Overseas Challenges: Finding Strength Abroad

2019 WKBL Rookie Draft No. 1… Woori Season 6 Season Champion wins two times
“It’s really special to play overseas leagues”
Each FA and overseas expansion in Australia
FIBA Asia Cup last month ‘Best 5’

Park Ji -hyun (25), a basketball nomad, starts the 2025-2026 season in the New Zealand Women’s Professional Basketball League Tokomanawa. But at the end of the season, you may be wearing another team uniform. After the New Zealand League, which will be held in September to December, we plan to knock on the European stage early next year. Park Ji -hyun also played in Tokomanawa (3 months) and the Spanish 2nd Division Mallorca Palma (5 months), starting with Australia’s 2nd Bank Bank Town (3 months) last season.

Park Ji -hyun, a national guard for Korean women’s basketball, is conducting personal training in Suwon, Gyeonggi -do, ahead of New Zealand’s departure next month. Park Ji -hyun, who recently met with Bonbo, said, “Overseas league challenges are a very special task and an experience that cannot be paid. We will do our best to play on any team.”

Park Ji -hyun, 182cm tall, has been attracting attention as ‘the future of Korean women’s basketball’ since the days of Soong’s high school. In 2018, he was selected for the first time in a Korean female athlete in the ‘Border Basketball Global Camp’, operated by the US professional basketball (NBA) for prospects around the world. When Park Ji -hyun participated in the international convention during high school, foreign university officials suggested admission and handed business cards.

Park Ji -hyun joined Woori Bank in 2019 with the first place in the women’s professional basketball (WKBL) rookie. After becoming a rookie king in the 2018-2019 season, he won the championship championship twice as he played for Woori Bank for six seasons. Park Ji -hyun’s WKBL 6 -season record is an average of 13.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Park Ji -hyun, who has been eligible for a free agent (FA) since the 2023-2024 season, was able to sign a large contract with the domestic team. But he contracted with Bankstown and headed abroad. It was the first step for the long dream of entering the US Women’s Professional Basketball (WNBA).

Park Ji -hyun said, “I have given up all the time (I can enjoy it in Korea) and went abroad. But I have too many.” He said, “If you work with the players who have good skills and physique, they can feel difficult.

Park Ji -hyun showed a step -by -step growth in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup held in China last month. South Korea lost to China in the third and fourth place, but Park Ji -hyun scored 14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists in six games. He was the only team player who did not win medals, named ‘Best 5’. Park Ji -hyun said, “After finishing the third and fourth place, I was watching the finals at the hostel and received a call from my manager to congratulate you.”

Park Ji -hyun exchanged uniforms with the best player (MVP) Alexandra Fowler (24), the best player to win the Australian championship at the Best 5th Awards. Park Ji -hyun said, “Fowler, who is playing in the Australian 1st League Team (Townsville Fire), asked me, ‘Did you play in New Zealand last year? Where did you run next season?’ Park Ji -soo (27), who played, returned to KB Stars this season, and Park Ji -hyun became the only ‘overseas’ player from WKBL. Park Ji -hyun said, “It is hard to see Korean fans (in overseas leagues), but it was so nice to see many people in the Asian Cup.