Former Hyundai Capital coach Taewoong Choi (48) lived a brilliant volleyball life. Since I first encountered a volleyball in the third grade of elementary school, I have always been at the center of the court for about 40 years until last year. When he was a player, he played an active role as a ‘famous setter’, and after becoming a coach, he continued to try new things and was called a ‘master coach.’
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which he worked for during his days of unemployment, posted an unprecedented performance of 77 consecutive wins along with 9 consecutive Super League losses. Even after the launch of professional volleyball, he lifted the championship trophy several times. In 2000, he participated in the Sydney Olympics wearing the Taegeuk symbol. After finishing his career as a player at Hyundai Capital, he immediately became a manager without going through coaching. He led the team for nine seasons and led the team to the top of the V-League twice.
He stepped down from his position as Hyundai Capital’s head coach at the end of last year and is currently living a new life in his late 40s.
After quitting directing, he began working in earnest on two things he had wanted to do but had been unable to do. Learning coding and studying English. Former coach Choi said, “I have been interested in data for a long time. I wanted to try extracting only the data I needed from the data provided by the team. “I’ve been learning for five months, but it’s not easy,” he said.
![Taewoong Choi, the ‘famous setter’ who beat cancer through exercise… “The new dream is to advance to the Korean volleyball Olympics.” [이헌재의 인생홈런]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/09/30/130128935.1.jpg "Taewoong Choi, the ‘famous setter’ who beat cancer through exercise… “The new dream is to advance to the Korean volleyball Olympics.” [이헌재의 인생홈런]")
Studying English is also a new challenge. Twice a week, I go to an adult English class in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province and take conversation classes. He said, “There are many teams led by foreign coaches in the new season. “I already thought English was absolutely necessary, but I thought it was a good opportunity to learn it,” he said, laughing. “Even after I graduated from Nam Middle and High School and came to the pros, I was only on the men’s team, so it was awkward at first to take classes with women, but now it’s a lot more comfortable.” .
In July, he also participated in the Level 1 instructor training hosted by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Thanks to my hard work, I also received the ‘Best Coach Award’. He said, “I felt good because it was a long-awaited award.” He said, “Until last year, I lived like a squirrel running around the volleyball court, but these days, I am living proactively by making all my schedules myself.” He added, “Doing something new always seems fun and enjoyable.”
The biggest challenge for him these days is regaining his health. Among them, the ‘war against weight’ is in full swing.
He was under tremendous stress before he resigned from his position as coach at the end of last year due to poor performance. He used to relieve stress by eating for a long time. My weight, which was around 80kg during my prime as a player, went into triple digits. After stepping down from his position as director, he gained even more weight. As I met people I hadn’t seen in a while, the number of drinking parties increased. I easily overcame the 100kg barrier.
To lose weight, you need aerobic exercise such as running. However, he could not even think about playing after having had ankle surgery five times during his time as a player.
It was after receiving an offer to be a commentator that I decided to control my weight in earnest. SBS Sports offered him the position of commentator due to his unique experience and insight into volleyball. He said, “I declined at first because I wasn’t very good at talking. However, I felt that commentary was also a new challenge. Taking on challenges also means being alive. “I accepted it with the mindset of giving it a try, whether it works or not,” he said.
In order to stand in front of TV cameras, I had to lose weight first. This is because being a commentator is not only a job that refers to a job, but it is also a job that is visible.
After deciding to reduce my triple-digit weight to 90kg, I purchased exercise equipment for home training. I continued to do aerobic exercise using rowing machines that did not put too much strain on my ankles. I started exercising in earnest and controlled my diet, losing more than 5kg in just one week.
With a much lighter body, he made his debut as a commentator at the 2024 Tongyeong-Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament (KOVO Cup) held in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do last week. He said, “Thanks to consistent exercise, the suit pants I bought when I was 100kg no longer fit well,” and added, “I will try to maintain a stronger body until the regular season starts.”
Volleyball viewed from outside rather than inside the court seemed refreshing to him. He said, “Personally, I thought I knew a lot about volleyball, but when I watched it while broadcasting, I realized that wasn’t the case. I didn’t know it when I was on the court, but I also realized that so many people are working hard behind the scenes to play in one tournament.”
As a commentator, he can watch the players much more freely than before. In August, I visited each team and observed their practice games, and while watching the games of middle and high school teams, I am also closely watching the prospects. He said, “I think there is no right answer in volleyball. “The team under the new foreign coach also does the same things we did before,” he said. “This season, volleyball that reduces mistakes for each team will be the trend.”
He learned volleyball from two leaders representing Korean men’s volleyball. Shin Chi-yong, former manager of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (currently CEO of Korea Sports Industry Development) and Kim Ho-cheol, former manager of Hyundai Capital (currently director of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea).
During the professional volleyball era, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, led by Coach Shin, literally had no opponents. This is because all the best players of the time, including former coach Choi and Kim Se-jin, Shin Jin-sik and Yeo Oh-hyun, were gathered. Former coach Choi said, “I can laugh and say this now, but at the time, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance’s training volume was such that players from other teams were speechless. However, the more I won and the more I won, the more intense my training became every year,” he said. “I was able to stay at the top for a long time because I had not only technical training but also physical training as the basis.”
Former coach Choi, who seemed to be an eternal Samsung man, suddenly transferred to Hyundai Capital as a compensation player for Park Cheol-woo, who transferred to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance as a free agent in 2010. There he met coach Kim Ho-cheol, a legendary setter.
While on his new team, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with lymph cancer. His goal at the time was “to stand on the court one more time.” It was Director Kim who helped me a lot at that time.
Director Kim trained Director Choi Tae-woong appropriately according to his physical condition. Coach Choi was able to participate in training without too much or too little. He said, “They made me participate in so much training that I couldn’t even remember that I was sick. “Thanks to this, I was able to forget about the pain and focus on exercising.”
Former coach Choi was able to stand on the court again exactly six months after he was first diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery. Although he did not win a championship as a player wearing the Hyundai Capital uniform, he led the team to two wins after becoming a coach.
After becoming a coach, he created a new wind in Korean volleyball. He became a coach without going through a coach, and although there were preconceptions about his lack of experience, he won the championship in his first year in office with various new attempts, including ‘speed volleyball’.
They either used two people in the position of libero, a position specializing in defense, to raise the set, or raised a separate ‘one-point serve specialist’ and used him as a closing pitcher for each set. There was also a volleyball game where four players on the court started to attack at once. He said, “I received a lot of criticism at first, but I think I was able to make a somewhat reckless attempt because I had no coaching experience.”
He has a new dream these days: becoming the coach of the Olympic team. The last time Korean men’s volleyball participated in the Olympics was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Korea failed to advance to the quarterfinals at the Olympics, where it competed with the best players of its time, including Kim Se-jin and Shin Jin-sik. However, defeating the United States in that tournament was a great achievement. Former coach Choi said, “The United States, which lost to us at the time, took fourth place at the Athens Olympics four years later as its member, and won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.”
He said, “Japan, whose height is similar to ours, has maintained its place in the top 10 in the world and is consistently competing on the Olympic stage.” He added, “Japanese athletes are small in height, but have high speed and elasticity. “It means that even those of us with similar physical conditions can do it,” he said.
In the long term, we plan to use our efforts to consistently develop players from youth to adult teams. He said, “In a situation where the player base is decreasing, we need to have a system that can extend from elementary, middle, and high schools to youth and adult teams,” and added, “I will try to return the love I received through volleyball to the fans in some way.”
2024-10-02 00:40:32