“Songchung needs to eat pine needles to survive.”
Coach Jang Ki-young, who made a name for himself as a domestic badminton coach, announced his spectacular return to the badminton world after a personal hiatus.
If soccer has Vietnam’s coach Park Hang-seo, badminton has Maldives coach Jang Ki-young, who dreams of becoming the future Park Hang-seo.
In January 2023, Coach Jang Ki-young received a request from the Korea Badminton Association and went to the Maldives as a badminton coach. He was originally supposed to coach only until the Asian Games, but in recognition of his skills, he was offered a long-term contract of 10 years, and the Maldives Association wants him to continue coaching the national team. The story goes that the players also wanted to continue working with the manager, so they directly requested the association, which influenced the decision to become a manager.
Coach Jang Ki-young achieved the first win in Maldives badminton history in the badminton women’s doubles IOIG (Indian Ocean Island Games, a multi-sports competition held by island countries in the Indian Ocean for the first time in four years) held from August 27 to September 3, 2023. At this time, the Maldives recorded its highest ever performance, winning a total of 8 medals: 1 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze. At the Asian Games held in Hangzhou in October, they achieved the feat of advancing to the quarterfinals of the team event and women’s singles.
2023 Miryang Korea Junior Open. I met director Jang Ki-young in an unexpected place. There, I spent meaningful time speaking fluent Japanese and exchanging information with the coaches of the Japanese national team, whom I was close friends with. Coach Jang Ki-young was busy working for the Maldives national team even during his vacation. The reason he came to Miryang was to think of ideas for the development of badminton in the Maldives. He attended all international competitions that have been held since last November, including the Korea Masters, Japan Masters, and China Masters, in order to find training methods and benchmark while watching major competitions in person as a coach. Coach Jang Ki-young, who is said to get ideas on how to conduct training when he watches the game in person, watched the game with as much concentration as the players.
“One team, one spirit”
K-Pop, K-Drama, K-Culture… Coach Jang Ki-young, who has continued to spread K-badminton, was not able to achieve such remarkable results from the beginning. Good results are bound to be accompanied by hardships and trials. What matters is how you overcome it.
“When I first went to the Maldives, let alone the technical aspects, not all of the players had the basic skills needed for athletes, so I taught them step by step in the Korean style. The players also didn’t listen to me, which caused me even more trouble. The harsh environment and thin player base came as a great shock to me. However, since I had drawn my sword, I continued training, emphasizing ‘one team, one spirit’ with the feeling that I had to cut down even a few people. In badminton, we spent a lot of time reminding players of the importance of teamwork by repeating stories like, “The team comes first, improving your individual capabilities comes second,” and “You can’t play the game without your teammates.” ”
Coach Jang Ki-young, who has 20 years of experience coaching numerous players, including national team member Baek Ha-na, in Korea, led by example and performed not only the role of coach but also a teacher-like role to the players. He showed his sincerity not as a director but as a person, and at times responded strongly, without losing his dignity as a director. This is proof of his high status in the Maldives.
“There is no infrastructure like an athletes’ village, so athletes are commuting from home. I also try to utilize my spare time by walking around during my commute to work, studying English, and planning team training. Since most athletes make a living and train separately from their jobs, they had no concept of training, so they made being late as if it were a meal. To break this habit, players who were late were banned from training for a week or up to a month. As these standards were created, even players who were reluctant at first eventually realized that they were helpful for training and teamwork, and now the rules are somewhat well-established. It was really a mixed bag. There was a female player who was the most senior player on the team. However, the player continued to have a negative impact on her team, which continued to undermine the team’s spirit. “We boldly removed her, our best ace player, from her national team, and slowly found her team spirit.”
While there are people who will understand you perfectly even if you say it once and show more, there will be people who will make mistakes even if you say it multiple times. The players are probably the same as us, so how did Coach Jang Ki-young properly coach such players despite their communication difficulties?
“No matter how bad a player is, I have been told countless times to have the mindset that I will win once out of 100 times and to think of today as that day. I try to lead as if I were carving my name on a rock with the letter 丁. It may take a long time to engrave the name, but as long as the rock does not break, the name will show off its solid appearance that will not be washed away by rain.”
(continued in part 2) [INTERVIEW] K-Badminton Evangelist Jang Ki-young, Maldives National Team Coach_Episode 2 > NEWS | Badminton Korea (badmintonkorea.co.kr)
Reporter Park Do-hee [email protected]
2023-12-08 09:49:20
#INERVIEW #KBadminton #Evangelist #Jang #Kiyoung #Maldives #National #Team #Coach_Episode #NEWS
