Victory of SonicBoom; success of ordinary

By Yoon Ja-young

There was neither a star player nor expectation of victory.

The KT SonicBoom had its final match of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) against the Ulsan Mobis at Sajik Gymnasium in Busan, Sunday. After the game, KT held a Champion’s Day celebrating its first championship in the official league since the team’s foundation amid a fanfare from the home fans. KT is now waiting for the playoffs.

KT head coach Jun Chang-jin, who took the post after the team ended at the bottom of the league in the 2008-2009 season, focused on eliminating the squad’s’ sense of defeat. It had no star players but Jun demanded they overcome their weaknesses with perseverance and endless effort. They managed to remove the sense of defeat and started learning the habit of winning. They tied to take first place with Mobis for 2009-2010, but had to yield the championship on points.

KT players weren’t satisfied with this. They excited fans with plays based on unity throughout the season, and the effort paid off with their first championship in the league, which is more meaningful as it was achieved by ordinary players whom hardly anybody cared about.

Courage not to fear weaknesses

The biggest weakness of all is to fear weakness. The 2008-2009 season for the SonicBoom proved this exactly. Jun completely changed the negative team spirit. From the first year he got helm of the squad, he demanded the players run one more step. Their average height was smaller than those of the seven other teams, which was a big weakness for a basketball team. KT players, however, learned how to win, by running one more step and persevering in defense _ KT is still at the bottom in terms of rebounds among the nine squads, but it is at the top in intercept and turnover.

Triumph of the ordinary

Notable in the victory of KT is that it had no star players. It used to have one _ Shin Ki-sung _but he transferred to the ET Land Elephants after last season. There were only players who led the team to the bottom in the 2008-2009 season, but they began to change.

The transition also has to do with the management of KT, the squad’s owner corporation. KT has been making efforts to set up a corporate culture where ordinary people can also make achievements, and it set customer service posts where those without college diplomas can also apply. They were guaranteed the same corporate benefits as other KT employees, and got salaries based on their performance.

It hence continued support the basketball team to help ordinary players transform themselves into gems. Jun trained the players in exactly the same way, and confidence and self motivation started building up in the KT boys. They showed that ordinary people can also make it.

Going on one more step than the rival worked for both the squad and KT. The top telecommunication company in the country made one more step than its rival as did its basketball players by adopting Apple’s iPhone, and it succeeded in pulling up its market share.

KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae, whose love for basketball is well known, doesn’t miss a match of the KT squad. KT employees around the country are also big supporters of the SonicBoom. The basketball team, meanwhile, is pondering over ways to help promote KT. The head coach Jun got attention as he used an iPad, also launched by KT here, in strategic time-outs, and the SonicBoom players had “olleh,” the company’s brand identity, painted on their arms for each game. The strong bond between the squad and the owner company ended up with the championship.