[Jeong Gyu-young's Gongseonunhak⑦] The Desirable Role of Member Sports Organizations under the Korea Sports Council (Part 1)

Editor's NoteAsia Economy is running a series of expert contributions to suggest directions necessary for improving the structural problems of sports in the Republic of Korea and achieving harmony among professional sports, recreational sports, and school sports. Jung Kyu-young, president of the nonprofit organization "Gongbuhaneun Seonsu Undonghaneun Haksaeng (Gongseonunhak)," offers his proposals. Having studied at Stanford Graduate School and served as the captain of the university's fencing team, President Jung established the nonprofit in 2015 to introduce the American school sports system he observed there into Korea, promoting it through publicity and scholarship projects. He plans to point out the limitations of the domestic student-athlete admission system, school sports management, sports club development, and sports federation operations, comparing overseas cases and suggesting future directions.

Jung Kyu-young, President of the Studying Athletes Exercising Students Association / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Currently, the member sport organizations under the Korea Sports Council consist of 62 full members and 7 associate members. There are also 11 recognized organizations such as special martial arts, yoga, and e-sports. Each association or federation spends operating expenses ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of billions of won annually, combining sponsorships from presidents, various companies and individuals, and budget support from the Korea Sports Council.

It is not an exaggeration to say that until now, the purpose of operating each sport organization has been elite athlete development and winning Olympic medals. When combined with budgets for national sports colleges, graduate schools, and athlete villages, an enormous budget has mainly been used for a very small number of elite sports.

Various corruptions and irregularities have continuously surfaced from many sports associations and federations, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established a "Four Evils Reporting Center," leading to many prosecutorial investigations. Due to numerous reports and accusations, the Four Evils Reporting Center earned the stigma of being a "death list for the sports world," and tragically, there were cases where innocent sportspeople took their own lives due to false reports and slander.

What have we learned from this tragedy? It is time to reconsider the image of sports as education rather than solely aiming for Olympic medals, and to change the operation methods of sport organizations to align with the role of expanding the base of recreational sports and promoting public health, based on university sports teams centered on "student-athletes."

Open the Closed National Team Selection Competitions
Single Tournament for Both Amateur and Professional Athletes
Assign National Team Qualification by Ranking Points

The most urgent change is to organize the numerous competitions held by each association or federation and to reform the national team selection competitions first. Every year, numerous competitions are held by the 62 full member sport organizations under the Korea Sports Council. There are tournaments such as the President’s Cup, Minister’s Cup, Chairman’s Cup, and sport-specific competitions, with separate amateur tournaments, and even the national team selection competitions are held separately. Let’s point out that the national team selection competitions, which exist separately from various tournaments with different names, further separate recreational sports from elite sports.

Many national team selection competitions in various sports are still held behind closed doors, with only athletes, coaches, referees, and some tournament officials allowed entry. By blocking public interest, the sport organizations themselves have caused many issues regarding the fairness of athlete selection.

Currently, the process for a specific athlete to become a national team member in Korea involves registering as an elite athlete with the association or federation from elementary or middle school, participating in youth and middle/high school federation competitions, then advancing to middle or high schools with professional elite sports teams, continuously competing in registered tournaments to build skills, and entering universities or sports colleges with elite sports teams in that sport. Some join corporate or professional sports teams. During this process, they compete in youth and general national team selection competitions to challenge for national team membership.

The general public has little way of knowing how well an athlete must perform in which competition to become a national team member, who is currently likely to be on the national team, or the rankings of specific athletes in elementary, middle/high school, university, youth, or general divisions. National team members simply emerge according to the national team selection competitions. In this process, the athlete’s management by the sport organization’s affiliated officials and school elite sports coaches is essential.

Last year's match at the 'USA International Fencing Federation Championship' hosted by the United States Fencing Association and the corporation 'Studying Athletes Exercising Students' / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Conversely, let’s look at the United States, where recreational sports are well established and student-athletes who have learned sports as an important subject in education and graduates are the core of the national team. To conclude, the U.S. does not have separate national team selection competitions; only a few single tournaments recognized by the associations or federations are held annually. Each tournament awards ranking points by placement, which are publicly disclosed in real time, and national team members are selected based on the total points. Even when competing in international tournaments outside the U.S., ranking points are awarded per event, so there is no obstacle to becoming a national team member.

This method makes the national team selection process transparent, attracts public interest, and prevents suspicion. The sport organizations hold tournaments and actively engage in marketing and promotion to draw public attention to their sports. Schools regard the sport as an important educational tool and support student-athletes representing the school to balance study and sports, but do not manage them under school elite sports coaches or send them to competitions. Athletes train individually and compete in tournaments, meeting and competing with elites, amateurs, and recreational players in the same venue. In other words, local communities cheer on student-athletes who train through sports clubs, compete in tournaments, and become national team members.

Student-athletes do not consider national team membership as the exclusive domain of elite sports. In other words, the phrase "a dragon emerged from a small stream" is not unfamiliar. If everyone recognizes that the opportunity to become a national team member is open to all, it will greatly help establish recreational sports. (To be continued)

Jung Kyu-young, President of Gongbuhaneun Seonsu Undonghaneun Haksaeng and CEO of Lorus Enterprise

☞ Reference

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak①] 'The Essence of Sports is Education'... This Comes First

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak②] Stanford, Yale, Harvard... Secrets of American Elite University Sports (Part 1)

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak③] Instilling the 'Champion Mindset'... Secrets of American Elite University Sports (Part 2)

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak④] Thanks to Sports... A Student’s Story of Admission to an American Elite University, White House Invitation, and Employment in Finance

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak⑤] To Produce Student-Athletes Who Excel Academically, Painters, and Musicians... "Universities Should Have the Right to Select Students"

[Jung Kyu-young’s Gongseonunhak⑥] Sports Clubs Are Not the Government’s Job... They Should Be Left to the Market