Gwangju Mayor Kang Gijeong Visits Region's Only Elementary Girls' Soccer Team for 'Policy Picnic'

City, Education Office, and Parents Form a Team to Play with Student Athletes... On-site Meeting Also Held

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the afternoon of the 26th, Kang Gijeong, mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited Hanam Jungang Elementary School, the only elementary girls' soccer team in the region, as part of the 'Policy Picnic.'

Located in Wolgok-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Hanam Jungang Elementary School is the only elementary school in Gwangju that established and operates a girls' soccer team since 2003.

Park Yaeun (affiliated with Brighton & Hove Albion WFC), who plays in the FA Women's Super League in the UK, also graduated from this school.

On this day, Mayor Kang formed a team with Kim Pilmo, superintendent of the city education office, Kim Bokyung, education officer, teacher Noh Seunghwan, Director of Culture and Sports Kim Yoseong, Director of Sports Promotion Lee Buho, Secretary General of the City Sports Council Lee Pyeonghyeong, and parents to play a match with the players and have a time of communication.

After the game, a meeting was held immediately with the coach, players, and others to listen to vivid voices from the field about the difficulties and improvement directions of school sports.

One player from Hanam Jungang Elementary said, "I feel like I could fly when I score a goal. My dream is to play in the overseas Premier League like Son Heung-min," expressing her confident aspirations.

She continued, "I want to keep playing sports in Gwangju, but there are not enough players to form a team in the region, so we might not be able to participate in competitions, which affects our performance. It is difficult because I have no choice but to go to another region for middle school," she said.

Kim Gai, coach of the Hanam Jungang Elementary girls' soccer team, said, "These days, I feel a sense of crisis that the girls' soccer team might disappear not in 2-3 years but immediately," adding, "There is a limit to nurturing players within the school due to lack of player recruitment and poor training facilities. To continuously develop players, we must first build the most basic training facilities and infrastructure such as artificial turf fields and unite the community to transition to a professional sports club."

In response, Mayor Kang said, "I think there has been a lack of local interest in sports hopefuls," and added, "The city hall and the city education office will take interest and provide support, and we will carefully design not only school sports but also overall community sports to create an environment that looks 10 or 20 years ahead."

Gwangju City supports outstanding and promising athletes with development funds to revitalize unpopular sports and assist athletes, and also continuously supports school sports teams, which are the foundation for discovering and nurturing players, helping improve training conditions and athletic performance.

Additionally, to promote community sports, the city provides customized sports programs by life cycle, supports sports lesson vouchers for the disabled, and expands public sports facilities, laying the foundation for citizens' health.

Since the 8th term of the civilian administration, Gwangju City has held 'Policy Picnics' for policy communication between the mayor and citizens on current issues, listening to vivid opinions from related industries on-site rather than focusing on events, and reflecting them in policies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.