A new coach and a new roster. GS Caltex is preparing for the new season with a lot of changes. There are concerns, but head coach Lee Young-taek is confident.
The media day for the 2024-2025 GS Caltex Seoul KIXX Volleyball Team was held at the GS Caltex Cheongpyeong Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do on the 28th. “There are definitely strengths that our team has, so if we maximize them, I’m confident that we won’t have as bad a season as you’re worried about,” said Lee.
Lee was appointed as the new head coach of GS Caltex in March. “In order to change into a team that does not collapse easily and design a new future, we considered several candidates, and after careful consideration, 토토사이트 we chose Lee Young-taek, who has a young leadership that emphasizes communication with players,” the club explained at the time.
With a new coach in Lee Young-taek and a new season, GS Caltex is a different team than last year. The team’s mainstays Kang So-hwi and Handa-hye left through free agency to join Korea Expressway Corporation and Pepper Savings Bank, respectively, while Choi Eun-ji moved to Heungkuk Life. The team added Choi Ga-eun and Seo Chae-won as compensation. Overall, the team has become younger.
Coach Lee Young-taek said, “After I took over, the composition of the players became younger and changed. It felt like a new start. “The players are following me very hard, and I think the preparation is going well without any major injuries. We’ve got a lot of younger players, so I’m hoping to make this a season of change and growth for them. So far, I think it’s going very well according to the plan.”
Despite the re-signing of last season’s top foreign player Giselle Silva and the addition of Australian and German Stephanie Weiler as Asian quarters, there are some concerns about GS Caltex this season due to the younger and different age of the roster.
“I’m not saying we’re going to finish second or win the title, but we definitely have our strengths, so if we maximize them, I’m confident that we won’t have as bad a season as you might think,” Lee assured.
“Other clubs have changed foreign players, but we have Silva, who was the best player last year. “I think the first thing is to manage Silva well,” he said. ”When I heard that the transfer of senior players such as Kang So-hwi and Handa Hye created a hole, I also thought about it. People around me are also concerned about that, but captain (Yoo) Seo-yeon and other players are not players who haven’t played at all. They played their roles, so I don’t think it’s a season to worry about,” he said.
“Last season, GS was a team that didn’t benefit from the Asian Quarterfinals, but Stephanie came in and has been training very hard. We selected Stephanie because we thought she had a weapon to give us from the start,” he said, ”If we can synergize in that area, I think we will be able to achieve the results we expect.”