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▲ Gunwi-gun becomes a mecca for future sports ‘flag football’ Establishment of middle and high school teams |
[시사일보=서주달 기자] Gunwi-gun, Daegu Metropolitan City, the ‘home of Samguk Yusa’, has taken its first powerful step as a youth training mecca for ‘Flag Football’, which was selected as an official sport at the 2028 LA Olympics.
Gunwi-gun announced that it held the ‘Gunwi Middle and High School Flag Football Team Founding Ceremony’ in the conference room of Gunwi-gun Office on the 12th. At the founding ceremony on this day, about 70 people, including Gunwi County Governor Kim Jin-yeol, Gunwi Middle School Principal Kim Ki-seon, Gunwi High School Principal Lee Hyun-jeong, Korean American Football Association officials and players, attended to celebrate the new history of local sports.
The team created this time consists of a total of 46 players, including 28 members (17 men, 11 women) from Gunwi Middle School’s co-ed team and 18 members from Gunwi High School’s boys’ team.
Gunwi-gun’s creation of this team is a strategic move that goes beyond simply supporting club activities. Gunwi-gun was selected this year for the ‘2025 Local Autonomous Living Sports Activity Support Project’ contest hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and has been promoting the ‘Vitalization of global sports exchange and expansion of base’ project with the Korean American Football Association.
The county plans to develop Gunwi into an ‘international base for flag football’ in name and reality by operating various programs such as ▲Korea-US, Japan-China international exchange exhibitions ▲visiting flag football classes ▲NFL (National Football League) coach invitation clinics through government support for three years until 2027.
In particular, last November, they successfully held the ‘1st Gunwi-gun Flag Football Tournament’, proving their game management capabilities. This founding ceremony is evaluated as a key result of efforts to build such infrastructure and expand the base.
Unlike American football, flag football is played in a way that involves stealing the flag worn around the waist without physical fights, so there is a low risk of injury and it is a sport that anyone can enjoy, regardless of gender or age. As it was adopted as an official sport in the 2028 LA Olympics, interest is rapidly increasing around the world.
Gunwi County Governor Kim Jin-yeol said in his inaugural address, “I hope that the youth of Gunwi will learn cooperation and a spirit of challenge through flag football, an official Olympic sport, and further grow into global talents who can travel around the world. We will provide generous support through a development project that will continue until 2027 so that Gunwi County can become the center of flag football in Korea.”
Meanwhile, at the founding ceremony on this day, a progress report, a resolution was read by the players’ representative, and a uniform presentation ceremony were held, and the players expressed their strong ambition to ‘compete fairly with the honor of the military committee on the line.’
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