The day started out like any other as the group found their own ways down to grab breakfast at their own pace and met down in the lobby at 9am sharp so that we could start our packed day of visiting different sports organizations. On the schedule for that day, we visited the Korean Sport Promotion Foundation, also known as Kspo, and the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee.
During our visit with the Korean Sport Promotion Foundation, we learned about how the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games changed the trajectory of Korean sports. Those excess funds from the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games were what started the Korean Sport Promotion Foundation, and since then, have brought 13 billion USD into Korean sports. They believe that sports are something that everyone should be able to enjoy, and to make sure that they are doing their part, they have some initiatives, such as National Fitness 100, sport voucher programs, and community sport centers for public use. Their goals, along with supporting the general public, are to focus on the elite athletes of Korea. They do this by creating programs, such as an athlete welfare program, to make sure that these elite athletes have all they need. After visiting Kspo, we were able to participate in the National Korean Fitness test. My group, in particular, participated in a heart rate challenge to see whose heart rate was the lowest after doing 3 minutes of stepping up and down wooden boxes.
During our visit to the Korean Sports Olympic Committee, we learned about how they were created, how they got to where they are today, and what they are doing today to try to put South Korea in the best position to win at the highest level. Some facts that I found particularly interesting were that after the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in North Korea, South Korea had a 44 million dollar surplus just from those games alone, after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the KOC had a 360 million dollar surplus, and in 2026, the KOC currently has around a 26 million dollar budget for all of their sports that they support. It was really interesting to learn from the KOC about their origins and current initiatives.
After that, as a group, we traveled to the massive Lotte complex, which consists of a large mall and a tower very similar to the World Trade Center in New York, where you can go to the top for amazing views of Seoul. My friends and I were only able to explore a small portion of the mall, but from what we saw, it was truly fascinating.
After spending some quality time with each other at the Lotte Complex, we headed to Jamsil Stadium to catch a Korean Baseball game between the Doosan Bears and the Lotte Giants. As a group, we sat in the second and third rows on the first baseline, which was on the side of the home team, the Doosan Bears. After an exciting game, unfortunately, the Doosan Bears fell short in a 6-5 loss.
No comments:
Post a Comment