"10 players left and 9 new players joined... "It feels like I'm in a new team as a director"
"10 players left and 9 new players joined... "It feels like I'm in a new team as a director"
Blog Article
"It's the players who moved the team, but I feel like I'm in the new team as a coach."
Coach Wi Sung-woo (53), who is preparing for the 2024-2025 season of women's professional basketball, said in a recent interview. This is because team members have changed significantly due to a series of transfers of key players since last season, when the team won its 12th championship game. Guard Park Hye-jin (34) and Park Ji-hyun (24) left Woori Bank in the off-season. Park Hye-jin, who played 16 seasons alone and was named MVP of the championship three times, moved to BNK. Park Hye-jin, who averaged 11.5 points in 489 regular league games, was a leading player in the "Uri Bank Dynasty." Park Ji-hyun (13.3 points on average for 158 games in total) joined the New Zealand League Tokomana and Queens in the 2018-2019 season. "When the two players left the team one after another, I thought, 'Will they be able to manage the team properly next season?' Coach Wi said. Woori Bank has 10 players leaving the team due to transfer and retirement, and nine players joined including Shim Sung-young (32, guard) as a free agent and rookie players.
Prior to Wi's inauguration, Woori was ranked the lowest (6th) in the regular league for four consecutive seasons. Wi has also won seven titles, the most in history as a head coach of the women's professional basketball team, including the overall title in the first season (2012-2013) under Wi's leadership. He also won eight championships, the most among the previous head coaches of the team, at the championship. Even for Wi, it is not easy to fill the vacancy of key players who have already left the team. "People around me have said 'I'm going to be sick again' whenever I say 'I think this season will be very difficult,' but if I say the same thing, people say 'I'm going to be really tired' this year," Wi said.
Coach Wi said that he is preparing for this season with the mindset of starting the second phase of "Satellite Friendship." Coach Wi has strengthened Woori Bank, which was at the bottom of the team 12 years ago, to the strongest team with intense training including mountain running and climbing 108 stairs. Currently, Wi does not engage in training such as climbing stairs, but instead, he is strengthening his physical stamina and teamwork by conducting intensive training on the basketball court. According to a team official, players spend about seven hours a day at the training site even when they go through early morning and night training. "Players who moved from other teams are having a hard time due to the large amount of training," Wi said. "At a time when our team's power is weak, the only thing we can trust is fierce practice." 스포츠토토
Coach Wi said veteran forward Kim Dan-bi (34) should lead the team as a mental prop. Kim Dan-bi (against average score of 13.2 points in 516 games) has been named the MVP of the Championship for two consecutive seasons since moving from Shinhan Bank to Woori Bank in 2022. Notably, he scored 21.8 points on average in four matches during the Championship last season, serving as an ace player. "When recruiting Dan-bi, I told him to come and play comfortably because there are many good players in our team. However, I feel very sorry (for Dan-bi) that Dan-bi has to lead the team alone in two years," Wi said.
Coach Wi has set his new season's goal to advance to the semifinal playoff. He aims to win the championship after reaching the PO level. "I've won a lot of championships, but I feel the best about winning this year," Wi said after winning the championship last season. This is because it was the first time last year that he won the championship as the second-ranked team in the regular season. If his team wins the championship this season, which is in the "rebuilding" of the team, Wi's best career championship could change. "If I win this season, I will be 1,000 times more happy (than last season)," Wi said.
The 2024-2025 women's professional basketball season will open on Thursday. Woori Bank will start the season with an away game against Shinhan Bank in Incheon on Friday.