I only do serve training at night. What's wrong with me?"
Kim Se-bin (19), a middle blocker of the Korea Expressway Corporation, was selected as the first overall pick in the rookie draft held in September last year. Kim Se-bin, who is 187 centimeters tall and has solid basic skills, was natural as the No. 1 overall pick no matter which team has the top pick. After losing free agent Park Jeong-ah to Pepper Savings Bank during the off-season, Korea Expressway Corporation chose Lee Go-eun, a key setter at Pepper Savings Bank, as its compensation player. Pepper Savings Bank, which excluded Lee from the protected player due to a miscalculation, lost the right to Choi Ga-eun and the first round of the 2023-2024 rookie draft in the process of bringing Lee back.
Pepper Savings Bank, which was able to score 35 beads at the bottom of the list in the 2022-2023 season, was replaced with the first overall pick, which meant Korea Expressway Corporation's Kim Se-bin was nominated. Coach Kim Jong-min smiled and called Kim Se-bin's name first during the draft event.
Kim Se-bin is growing robustly amid coach Kim's full-fledged opportunity to play. In recent professional volleyball, it is difficult for a rookie to become the starting pitcher, but Kim Se-bin joined Bae Yuna's middle blocker partner position due to Chung Dae-young's transfer to the FA.
In a showdown with IBK Industrial Bank of Korea in the fourth round of the 2023-2024 V-League Women's fourth round held at Hwaseong Sports Complex on Sunday, Kim Se-bin has been on the court since he replaced the first set and scored eight points including four blocks. He made three attempts at fastballs and all three of them were successful, and he also made two attempts at open attacks. Although he made fewer than five attempts at offense itself, his success rate reached 80 percent.
With Kim Se-bin also playing well as a middle blocker due to the "one-two punch" of Bukirich (35 points) and Bae Yuna (21 points), the Korea Expressway Corporation beat IBK Industrial Bank 3-1 with a set score and reported its first win against IBK Industrial Bank this season. After escaping from the recent two consecutive losses, he added three points to become 22 points (7 wins and 15 losses), narrowing the gap with fifth-ranked Jeong Kwan-jang (30 points, 9 wins and 12 losses), succeeding in continuing his hope for spring volleyball.
On the other hand, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, which lost to Kim Yeon-kyung by giving up three points even after grabbing the match point first in a full-set match against Heungkuk Life on the 4th, showed a lackluster performance on the day and lost for two consecutive games. IBK Industrial Bank, which remained in fourth place with 32 points (11 wins and 11 losses), failed to widen the gap with Chung Kwan-kwan, who played one game less, and its fourth-place success is also on alert.
Kim Se-bin is somewhat disappointed in his offense, but he is gaining 0.550 points per set in blocking by banking on his tall height. He ranks sixth in blocking.
Kim's weak point is serving. Kim Se-bin, who plays as a floater, often makes mistakes on serve. On the day, he even had a serve that he could not overcome the net. He made two mistakes by trying five serves. Kim Se-bin himself is even complaining of burden on serve, to the extent that he made a mistake on serve and shed tears in the last game.
"When I see (Kim) Sebin, he seems to think, 'How can I make mistakes or goofy plays?'" manager Kim Jong-min said before the match. If that happens, I will not be able to play boldly. Since he is still a young player, it will be difficult as professionals demand a lot compared to high school years. Still, he is a fairly good mental player, so we can fix it."
Asked about Kim Se-bin's serve after the match, Kim said, "He seems to feel a lot of pressure on his serve. He doesn't say anything he doesn't dislike even if he makes a mistake. That's because he's afraid he'll feel pressured. He even cried after he missed his serve last time. People around me say it's okay, but I'm worried that I might get traumatized by my serve," and added, "I think I'm mentally making mistakes even when I only hit my serve during night training."
Kim Se-bin, who entered the interview room after being selected as an excellent player, also smiled embarrassingly when asked about his serve. "I haven't been serving very well since recent games. I feel anxious when I go behind the court to hit my serve. I lack confidence. I used to hit him well at night training or practice, but I often make mistakes in every game," he said. "I'm not a player whose strength is serving, but I wasn't this good," he said.
When she heard that she even shed tears due to her poor serve, Kim said, "I was a little mentally deranged before that, but I was so upset when I made my serve mistake that I cried. I hate losing points because of my mistakes. So, as the coach said, "Let's not make mistakes" is my mindset when I play."
GS Caltex's rookie setter Lee Yoon-shin has recently made his first debut as a starting pitcher, emerging as a strong contender in the rookie of the year race. Kim Se-bin also read an article about Lee Yoon-shin. "I want to win the prize because I do better," Kim said. "Yoon-shin is really good. When I was in high school, I threw fast and it was hard to catch up with him. Sometimes I couldn't catch up to the point where I wondered how he could light up the ball."