[Anchor]
Ace player Son Seo-yeon, who is leading our national team to three consecutive wins at the FIVB U-17 Girls' World Championship, is drawing attention for her rapid growth. Late last year, she went on a training program to Italy, where she realized the high barriers of international competition. Just eight months later, she is dominating that very Italian national team and establishing herself as a global prospect.
Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the story.
[Reporter]
Son Seo-yeon led South Korea to its first championship in 45 years at the U-16 Asian Championship last November, winning the tournament MVP.
However, a month later, she realized she was a big fish in a small pond.
Accompanied by 13 other prospects, she went on a short-term training trip to volleyball powerhouse Italy hosted by the Korea Volleyball Association, suffering a shocking three consecutive losses in practice matches against the Italian U-16 national team and club teams.
[Son Seo-yeon / U-17 Women's Volleyball National Team (Last November): Since it was my first time playing against European players, I think I was surprised by how powerful they were. Because the opponents were tall players, I thought I needed to think more about things like attacks.]
That painful experience in Italy became the driving force behind her leap forward.
She steadily participated in age-group training to hone her skills, and her confidence grew even more as she grew 2 cm taller, reaching 183 cm.
In her debut on the global stage at the current U-17 World Championship, she dominated the court and rose to the top of the scoring ranks. In particular, against Italy—the team she helplessly lost to eight months ago—she poured in 23 points to secure a 3-1 victory, leading the national team's winning streak to three games.
[Son Seo-yeon / U-17 Women's Volleyball National Team: Having experienced it once before meeting them this time, I think it helped in a positive way, and I was less flustered than the first time.]
Son Seo-yeon vows not to settle and to become an even greater player.
[Son Seo-yeon / U-17 Women's Volleyball National Team: I wanted to see and learn from the strength of players from other countries and how they manage their games, and I will work hard to become a better player.]
(Video by: Lee Jae-sung, Footage provided by: ENA Sports SOOP)
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