Sports Stars Lee Cheon-soo and Gwok Chae-yi Will Come to Our School

Former and currently sports stars will become a “one-day tutor” in order to stimulate school sports.

On May 18, the Korea Sports Council (KSC) announced that in order to revive the shrunken school sports, it has arranged a “school sports distribution program,” in which sports stars will visit elementary, junior high, and high schools from May 23 to June 27.

With the help of seven sports organizations under the KSC, including track and field, soccer, table-tennis, skating, judo, badminton, and inline skating, and the six professional organizations—the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association(KPGA), the Korea Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association (KLPGA), the Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO), the Korean Basketball League (KBL), and the Korea Ssireum Organization (KSO)— a large number of amateur and professional sports stars will participate in the “school sports distribution program.”

On May 23, the first day of the program, soccer player Lee Cheon-soo (Ulsan), who recently returned to the Korean League, will visit and teach the students of Baekyang Junior High School in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province. And on May 24, Athens Olympic judo gold medalist Lee Won-hee (KRA) will visit Boseong High School in Seoul.

Meanwhile, female volleyball player, Choi Gwang-hee (KT&G) will visit Chugye Elementary School in Seoul on May 27, and marathoner Kim Yi-yong (Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation) will teach basic skills in marathon with Hwang Young-jo, and Jang Jae-geun at Yeongdong Junior High School in Seoul on May 31. Also, on the same day, male professional golfer, Yim Jin-han (Callaway) will teach students at Yipo Junior High and High School in Yeoju City, Gyeonggi Province.

In addition, inline skating star Gwok Chae-yi (Dongan High school), baseball player Kim Dong-joo (Doosan), basketball player Lee Sang-min (KCC), Kim Seung-hyun (Daegu Orions), Yang Hee-seung (SBS), skating star Kim Dong-seong, badminton player Hah Tae-gwon (Samsung Electro-mechanics Corporation), and female professional golfer Song Bo-bae (Superior) will visit other schools in June.

In addition to promoting amateur and professional sports stars’ visit to schools, the KSC distributed the self-made “school sports advertising pamphlet,” and expects these measures to draw the students’ interests and further diffuse students’ participation in sports.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com