"Blood is thicker than water?"... World Star Trainee Parents Draw Attention

Published 25 Jun.2020 15:47(KST)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] The commonality among professional baseball player Lee Jeong-hoo, professional basketball players Heo Ung and Heo Hoon, and artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong is that they are "second-generation sports stars who inherited their parents' athletic DNA."

Lee Jeong-hoo is the son of Lee Jong-beom, known as the Son of the Wind, and Heo Ung and Heo Hoon are sons of basketball legend Heo Jae. Yeo Seo-jeong is the daughter of Yeo Hong-cheol, who was called the God of the Vault.

Among them and in the sports world, many athletes follow in their parents' footsteps.

Recently, the promising athletes selected as 'World Star Development Athletes' by the Jeollabuk-do Sports Council have also attracted attention.

The Sports Council selected a total of four athletes this year as World Star Development Athletes: Kim Tae-rim (Life Science High School) and Kim Yoo-jung (Seongsim Girls' High School) in badminton, Jo Se-hyuk (Geumam Elementary School) in tennis, and Lee Seo-ah (Seoil Elementary School) in swimming.

Among them, except for swimmer Lee Seo-ah, the other three athletes are following the paths their parents took.

First, Kim Tae-rim is the son of Kim Yong-hyun, the current coach of the national badminton team. Kim Yong-hyun was a player who demonstrated outstanding skills at various domestic and international competitions, including representing the country at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Kim Yoo-jung is the daughter of Jeong So-young, a legend in Korean women's badminton doubles and the current coach at Jeonju Seongsim Girls' High School.

Coach Jeong So-young won the gold medal in women's doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Jo Se-hyuk is the son of Jo Seong-gyu, the executive director of the Jeonbuk Tennis Association. Jo Seong-gyu is also a tennis veteran who has held a tennis racket since elementary school.

Lee Seo-ah's parents were not athletes, but she has outstanding physical attributes and skills, making her a promising athlete for the future. Demonstrating this, she won two championships consecutively at the National Youth Sports Festival for two years (2018?2019).

Meanwhile, the Jeonbuk Sports Council is promoting the World Star Development Athlete project to identify excellent young talents early and help them grow into world-class athletes.

They actively support these athletes by providing training equipment and conducting focused intensive training and physical training programs as part of rehabilitation programs.