Star basketball player turned coach Hyun Joo-yeop, who is serving as the head coach of the Seoul Whimoon High School basketball team, has reportedly been the subject of a petition submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education accusing him of neglecting his duties due to appearances on broadcasts. In response, the parents of the Whimoon High School basketball team released a statement calling it a "malicious complaint impersonating insiders."
On the 18th, the parents of the Whimoon High School basketball team stated, "All parents of the Whimoon High School basketball team would like to express the following position," adding, "This incident has been severely distorted as only one party’s claims were reported as facts without any investigation of Coach Hyun Joo-yeop or us parents, which compelled us to clarify the situation ourselves."
The parents first said, "It is completely untrue that the parents of the Whimoon High School basketball team submitted a petition to the Office of Education." They explained, "After confirming with all parents, we verified that this incident is a slanderous complaint impersonating an insider of the high school team," and added, "Therefore, all parents have defined the content of this petition as a malicious act intended to defame Coach Hyun Joo-yeop."
Furthermore, the parents disagreed with the claim that Coach Hyun neglected training due to broadcast filming. They explained, "Coach Hyun’s once-a-week filming schedule was a matter on which all high school parents had already given prior consent, and he was appointed as coach on the premise that he could hold concurrent positions with the school’s approval." They also added, "Even when filming did not cause him to miss training, he always attended night or weekend training sessions to cover any shortcomings," emphasizing, "Compared to the previous coach, the training time and volume were significantly greater."
Regarding criticism that Hyun Joo-yeop was absent during a practice game held at another school and thus could not respond immediately to a basketball player’s injury, the parents rebutted, saying, "If they had contacted us to verify even the most basic facts, such content would never have been reported," and stated, "This is not true." They added, "At that time, we immediately contacted the parents to inform them and promptly arranged for emergency room transfer," and "We also took appropriate and proactive measures, including confirming the player’s ability to attend training camps afterward."
The parents emphasized, "There are many instances where unverified facts are heard from sources with malicious intent and reported as if they were true," and stressed, "Because many false claims are being maliciously spread, we have decided to respond actively."
Earlier, reports emerged that a petition had been submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education accusing Coach Hyun Joo-yeop of abusing his authority by frequently missing training and practice games due to broadcast filming. The petition reportedly included allegations of mismanagement of the Whimoon High School basketball team and preferential treatment regarding concurrent positions. In particular, the complainants claimed that Coach Hyun often missed training and practice games due to filming for broadcasts or YouTube, and that he had skipped training and practice games on occasion.
Hyun Joo-yeop, a former national basketball player and active broadcaster, was appointed head coach of the Whimoon High School basketball team in November last year. While high school basketball coaches typically focus solely on coaching duties, it is known that concurrent positions are possible at the discretion of the school principal.
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