After barely playing last season due to a panic disorder, Cheongju KB star Park Ji-soo (25-photo) has returned to health this season and is looking like her old self again.
However, Park hasn’t been happy in her last few games. The team has been winning, but her scoring and field goal percentage have been low. After scoring 17 points in the first game of the season against Asan Woori Bank, but shooting just 33.3% from the field, Park Ji-soo shot below 50% in the next three games against Bucheon Hana OneQ (18 points-43.8%), Busan BNK (6 points-42.9%), and Hana OneQ (15 points-27.3%). That’s certainly not good considering Park is a high-probability scorer primarily from under the basket.
Park Ji-soo, who met with the media after her team‘s 50-45 win over Woori Bank on Nov. 27 to become co-leaders, was cautious in her comments. “I think I’ve been thinking, ‘How many threes did I make today? I think I’ve been thinking, ‘How many throws did I make today and how many did they go in?’ I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately because I haven’t scored as many points and made as many field goals as I thought I would.”
After a shaky start, Park scored 18 points (16 rebounds) and shot 53.3% from the field in the Woori Bank game, a significant improvement from her previous games.
Two people played a crucial role in Park Ji-soo’s comeback and record-breaking performance. First, Lee Kyung-eun, the top assistant at Shinhan Bank in Incheon. “The other day, I got a call from her,” Park said. I was on the national team at the Asian Games, and I talked to her a lot, getting advice and leaning on her psychologically,” Park said. “I was very worried about her, wondering if something was wrong with her, if she was sick,” Park said. Although Lee didn’t give Park any specific advice or counsel, it was still an opportunity for Park to reflect on the attention she was receiving and her own mindset.
Another was KB head coach Kim Wan-soo. “He called me aside before the game, and at first I thought I was going to get in trouble,” Park laughed, “but then he asked me how low (my stats) had dropped. He compared them to my stats from the season we won the championship, and said that although my scoring and field goal percentage had dropped a little bit, I had career highs in other areas like rebounds, assists, and steals, and I had my averages, so I told him to be confident.” “He said, ‘You’re human, too. You can make mistakes, you can’t be perfect,'” he said. “He said, ‘You’re human, you can make mistakes, you can’t be perfect.’ I was so grateful, and it gave me courage again,” she said.