In one room, Hyundai Mobis is practicing tactical drills, and in another, students from Japan’s basketball and volleyball youth clubs are playing sports. It was an unfamiliar scene in Korea, but a familiar one in Japan.
The Ulsan Hyundai Mobis have been conducting tactical training at various gyms during their training camp in Japan. Depending on the availability of the gyms, they sometimes train at the practice gyms of Japanese professional teams, and sometimes they train at community sports centers that are open to the public.
The gym we visited for tactical training on the 30th was a special one. Hyundai Mobis visited the Hosei Kogyo Gymnasium in Kanagawa Prefecture. Hosei High School has both men’s and women’s basketball teams, with the men’s team ranked among the top four in Kanagawa Prefecture.
What impressed me most was the size of the gym. It was large enough for four basketball courts. There were a whopping 14 backboards for shooting practice. “In fact, when local club competitions are held, four games are played at once,” the Japanese official explained.
The day Hyundai Mobis visited was no different. To the left and right of the court where Hyundai Mobis was training, girls from the basketball and volleyball youth clubs were practicing their own cheongbaekjeon and basic drills. After hearing that the players were members of a Korean professional team, the girls watched the training with admiring eyes, but soon afterward, they listened to their instructors and worked hard on the basics.
The level of the students was high across the board.토토사이트 The basketball club students not only practiced shooting, passing, and other fundamentals, but also trap drills. The volleyball club also rallied for a relatively long time, and when the game was over, they cleaned up the net in unison. When the volleyball club members left, another group of basketball club members came over to run some 5-on-5 drills.
“Japan has a very active high school club scene,” said a Japanese official. Nationwide, there are about 4,300 teams for boys and about 3,400 for girls. There are also countless junior high schools. Of course, the level varies, but there is no distinction between youth and elite, so students can enjoy sports casually. Among them, some talented students decide to become professional athletes.”
“When I was playing for KT, I also traveled to Japan for training. I trained in a high school gymnasium, but I realized that the youth clubs are more organized and have a wider base. Japan seems to have a well-developed system thanks to its far-sighted investments, and I wonder if that leads to the competitiveness of the adult national team,” he said, adding that he was envious of Japan’s basketball scene.
Meanwhile, the Hyundai Mobis will play their final practice game in Japan on October 1 against the Kawasaki Brave Thunders. The team will return to Korea on October 2, and on October 3, they will hold a departure ceremony for the 2023-2024 season at Ulsan Dongcheon Gymnasium.