South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na is one of the world’s highest paid female athletes. Forbes, a U.S. magazine, released a list of the highest paid female athletes. At the moment, she is one of the most recognized female athletes on the planet and her marketability is higher than any other female golfer on the globe. By adding images of female athletes, the emojis communicate that women can also play and enjoy sports. I would like to know the current reality of women’s physical education by looking at the list above. Especially, let’s talk about the global population and baseball, the representative sport of North America. For professional baseball, which is a representative sport of North America, the MLB has a long World Series. KBL players from Korea are also popular players here. Although the Korean Women’s Baseball Federation seems to be holding out and preparing silently, receiving minimal government support and policies despite tough conditions, the enthusiasm of the Korean women’s baseball team, including the management team and the coaches, seems to be no less than any other representative sport. Baseball is a representative sport that attracts attention from people around the world and is as popular as soccer, so beyond watching and experiencing in men’s professional sports, women have already appeared in the Little Baseball World for many years or more than 10 years, and are now playing one of the few mature players. One thing to be thankful for is not only to form a team but also to make up a national team because they know the passion of the players even in this reality, but also the efforts of the management team and coaches who make the national team. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the entire baseball community, which are truly in charge of Korean sports, believe that the policy support of the Women’s Baseball Federation should be provided and that they should be interested and supported. In the U.S. and Japan, which already claim to be an advanced country in baseball, it has become a popular sport that goes beyond social sports to promote many teams, operations, and companies. Despite the sadness of female sportsmen who have to be aware of and pay attention beyond the usual administrative support, the enthusiasm for gathering and playing on weekends is really great. The coaches, who have a thin player base and at least lead the management team, are professionals who have experienced Korean amateur baseball for decades, so it is a framework for training and organizing the system. Now, policy support, environment creation, interest, etc. are considered necessary factors for the Korean Women’s Baseball Federation.
Kayla Hong
Asia Journal
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)
