Coach Kim Soo-kwan of Pohang High School will take off the Iron High School uniform he wore for 19 years after the 52nd Bonghwanggi and move to Cheongwon High School (formerly Dongdaemun High School).
The 52nd Bonghwangdaegi National High School Baseball Competition kicked off its long journey with the opening game between the two at Shinwol Stadium in Seoul on Sunday. Despite being considered inferior, the team struggled hard by leading 3-1 until the middle of the game, but failed to prevent Shinil from attacking in the wave form in the bottom of the sixth inning, allowing the team to come from behind 3-5. Both the team’s high school and the team’s coach Kim put an end to the hot summer of 2024.
Coach Kim Soo-kwan was the winner of Gyeongbuk High School in 1993, forming a clean-up trio with Kang Dong-woo No. 3 (Hanwha coach), Kim Soo-kwan No. 4 and Lee Seung-yeop No. 5 (Doosan coach) and was the center of the high school lineup.
At the Blue Dragon Open in 1993, Kim Soo-kwan won the MVP of the championship by hitting three home runs, including the final game against Gunsan Sang High School. He went on to Hanyang University, a strong team in college baseball, and reached the peak of his career by playing for the national team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He joined the Samsung Lions in the second round in 1998.
“It’s been 19 years since I started coaching at the age of 30 and took over the coaching position in 2018. I burned my youth here. Now I am called Pohang Man. I think of that as an honorable medal,” coach Kim Soo-kwan said. “I will not forget the love you have given me and will leave Pohang for a while.”
Kim shared his story about leaving the school, which he had never told anyone. “Actually, when I decided to step down as coach of the school this year, people around me said, ‘What a waste of ability. I’m still at the peak of my career. Keep playing baseball anywhere else,'” Kim said. “I applied to a baseball team based in Seoul where I have no connections, and I unexpectedly passed the exam.”
The forerunner of the baseball team is the baseball team of Pohang University of Science and Technology, which was established in 1981. The school was designated as a “meist high school” in 2013, and the baseball team was transferred to the current one. However, in 2019, even the school was designated as a private high school, making it impossible to have an athletic team. Although there was a move to disband the baseball team in 2020, it was blocked by local baseball players and their parents as a town hall, but subsidies for the soccer team, baseball team, and gymnastics team owned by the school have been suspended. However, the soccer team has achieved top-ranked performance every year with continuous support from Pohang Steelers, a professional soccer team, not a foundation. 먹튀검증
“Although self-accident fees are not high, baseball team players are exercising by paying additional contributions. I envied the soccer team,” Kim said.
“I was worried that Kim Soo-kwan’s resignation would lead to the dissolution of the baseball team, which had been dormant for some time in recent years,” said K, a local baseball team member. “It was an open secret that Kim’s salary was half that of a high school baseball team coach in Daegu. Now, I hope he will shed light and contribute to the development of Korean baseball on another stage.”
“There was a saying before the game that the coach officially said that the Bonghwanggi was the last one,” said Seo Joon-ho, the captain of Pohang University of Science and Technology. “The players already knew about it, but I’m really sad and sad that they left,” he said. “Before coming to Seoul, I decided with the players, ‘Let’s wear the coach and the uni-piece for a little longer, but I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you.”
Coach Kim said, “It was more time to endure toward the goal and touch each other’s pain than to have a happy and enjoyable time with the players,” adding, “I’m really grateful for the players who trusted and silently followed the coach during a hard time.”
Manager Kim said, “There is less than a 10% chance that high school baseball players will advance to the professional league, but our high school baseball players are children who have done their best in their adolescent roles and have gone to extreme situations. I think you should live your life enough no matter what field you go to, not necessarily baseball after graduation,” and promised infinite support, saying, “I leave Pocheol High School, but my relationship with my students is just the beginning.”
The organization has named Kim Man-won, the current head coach, as its new coach. Kim Soo-kwan will move to Cheongwon High School on Sept. 1.
