New start at GS, no reward player pain...Seo Chae-won "This season, I hope to have an interview with Su-hoon!"

Sep 10, 2024

New start at GS, no reward player pain...Seo Chae-won 'This season, I hope to have an interview with Su-hoon!'
photo courtesy of GS Caltex
"You wanted me to bring you here. I'm going to do it carefully."

Middle blocker Seo Chae-won (21) is among the new changes of GS Caltex. After the 2023-2024 season, veteran middle blockers Jung Dae-young and Han Soo-ji, who served as pillars of the team, retired. Kang So-hwi, the main striker, became a free agent (FA) and moved to Korea Expressway Corporation, and Libero Han Da-hye also wore a Pepper Savings Bank uniform as an FA.

Seo Chae-won left Pepper Savings Bank and moved to GS Caltex as a compensation player for Han Da-hye's FA. After joining Pepper Savings Bank as the third overall pick in the first round of the rookie draft in the 2021-2022 season, he moved to the team in three years. Seo Chae-won said "Actually, I had a lot of hard times in my previous team. At the same time, I heard a lot about it with my team members. It was a little hard, he said. "But I didn't feel sad coming to GS Caltex itself."."

Because he doesn't care about his status as an FA compensation player. He said "Didn't he want me to bring him from the team. So I want to show myself and I think it will be a new opportunity" I am determined thinking positively.

Lee Young-taek, the new coach, was a famous middle blocker when he was active. It clearly penetrates Seo Chae-won's strengths and weaknesses and teaches him how to grow into a better player. Seo Chae-won is absorbing director Lee's teaching as it is. Seo Chae-won said "The director said a lot about the importance of middle blockers, but he explains them delicately one by one."

He said "My height (181cm) is small for a middle blocker, so I have to move quickly. I always think that we have to move as fast as the director said"He said, "You make sure that I play my role and tell me that I will do better if I make up for my lack of blocking or aggression."

Coach Avo Kiyoshi, who has newly joined coach Lee, is also teaching Seo Chae-won his know-how. He emphasized the blocking part as well as the timing and swing of the attack. It tells me that I need to put my arm in more when I'm blocking and the timing of the fastball."

New start at GS, no reward player pain...Seo Chae-won 'This season, I hope to have an interview with Su-hoon!'
photo courtesy of GS Caltex
At the same time, "I think I need to block better like a middle blocker." I want to make sure I don't make mistakes in the second-stage connection, serve, etc. I think I have to move quickly and make the opponent suffer even in the attack,' he said without hesitation in his role in the team.

The previous team, Pepper Savings Bank, was a new team and the team itself was young, but GS Caltex also played in the trend of generational change. He joined the team anew, but the atmosphere of the team is not unfamiliar. At the same time, I'm cheering up and communicating a lot.

Seo Chae-won said, `We have to communicate more with each other because we are made up of young players,' adding, `If there are many young players, if one makes a mistake and loses confidence, it seems to spread quickly. The more I do, the more I talk about communicating, encouraging, and overcoming it. I'm doing a lot of fighting, too."

"The coach also doesn't like young players being discouraged at all, and he pursues to play what they want to play even if they make mistakes and make mistakes boldly," he said.

Seo Chae-won also heard that GS Caltex is a weak player this season. However, during the off-season training in Japan, he shook his head at the evaluation of their underdogs. He said "I don't think we're that weak because we're playing a Japanese practice game. I don't think it's weak."

Then "I don't think there's a big difference in skills. I think it depends on the atmosphere. You can go higher if you get in the atmosphere."

"I want to have an interview with a trainee this season.", he shyly revealed his personal goals.





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