Diving Training for National Archery Team

˝I can`t do this. It is too much for me. ˝ Ahn Se-jin (Daejeon City Hall) and Kim Moon-jeong (Korea University) were just about to cry. They just flopped down on the diving board 7.5m high above the water.

Time was just running – 10, 20 and 30 minutes. Down under teammates and coaches were shouting loudly, ˝You can do it. ˝ But their legs started shaking every time they tried to stand up.

About an hour passed and Ahn dived down into the water. Kim was left alone. She pulled herself together as her younger teammate Im Dong-hyun climbed up and held her hand to encourage her. Then, she threw herself into the air. For that short moment, she was standing up there for almost one hour.

It was a hard training session the national archery team had in Asan indoor swimming pool on Feb. 5. It was just another unique way the team had invented to train players hard.

Women players turned pale as they were sent to higher above the water from 1m to 3m, 5m, 7m and 10m. Men chose to jump down immediately.

Yun Mi-jin surprised her teammates most. Unable to swim, she was all pale at first on the 1m-high board. But the Sydney Olympic medallist got braver as she moved up.

˝I was up there again to get my towel and found my older teammates too afraid to jump down. So I did it again to encourage them, ˝ she said with a big smile. It was just like her. She has always been daring and aggressive with her play.

Earlier this year, the team walked for four hours at night along the Han River. With the diving training now successfully completed, wonder what the team`s next mission will be like.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com