In his playing days, he was a right back for South Korea. His nickname was “World Star.” After retiring from active play, he became a broadcast commentator and was praised for his witty remarks and ability to pinpoint the pulse of the game. After becoming the first head coach of OK Financial Group, which was founded in 2013 without a coach, she won the V-League championship in the second and third years of the organization (2014-2015 and 2015-2016).
Kim Se-jin, 49, a volleyball player who has risen to the top in each of her roles. On July 1, she took over as the head of the Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO)’s match operations department. We recently sat down with Kim at the KOVO headquarters in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, to discuss her three months in the role, what she hopes to accomplish as an administrator, and the future of Korean volleyball.
“I am very curious. Since I have been a player, manager, and commentator for a long time, I thought I could play a role as a bridge to communicate, so I chose another field, administrator.” “For three months, I have been coming to KOVO every day and doing administrative tasks that I didn’t know before. At the KOVO Cup in Gumi in late July/early August, I was not only carrying the load, but also running around on my feet. It was a warm-up for the upcoming V-League, a six-month long campaign,” he said, looking back on the past three months.
The head of KOVO’s operations department oversees the game committee and referee committee, and is responsible for all aspects of game operations, including referee decisions. “My principle is that the efforts of the players, who must have sweated so much for one point, should not be wasted by a single decision,” Kim said. “In the past, referees used to say, ‘You must have authority when you are on the refereeing platform,’ but my opinion is different. There is no referee authority. There is only a center,” he explained. “I think my role is to soften the habits and authority that referees have, and I emphasize the need to be consistent and equitable. If there is a complaint about a call, I’m telling them to respond to it, not avoid it.”
Korean volleyball is in crisis. Both the men’s and women’s teams have been nothing short of disastrous at international competitions. It’s been a long time since they’ve been on the fringes of the world, and even their pride as a top-ranked team in Asia has been eroded by the Asian Games bronze medal.
“Strengthening international competitiveness is not something that can be done overnight,” Kim said. “As the head of operations, I’m not in a position to talk about the players’ technical skills, so my advice is to develop youth volleyball, which is the root of Korean volleyball. We need to create a place where young people with good height and athleticism can choose volleyball, and V-League teams need to create an institutional system to develop players from elementary, middle and high schools in their hometown. “It may seem absurd to ask corporate clubs to give up profits and make bold investments, but they need to make investments that are not just for the immediate future, but for the next 10 or 20 years. If the sport is not internationally competitive, its popularity will decline. If fewer and fewer students are playing volleyball, the league will completely collapse. In the end, the answer is to develop youth players.”
One of the reasons Kim joined KOVO, after putting aside any thoughts of returning to coaching for the time being, was to be able to touch the systems 카지노 and administration of volleyball, including youth development. “Coming to KOVO, I can see how each club operates. I’m learning a lot. If I return to the field as a coach one day, I think this experience will be a great asset.”
Kim’s contract is for one year. Come July of next year, it may or may not be extended. “I have a one-year contract, so I’m moving fast and having fun. I’m determined to have more fun and work harder.”