S outh Korea is an international sporting powerhouse, with top 10 finishes in the medals table at every Summer Olympics since 2004 and a number of its nationals having become big-name soccer and baseball stars in recent years. Yet outside the top flight – where Olympic hopefuls train in teams that are sponsored heavily by the government, and young players lucky enough to be spotted by talent scouts move abroad for intensive training – the country actually suffers from a widespread lack of participation in sports. A recent poll of 1,049 people by the Daily Sports Hankook newspaper found that just 3 per cent played golf, 2.4 per cent soccer and less than 2 per cent baseball. This disconnect between South Korea’s sporting achievements on the global stage and a lack of interest in sports back home all stems from the country’s intensive education system, according to Lee Ki-kwang, a physical education professor at Kookmin University in Seoul. “Playing sports is more of an elite activity than a lifestyle, as it is in many other countries,” he said. “As long as the education system remains college prep-oriented and solely concerned with test scores, the country’s sports culture will not change that much as a consequence – even with superstars like Ryu Hyun-jin.” Ryu, who in June became the first Korean pitcher to start in a US Major League Baseball All-star Game, is a household name back home – much like soccer superstar Son Heung-min, who became the most expensive Asian footballer in history when he signed for English club team Tottenham Hotspur FC for £22 million (US$26.8 million) in 2015. How South Korea has continued to build on the legacy of the Seoul Olympics But even with heroes like these to inspire them, many Korean schoolchildren simply do not have the time to play sports. More than 80 per cent attend extracurricular private academies, known as hagwon , to prepare for the fearsome annual college scholastic ability test, or suneung , which they take at the end of secondary school and determines what university they will get into. Physical education has not been a compulsory part of the national curriculum since it was dropped in 1995. And such a narrow focus on academia often comes at the expense of sports, according to Lee. “Since the education system in South Korea is solely focused on preparing for college entry, many students don’t have a chance to include sports in their lifestyles,” he said. “In many schools, students are studying for tests during physical education classes.” Fellow physical education professor Kim Young-gwan, of Chonnam National University in Gwangju, said the general lack of interest in sports among Koreans also helps to explain why the country’s sports brands are unable to compete with the likes of America’s Nike or Germany’s Adidas. “For sportswear and sports equipment to sell, it’s important for consumers to connect these products with performances on the field,” he said. “But we don’t have enough consumers who are interested in purchasing the latest performance athletic shoes or equipment.” While neighbouring Japan and China have brands such as Asics and Li-Ning that provide gear for international athletes and teams, South Korea does not even have ones that are popular at home. “Just looking at the scale of investment in sports brand research, South Korea’s home-grown brands like Prospecs lack the large-scale investment and interest in sports equipment and consumer research,” Kim said. GRASS ROOTS In the city of Paju – an hour north of Seoul – a group of children wearing matching jerseys run around a soccer field practising their passing, dribbling and shooting skills. They are some of the more than 250 members of Paju FC Friends, a soccer programme for youngsters run by coach Jo Ki-jung and five others. Interest in the programme soared after South Korea’s victory over tournament favourites Germany at last year’s soccer World Cup and the national youth team’s second-place finish in this year’s under-20 World Cup, said Jo, 36, a former professional player. The breakout star of the latter competition was 18-year-old Lee Kang-in, an attacking midfielder for Spanish side Valencia who won the Golden Ball Award for most valuable player of the tournament. In October, he became the youngest Korean to debut professionally in Europe. Jo said Lee has had a “big impact” on the children he trains, many of whom also dream of becoming soccer stars. But most of them attend training sessions only once or twice a week – just 30 are signed up for the “player-level” course that meets far more regularly. “Parents don’t often let their kids participate in the player-level classes,” Jo said. “If they don’t seem to be showing much promise, parents tend to pull them out and enrol them in academic institutions instead.” Why South Koreans are trapped in a lifetime of study According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, about 500,000 Koreans engage with soccer at the grass roots. For Ryu Jung-gyu this can only be seen as a positive. The 22-year-old used to train with Jo, was a member of the national youth team in his younger years, and is now in his fourth year playing for the Incheon National University team. “Kids these days can easily find a lot of videos of professional soccer players giving tips on YouTube,” he said. “There are also many club and amateur-level teams that give hope of a soccer career.” But a lack of training infrastructure such as youth academies in South Korea makes it difficult for the country’s young sporting hopefuls to go pro, according to Ryu. “There are many young hopefuls in our youth leagues who are being called ‘the next Son Heung-min or Lee Kang-in’, but they lack the coaching and infrastructure that foreign organisations offer their players,” he said. However, for Ryu the “biggest issue” is that so many Korean parents make decisions about their children’s future at a very young age. “The chances of getting into a university team are slim and for the professional leagues they’re even slimmer, so many parents force their kids to stop playing soccer,” he said. Not so with Baek Eun, a 43-year-old mother of two who has signed her eldest son up for the player-level course at Paju FC Friends. “I did it to show him that there’s more to life than studying,” she said, watching her son proudly from the sidelines. “So many children become hugely discouraged from studying all day. They need something to fall back on when they are stressed. “No one knows whether my sons will become professional soccer players one day, but I want them to have as many experiences as they can – and know that their parents support their decisions in life.” ■