South Korea to support grassroots sport development

Picture of the Korea Football Association(KFA)

“Let’s be NEIGHbours," said the European Union delegate, for the NEIGH framework gallops forward into the debate. 

NEIGH, created by the European Union, stands for “Nurturing Excellence In Grassroots and High-performance coaching.” It aims to establish a regional coaching development programme, co-led by ASEAN and supported by European expertise, specifically through Erasmus+Sport (under the European Commission) and existing EU federations. 

The framework encompasses Need-Base Co-designs, European-led technical training, and exchange placements. South Korea supports the NEIGH framework and will boost highly methodical systems dedicated to sports research and providing places for youths to train, which aligns with long-term national goals.

South Korea’s rise as a global sporting powerhouse is largely due to consistent and structured investments in grassroots talent, particularly through identifying promising youths and offering them comprehensive training. 

South Korea will provide its support in two key areas, which are the advanced training methodologies grounded in sports science and extensive infrastructure development. 

South Korea has established a highly systematic approach to sports science research. Experts across disciplines, including sports dynamics, psychology, and physiology, will collaborate to help athletes reach their peak performance, regardless of their socio-economic background, benefiting athletes at the grassroots level. 

A prime example is the Korea Institute of Sport Science (KISS), formerly known as the Sports Science Research Center. Since its inception, KISS has been a centre for scientific innovation in training regimes across various sporting disciplines. KISS also established research departments to assist athletes during the Olympic Summer Games to better equip them with skills to win medals. KISS proves to be contributing to a stronger sports ecosystem in South Korea.

Beyond training methodologies, the nation’s infrastructure has been a vital pillar in this development. The Korea National Training Center, also known as the Taereung Training Center, was established in Seoul to nurture national athletes and promote sports science. 

As South Korea recognizes the need for a more expansive and modern facility, she later constructed the Jincheon National Training Center, which is five times larger than its predecessors, accommodating more than 30 sports and over 1,000 athletes, allowing athletes to have a dedicated environment where they can focus entirely on honing their skills. It includes multi-purpose facilities such as a track and field stadium, supporting a wide variety of athletic training programs. 

This dual focus on scientific training and infrastructure development can serve as a valuable model for ASEAN. By sharing South Korea’s research, expertise, and frameworks, South Korea expresses its willingness to collaborate with ASEAN member states in developing local talent pipelines, strengthening national sports systems, and creating regional centres of excellence. 

In addition to South Korea’s proposed partnership with the European Union, she has also agreed to render her resources to train athletes in alignment with Timor-Leste's multi-tiered coaching framework. 

Their framework splits coaching needs into three tiers. Tier 1 coaches will cater to grassroots athletes, tier 2 coaches will cater to pre-national team athletes, and tier 3 coaches will cater to elite athletes. 

Through this framework, Timor-Leste hopes that the quality of talent development in ASEAN countries will improve. 

South Korea will contribute coaches, budding athletes, as well as resources to help Timor-Leste in training tier 1 and 2 coaches and athletes. As South Korea is looking to support more grassroots athletes, she believes that this will be a good opportunity to contribute, especially since South Korea has experience in nurturing grassroots athletes. 

An example of this is Hwang Kyung-seon, a taekwondo athlete from Namwon, who won Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012, and bronze in 2004.2 She credits her local gym and school for introducing her to the sport and helping her develop skills, discipline, and confidence. 

South Korea will focus more on training athletes at a school and community level. Coaches will be sent to training centres to be equipped with the skills needed to lead low-cost yet high-value activities that aim to identify talent amongst youths. 

Not only that, friendly competition is also introduced to provide athletes with a platform for grassroots athletes to showcase their talent. 

Written by Faith Child, Toh Jia Ying, and Tan Hern Ern Maitri

Bibliography

AFC. Korea FA Awarded AFC Grassroots Charter Gold Membership. Accessed July 2019. https://www.the-afc.com/en/about_afc/technical/grassroots/news/korea_fa_awarded_afc_ grassroots_charter_gold_membership.html. 

Korea Cultural Centre NY. “Korea Information - Sports.” Korean Cultural Center New York, n.d. https://www.koreanculture.org/korea-information-sports. 

Sportsmatik. “Hwang Kyung-Seon: Biography and Achievements.” Birthdays in sports, October 28, 2016. https://sportsmatik.com/sports-stars/hwang-kyung-seon-1005.