Choi Ik-seong, president of the Journeyman Academy, sent an e-mail to MHN Sports on Wednesday. The plan was to establish a high school team in Daegu and take on a new challenge. In addition, Choi said, “Samsung-born players are dreaming of a new dream at Alpha City Daegu Stadium behind Lions Park. Players from Samsung, including Choi Ik-seong, who joined the 20-20 Club as the first batter of the Lions in 1997, Lee Dong-soo, the Rookie of the Year in 1996, Gam Byeong-hun, a first-time designated pitcher for the Lions, and Ha Yong-seok, the first-time designated catcher for the team, want to foster young players through the establishment of the Daegu Baseball Training Academy (U-18 Team).”
It was quite unfamiliar news to me. Choi had been based in Seoul under the nickname “Journeyman” when he was an active player. The founding of the Seoul Journeyman Independent Baseball Organization was the same, and seminars on players’ basic rights were held in Seoul.안전놀이터
In the process, he was suggested to build a high school team in Daegu. However, CEO Choi Ik-seong showed a cautious attitude, saying, “Building a team and gathering only players are not everything. Above all, we need to have the infrastructure first for such teams and players to play.” Then, he visited Daegu for the first time in a long time to see how the infrastructure was built, and Alpha City Daegu Stadium, located behind Lions Park, was built better than expected, so he accepted the team’s creation without hesitation.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make,” Choi Ik-seong, president of MHN Sports, told MHN Sports. Although there are good middle school club teams in Daegu, few high school teams were able to give prospective high school baseball players a chance to participate. Fortunately, now that the Daegu Baseball Training Academy is the third time that a club team can be formed, it can be said that high school prospect have more options.”
Choi continued, “Daegu is quite well-established. Players just really need to be good at baseball. I have experience in establishing the Journeyman Military Academy in 2012 and running it like a club team even before the concept of a lesson center was developed, so I would like to create a club team in my hometown based on that. That’s why my goal is to reduce prejudice against being a club team to parents and players,” he said, expressing his willingness to prepare.
Lee Dong-soo, the current Daegu High School coach, has been named the first head coach to lead the team along with Choi. “I trust Choi and want to foster good juniors through new challenges,” Lee said.