did with the national team, I want to make the players believe in what they are capable of. My goal is to grow KB into an even stronger team."

The emphasized keyword was 'winning mentality.' Having valued the ability to reproduce normal performance under pressure during her time with the national team, she plans to train not only skills and tactics but also mental aspects at KB Insurance as well.

Coach Ramirez explained, "Today, we play volleyball amidst a wealth of information. It is extremely important to produce the performance we are capable of in any situation and under any pressure." She added, "In training, we will assign various situations involving pressure to see if we can actually produce the same performance. The strength to get back up even after losing a match is very important."

She then emphasized, "This aspect does not suddenly arise during matches. It must be consistently repeated every day, in every moment, and in all training. That is how we will build a winning mentality."

During the off-season, KB Insurance prepared for the new season by completing a training camp in Japan, centered around acting head coach Ha Hyun-yong (44) and the coaching staff. Although main scorer Andres Viena left and Im Seong-jin enlisted in the military, confidence emerged within the club that they have "sufficient power to aim for the championship," including their new roster.

Coach Ramirez aims to imprint her own style on the team. In response to reporters' questions about what kind of volleyball she wants to show, she answered, "KB Insurance has various players capable of playing fast games. However, the part I particularly want to develop right now is play when the ball drops from the net. In modern volleyball, approximately 40% of plays occur outside the system, that is, in situations where the ball has dropped from the net."

She continued, "Of course, we can keep the team alive with fast play, but I want to focus on making KB Insurance a better team in high-ball situations resulting from counterattacks. I want to build a system that adds strong serving to this," outlining her vision.

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*This content was translated by AI.