"Moving basketball coach" Kim Seung-ki
There are many nicknames that refer to director Kim Seung-ki (51), such as "Fox on the Court," "Turbo Guard," and "The Poisoner." Last season, he overcame the worst situation surrounding the team to advance to the semifinals and became the "head of touching basketball."
It is no exaggeration to say that coach Kim Seung-ki's persistence, which gives fans "impressive basketball" and "boring basketball" for opponents, has created numerous nicknames. Even when the team's season outlook is not good, coach Kim's existence is a "variable" that will turn the game around.
Sports Korea met Kim Seung-ki, head coach of Goyang Sono in professional basketball, at Goyang Sono Arena in Gyeonggi-do to hear his experience of overcoming adversity last season, his determination to play this season, and his basketball philosophy that encompasses all.
Director Kim Seung-ki of Goyang Sono.
"Touching Basketball" and "A New Start" in adversity
The 2022-2023 season was the season when the second act of Kim Seung-ki's leadership career was held. He left Anyang KGC (currently Anyang Jeonggwanjang), which won two championships in seven seasons, and was appointed as the first head coach of Goyang Day One.
However, Day One has become a drag on coach Kim Seung-ki by failing to pay the coaching staff and team wages on time due to the deteriorating management of the parent company. It was great for coach Kim and the team to reach the playoff semifinals even under these unfavorable conditions and earn the nickname "impressive basketball" from fans.
As Day One was expelled from the league after the end of the season, manager Kim Seung-ki and the team could be scattered. However, Sono International, the holding company of Daemyung Sono Group, launched a new 'Goyang Sono' by recruiting coach Kim and coaching staff after the 'collective acquisition of all Day One players', which was the preemptive condition for KBL's 10th team. The main players of "Moved Basketball" once again gathered in Goyang.
"It's been a very difficult season," manager Kim Seung-ki said. But when the coach showed weakness, he thought the team would collapse. He held out with the players, saying, "There will be a next time you work out hard." When I returned as the coach of the team, I was just grateful," he said, looking back on the difficult last season.
Director Kim Seung-ki of Goyang Sono.
"Basketball with two more feet". The more the coach worries, the more the team grows
Compared to Day One's days, the club's finances have certainly stabilized, but the 2023-2024 season, which will be the first time in Sono, is another challenge for manager Kim Seung-ki. Last season's main foreign player, Didrick Lawson, moved to Wonju DB, and Anthony Bennett, who boasts a history of "first overall pick in the 2013 NBA Rookie Draft," left the team two weeks after joining due to weight problems. Small forward Cho Han-jin and center Park Jin-cheol, who played in the right place during Day 1, joined the Sangmu Basketball Team. Sono is in a situation where he has to expect a lot from the outer shot of the main line leading to Jeon Sung-hyun, Lee Jung-hyun, and Jerod Jones.
Head coach Kim Seung-ki said, "It will be a tough season, but I will not let the difficult situation continue. He will often show operations that fans think are unconventional this season. "You have to play basketball that plays two more feet, not one," he said. "It would be nice if I could win all games with one strategy, but the reality is not." We have to learn 100 and 1000 numbers and continue to change our strategies to play the game," he said.
"I visit a sauna when I'm having a hard time because I can't see a breakthrough," he continued. Myosoo comes out of saunas more than basketball courts (laughs). As I thought about a solution every moment, there were absurd cases where I ordered jjamppong thinking, "I should eat jajangmyeon for lunch." "I've thought I'm relatively less worried about basketball than other coaches, but I can't sleep comfortably these days because I'm planning strategies even if I'm lying in bed," he said.
Coach Kim Seung-ki's ability to develop many star guards, including Lee Jae-do, Byun Joon-hyung, Park Ji-hoon, and Lee Jung-hyun (Sono), is expected to be a great help for Sono as well. Coach Kim said, "I intend to teach shooting guard Park Jong-ha and center Cho Jae-woo harshly for two to three years. If I had pursued a comfortable path, I would have remained in Anyang. However, he started a new challenge in Goyang because he wanted to grow his players. I'll build the power to win in three years. I'm on this team to do that," he said.
Director Kim Seung-ki of Goyang Sono.
Confidence that comes from hard work and skills. "As long as I'm a director..."
Recently, the international position of Korean men's basketball has become narrower. The men's basketball team failed to advance to the semifinals for the first time in 17 years since the 2006 Doha Games (5th place), losing to Japan in the second division at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held from September to October 2023. After losing to Iran in the 5th to 8th place match, they finished the tournament in the lowest ranking (7th place) ever.
Head coach Kim Seung-ki said, "The more difficult the national team situation is, the more various attempts should be made. New and fun basketball comes out more when you're in a corner. I also suffered from a lot of worries throughout the offseason, but if I go to the regular season, I will accept all the bad conditions and play a real game. He said, "Even if I lose, I want to instill the idea that 'the team led by Kim Seung-ki is tired' by playing persistent basketball regardless of means within the rules."
Coach Kim continued, "The efforts of the national team and the support of the Basketball Association should reach the maximum level. I don't want to see a situation where I can't produce results because I don't do my best, he said. "I want to be the coach of the national team someday." I led a team that was considered the weakest before the start of last season and reached the semi-finals. "If the members of the national team strive to the highest level under the active support of the association, there is no reason not to win the top of Asia," he said.
Coach Kim Seung-ki expressed his gratitude to home fans at the last press conference of last season, saying, "If I was happy for seven years in Anyang, I felt happy for seven years in Goyang." Before his miraculous second season in Goyang, he expressed his determination as a "winner."
To bring joy to the fans, we have to get good grades and play fun basketball. The most interesting thing about basketball is the playoffs. When he was the coach of KGC, he failed to advance to the 'Spring Basketball' by finishing seventh place without making it to the round of 6 in the 2018-2019 season. After the last game at the time, he told Anyang fans, "As long as I'm a coach, this is the last time I'm out of the playoffs," and kept his promise. If the same situation occurs this season, I will say the same to Goyang fans. I promise you a fun basketball no matter what." 토토사이트
Director Kim Seung-ki of Goyang Sono.
-Strong Weekly: Sports Korea provides in-depth information on major sports-related issues through a feature article called 'Strong Weekly' every weekend. This article is also published in Korea during the week of the general newsletter.