"Please show a lot of interest and support for the Paralympics as well"
Coach Hwang, Da-yeon, Trainer Choi, Woo-hyuk, Assistant Jang, Se-woong
[January 30, 2012]
Students from the Department of Special Physical Education selected as staff for Goal Ball at the London Paralympics (left to right: Jang, Se-woong, Hwang, Da-yeon, Choi, Woo-hyuk)
"Everyone knows that the Olympics will be held in London this summer. But it seems like only a few know that the Paralympics will also be held there. We ask for your interest and support so that our Taegeuk Warriors, representing Korea, can do their best in the Paralympics where over 7,000 athletes from over 150 countries will come to compete."
Three students at the Yeungnam University Department of Special Physical Education will participate in the '2012 London Paralympics' as staff members from August 29 to September 9.
These students, who will have roles as important as the athletes on the field, are Hwang, Da-yeon (22, female), Choi, Woo-hyuk (24), and Jang, Se-woong (24), who are all juniors. Hwang will be the coach for 'Goal Ball', Choi will be the trainer, and Jang will be the game assistant.
Though it is rare for university students to be selected as staff members for the Olympics, it was almost obvious for these three to be selected, since they have already been recognized for their talents by the Goal Ball Association. Hwang, who hill help the head coach of the goal ball team has licenses as both an instructor and referee. At the IBSA World Championships and Games held in Turkey in April of last year, she served as the trainer for the women's goal ball team and the trainer for the boy's team at the IBSA World Youth Championships held later in July, in which their team won first place. Choi, Woo-hyuk, who will be in charge of making training plans and managing the athletes, has a instructor license, while Jang, Se-woong is also getting ready to earn his instructor license. It is expected that this experience will be very valuable to these three who wish to become instructors in special physical education.
The national team for goal ball at London Paralympics is comprised of head coach Kang, Ho-yong, the three aforementioned students, and 6 athletes. After joining the Korean Sports Training Center d’ground on February 1, they will begin living and training together for 200 days.
Before beginning their training to get their third Olympic ticket since the 2004 games in Athens, the three stated, "We placed second in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. We are training hard with the athletes with the goal of winning the gold in this Olympics." They added, "We hope that through this Paralympics, goal ball, which is a great sport for improving agility, cooperation, and physical fitness for both the disabled and non-disabled, will establish itself as integrated education sports for everyone. We also hope that Korea's feeble sports environment for the disabled will also improve."
Meanwhile, 150 members (90 athletes, 60 staff) will go to the '2012 London Paralympics'. Its goal is to place 13th overall (10-12 gold medals). In the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, Korea ranked 13th (10 golds, 8 silvers, 13 bronze).
※ Goal ball: This is a 3:3 team ball sport for the visually impaired, which was created in 1946 for the rehabilitation of blind retired soldiers. It is played in a square indoor court that is 9m in width and 18m in length, similar to the size of a volleyball court. A ball that sounds is used and the objective of this game is to put the ball in the opposing team's goal that is 1.3m high. The ball cannot be thrown, but only rolled. In order to completely disable sight, all athletes are blindfolded from start to finish of the game.
