Canadian opposite hitter, Dallas Soonias, is playing for Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers in the Korean League for the very first time this season. Before arriving in Korea, Dallas has played professionally in Poland, Spain, France, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia & United Arab Emirates. The 205cm lefty has been an active member of Canada‘s national team since 2005.
Read below to find out what he did first, where he went first, the first person who visited him, his first match, his first night and many more!
First delicacy/ meal I tried…
The first dish I got down on in Korea was Korean BBQ, or as I assume they call it… BBQ. Basically there’s a grill built into the middle of the table and you throw your pork and beef or what have you on it n wait for it to cook. While that’s going on you put together something like leaf taco with all sorts of spicy little things to rest your meat on when its finished. Oh and garlic, gotta have garlic. On everything.
First place/spot I visited in Korea…
The first place I visited was the Hyundai Training compound. Its up in some hills because any flat land is used for farming. So the first thing that effected me was the stairs/lack of elevator. The season is half way done and just now am I able to handle the 132 stairs to and from the lunch room.
The first person I met was…
Wonki Lee. He’s one of the club managers so he met me at the airport. Because I’m foolish I expected an older Korean man who spoke very little English to meet me very traditionally with a bow, but thankfully it was this dude is his early thirties who was all, “hey Dallas, whats up?” so that was neat.
First match I played…
Was probably more intense that it had to be. We have a pretty big stadium and it was pretty much full, also there was some boy band performing before us followed by a bunch of promotional stuff for our team so between the super long wait, all the screaming, and way to much running in the halls in the side wings, everyone was tense. Really I should just speak for myself, I, was tense, so much so that we lost 3-1 to a team we thundered later in the season, and I had to leave the match with a leg cramp. Man that was ruff. But things are going better now thank jebus.
First night in Korea felt like or was like…
kind of dreamy. It was a shock that I was here, and I was happy but I was unsure if it was all real. A 16 hour flight will do that too you. I think I slept most of the day.
First impression of Korea…
The first thing I realized was these people work hard. All the time. They really do everything 100%, which is a difficult adjustment at first but the body adjusts to it. For example we will train for 3 hours real hard, the whole time yelling and diving n stuff, then we’ll all eat super fast (with considerably less yelling), then we’ll get on the bus to go to a game, and in 3 mins, everyone will be sleeping so hard. I think it’s the reason the country has built itself up so quickly to what it is today.
First word I learned in Korea…
obviously the first word I learned was hello, and obviously I can not spell I for you now.
First person/s who visited me in Korea…
My parents are going to be the first people to come see me. It’s a little different that a European volleyball schedule where a player has free time to show visitors around. I think it mostly be a waste of a friend to come out here just to chill in a hotel and maybe hang out for an hour a day while I’m beat tired and can’t really conversate anyways.
First weekend in Korea was spent by…
gallivanting around Seoul. Mind you it probably wasn’t the best idea since I was already beat down tired with the pre seasons training regiment, and I arrived with a cold, which took a turn for the worse and beat me down for a solid 5 weeks.
First thing I wanted to do in Korea was…
sleep. oh sweet sweet sleep.
Last thing I wanna do in Korea before I go home would be….
Go to the memorial to the soldiers who fought in the Korean War. My Granddad was here long before I was. He spent his time here dodging bullets, all I gotta do is hit a ball. I’m very thankful to him and the soldiers he fought with.
Side Dish: Check out this adorable video of Dallas showing off his dancing skills. No wonder he’s becoming the league’s most admired athlete.
Becky Perry is one lucky girl to have him & vice versa!
If you want to follow Dallas’ adventures, click THIS.