Kim Yeon-koung says she isn't finished with Pink Spiders yet

Volleyball

Published: 09 Apr. 2024, 10:47 Updated: 09 Apr. 2024, 17:18

Kim Yeon-koung says she isn't finished with Pink Spiders yet

Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders' Kim Yeon-koung speaks after winning the 2023-24 V League MVP award at TheK Hotel in southern Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

V League MVP Kim Yeon-koung has committed to staying with the Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders despite finishing the 2023-24 season without any silverware.

“I considered a lot about [retirement],” Kim, 36, said after being named MVP on Monday at TheK Hotel in southern Seoul. “I think fans still have a huge desire to watch me play volleyball. I will do my best next season to show fans that I am at the top again.”

Kim's contract with the Pink Spiders expired at the end of the 2023-24 season. She signed the one-year deal last year after earning free agency for the first time in her storied career.

At the time, Kim said she had considered retirement at the end of the 2022-23 season after failing to win the championship — although she won her fourth league title — with the Incheon side, but instead signed that one-year contract extension with the hope of sweeping both titles this year.

But the 2023-24 campaign turned out to be a disappointment for the Pink Spiders.

Despite the veteran outside hitter’s impressive performance throughout the season — during which she scored 775 points as the sixth top scorer in the league and the team’s top scorer — the Pink Spiders finished as runners-up both in the league and championship, ceding both titles to Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate.

The points she scored was a personal best over the seven seasons she has spent in the V League, with her previous record being 756 in the 2005-06 campaign.

Her stats suggest that she is still a core player in the squad despite being 36 years old.

Kim’s career spans 19 years, but the Pink Spiders remain the only V League team she has ever played for.

She first started her career with the Pink Spiders in 2005, but moved overseas to play in Japan, Turkey and China. She returned to the V League in 2020 for one season, automatically rejoining the Pink Spiders as the Incheon club still held her contract rights in the domestic league.

Kim then jetted off to Shanghai after the 2021 season to join the Shanghai Bright Ubest Women's Volleyball Club, returning to the team four years after she led it to the top of the Chinese Super League in the 2017-18 season to snap a 17-year drought.

Kim rejoined the Pink Spiders again ahead of the 2022-23 season. Throughout her career with the Pink Spiders, Kim has won the league four times, in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2023, and the championship three times, in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

Kim has yet to sign a new contract extension with the Pink Spiders as of press time Tuesday.

She cannot join a different V League team as a free agent, as V League rules stipulate that a player who earned free agency cannot earn the status again until three seasons after gaining it.

The Pink Spiders have some time to rework the squad ahead of the 2024-25 season that kicks off in October. The free agent market is already open, with some big names like outside hitters Kang So-hwi and Park Hye-min available to sign deals until April 18.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]