Cheering on newspapers, cheering on Busan seagulls digging huge waves… .
This is the baseball culture of Busan, which has the Lotte Giants as its home team. On the 8th, the Kukje Newspaper’s YouTube channel ‘Biditori’ starts a series of ‘Busan Baseball Annals’ dealing with Busan’s baseball culture as a new video content.
‘Busan Baseball Annals’ is a content that deals with the past, present and future stories of Busan baseball by meeting various ‘baseball players’ and ‘amateur teams’ in Busan.
The reporters of ‘Busan Baseball Annals’ visited the ‘Yangjeong Elementary School Baseball Team’ located in Yangjeong-dong, Jin-gu, Busan as the main character of the first story. Yangjeong Elementary School is currently led by Lotte Giants ‘Legend Pitcher’ Joo Hyeong-gwang. Established in June 1990, the school’s baseball team is a prestigious baseball team in Busan that has produced numerous professional players such as Son Ah-seop (NC Dinos), Kim Jun-tae (KT Wiz), Park Dong-won (LG Twins), and Kim Tae-gun (Samsung Lions). . Last year, he won the runner-up in the Busan Preliminary at the Youth Sports Festival, won the Wonwon Sangsa Cup Elementary Baseball Tournament, and earlier this year, won the J-Tree Seo Jeong-Su Cup Baseball Tournament.
Contrary to the stereotype that the training of the sports team would be strict, Yangjeong Elementary School was full of a relatively free atmosphere. This is because coach Joo’s philosophy of wanting his students to play baseball happily was reflected. Although the training was conducted in a free atmosphere, the mindset of the players was never light. The players, who said they would do their best in any situation, poured out thick drops of sweat throughout the training with loud shouts of spirit and serious faces from warm-up to hitting training.
Coach Joo is a one-club man of the Lotte Giants and has been active as a coach for 10 years only with the Lotte Giants. To the reporters of the Busan Baseball Records, a long-time fan of the Lotte Giants, ‘Leader Joo Hyeong-gwang’ was imprinted as the pitching coach of the Lotte Giants. However, the title of ‘Director Joo Hyeong-gwang of Yangjeong Elementary School’ was never awkward. It was because the more I talked with director Joo Hyeong-gwang, the more I could feel his deep affection for his students as well as his solid guiding philosophy.
When asked by reporters to introduce the strengths of Yangjeong Elementary School’s baseball team, coach Joo replied, “Natural atmosphere.” He continued, “Because elementary school baseball is the first step for a baseball player, it is very important in your future baseball life to play baseball with any thoughts. That’s why it’s my goal to make baseball a fun sport in a free atmosphere.”
Director Joo emphasized the basics, saying that he coaches students with an emphasis on ‘basic skills’. He said, “It is important for children who are new to baseball to mature by injecting basic and standard play rather than flashy motion.”먹튀검증
Following coach Joo, the Busan Baseball Records reporters met Yangjeong Elementary School captain Son Han-soo and Kim Hee-ryang. At the request of reporters to choose their favorite professional baseball player, Kim Hee-ryang picked ‘Player Seong-bin Hwang’ of the Lotte Giants and Han-soo Son chose ‘Player Hyung-gwang Joo’. Hee-ryang Kim said that he fell in love with Seong-bin Hwang’s spirited play, and throughout the interview, he constantly expressed his affection for Seong-bin Hwang. Son Han-soo, who is also active as the team’s pitcher, said he chose him as his favorite player because he wanted to emulate the sharp slider of ‘Joo Hwang-gwang’. In response to a mischievous question from the reporters asking if he had chosen it because he was the coach, Son Han-soo replied with a smile, saying that it was a sincere answer.
Although they were 13-year-old boys with youthful faces, their attitude towards baseball was quite serious. Kim Hee-ryang replied that it is important to do his best, such as sprinting all the way to the base in any situation when he enters the plate. Son Han-soo also emphasized the importance of doing his best, saying that players should be persistent in any play.
The end of ‘Busan Baseball Annals’ ended with ‘my future self’ drawn by the performers. Kim Hee-ryang, who participated in the interview that day, said, ‘I want to advance to the major leagues after winning the rookie of the year in Korean professional baseball. And returning to my original team and retiring is my dream,” he said. Captain Son Han-soo expressed his aspirations, saying, ‘I want to advance into Korean professional baseball and join the 20-20 club (20 homers, 20 stolen bases).’
More detailed stories of Yangjeong Elementary School coach Joo Hyeong-gwang and the players can be found in the video.