In December last year, a movie about women's volleyball was released. As the title entails, the movie depicts a challenging period of a volleyball team aiming at "one win." The story is about a team with a low chance of winning and who does not know how to win, overcomes the crisis and tries to win one.
Coincidentally, a similar team came out of the V-League around the same time. It is GS Caltex, the lowest ranking team in the women's league. The scene where GS, which desperately needed one win to the extent that it lost 14 consecutive games, the most since its foundation, secured its first win after catching the No. 1 team in the New Year's first game looks exactly like the Pink Storm in the movie.
GS was considered the weakest team since the beginning of the season. Though the team is not as strong as the one in the movie, it has forgotten the glory of the treble (champion match, regular league, cup competition) in the 2020-21 season. Over the years, GS has weakened due to transfers and retirements of its key players.
GS, which mainly consisted of inexperienced players, recorded one win and 17 losses in the first half. It had only one win over Pepper Savings Bank in four games in the first round. The team suffered consecutive losses until the end of the first half. It only garnered three points out of 14 consecutive losses. It means that it lost all but three games that it lost in the full set. GS coach Lee Young-taek was also pessimistic enough to shake his head, saying, "The team is so broken."
Just like the Pink Storm players in the movie, GS players also lost confidence. "Every time I played in the game, I could feel the players' atmosphere was depressed. As a captain, I felt a lot of responsibility," said Seo. "Why is the title of the movie 'One win' and why did that movie come out when we lost consecutive games?" Seo said. He added that he had not seen the movie yet. At that time, he felt uncomfortable because GS's performance was similar to that of the team in the movie.
GS, meanwhile, garnered one win at the beginning of the second half of the year. It thus won at a home game in Jangchung on Saturday, the first game of the new year, to escape from consecutive losses. It was all the more joy to have secured No. 1 ranking Heungkuk Life. GS, which won after continuing its full set match, shed tears both on its players and coaches.
It was the result of their efforts. GS made every effort to secure one win during the break period of the All Star games. During the break period of a week, GS rested for only two days and focused on training. Coach Lee Young-taek and foreign player Giselle Silva (registered name Silva) were so intense that they said, "It was hellish training." They spent a lot of time identifying and supplementing problems in the first half.
During the break, GS invited Choi Tae-woong, a former commentator for SBS Sports, to conduct a special training session for three days and two nights. Besides Choi, volleyball leaders close to coach Lee Young-taek visited the team to provide intensive guidance to the players. The team also conducted psychological training to instill "Winning Mentality."
Players are also united around Yoo. "(The captain) is no use talking alone. We all talked together to resolve the crisis," Yoo said. "Players started having more conversations on the court by the time we came out of the losing streak. We talked about 'how to move' and 'how to stop them'. Now we feel comfortable looking into each other's eyes."
As a result, GS was completely upset. After winning the match against Heungkuk Life Insurance, they lost again in two consecutive games, but all of them ended up losing in the full set. They showed persistence. On the 19th, they shut down Pepper Savings Bank, which had been on the rise, and secured three wins (19 losses) this season. With two wins and seven points from four games in the second half, GS laid the groundwork for its team to escape from the bottom. 메이저사이트
After the game, head coach Lee Young-taek said, "I think the players wanted to win. The strategy I promised fit. There were some crises, but the players did not panic and overcame them." He began to have the 'winning mentality' he had hoped for so much.
"I felt that I lacked the strength to overcome the crisis compared to other teams because I had many young players in my team, but I gained confidence after watching this win," Yoo said. "I've never had such a long losing streak. I felt it was really difficult to win one game. Such a moment will surely be a great nourishment for us. I am thinking about how to overcome the crisis and win (as a captain)."