IZZO DOES IT AGAIN (IN ANOTHER SPORT) Former Spartan Standout Katie Johnson Welcomes New Challenge

Johnson accepts a contract to play professional volleyball in Korea.  EAST LANSING, Mich. -  Most college students board a flight around the winter

Johnson accepts a contract to play professional volleyball in Korea. 

 

EAST LANSING, Mich. -  Most college students board a flight around the winter holidays to go home and visit their families; not former Michigan State volleyball star Katie Johnson (Brooklyn, Mich./Columbia Central). Johnson boarded a Korea-bound plane at 1 a.m. on Christmas morning to pursue a professional volleyball career. 

 

After watching highlight tapes of Johnson’s honorable mention All-Big Ten season, especially the Spartans’ heartbreaking loss to No. 2 Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16, many professional leagues had reached out for her services. After consulting with her family, the MSU coaching staff and even Spartan head basketball coach Tom Izzo, Johnson decided to hold off her final semester of academics at Michigan State, promising that she will eventually finish her degree, and continue to follow her passion. 

 

Johnson, third on the MSU career kills list with 547, has now suited up in two contests with the Korean Expressway Women’s Volleyball team, based just outside of Seoul. It has been an adjustment in every aspect for Johnson, especially overcoming the language barrier. 

 

“My teammates are very nice but the language barrier makes relationships almost impossible,” said Johnson. “No one here, except for my interpreter, speaks English, and even my interpreter isn’t very fluent in it. I basically just nod my head. Luckily the coaches are patient with me, and use a lot of hand signals and physically show me where they want me to go.” 

 

Aside from the verbal obstacles, Johnson has had to deal a different style of volleyball, along with a change in position – she is currently playing right side in Korea, after mainly attacking from the left for MSU. 

 

“The game is a lot different from American volleyball,” explained Johnson. “A few rules here and there are different, but I think that the speed of the game and the defense are the biggest things. Everyone here can play defense; even middle hitters can defend like crazy. The offenses are so quick and so low to the net that I’m having trouble adjusting my block. I’m used to girls jumping so high and cranking the ball to the 10-foot line. Here, they use so many shots and they hit so quickly, that you just have to take up an area and let your defense dig around you.” 

 

Johnson and her teammates all live in a house together with the male coaches living on the bottom floor and all the athletes occupying the upper levels. Everyday, they meet for meals, lift weights, run and then practice.  

 

“The culture here is very different,” said Johnson. “Age plays a huge role. The younger players do things like water bottles, help prepare food, etc. When a coach or an older player enters the room, everyone gets up, greets them and bows.”  

 

She is quickly realizing how big the sport of volleyball is in Korea. The league consists of only five teams, each of which is only allowed one foreign-born player, but according to Johnson, they all are “treated like movie stars.” 

 

Having joined the Korean Expressway team with about two months left in the regular season, she has a short amount of time to settle in and continue to live out a dream.