Diversity makes men's hockey team stronger
Canadian-born ice hockey player Brock Radunske, second from right, speaks with his teammates in the national team in this file photo taken March 27, 2013 at the ice rink of the National Training Center in Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-cheol
Manager Jim Paek lauded for winning leadership
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Since the Canadian-born ice hockey player Brock Radunske joined Anyang Halla to become the first naturalized Korean athlete, five more foreign-born players have migrated to Korea. Matt Dalton, Eric Reagan, Brian Young and Michael Swift are all from Canada and Mike Testwuide is American-born.
The six foreign-born athletes are now playing for Korea’s national team, making the once homogeneous team diverse. Foreign-born athletes account for nearly 25 percent of the 25-member men’s hockey team.
Jim Paek, the national hockey team manager, said diversity has made the men’s ice hockey team stronger.
He said both Korean-born and North America-born players learn from each other while respecting their counterparts and their mutual respect and competition as a team has helped raise the standards of the team’s performance.
“They learned in a different structure and in different games and diversified the game,” Paek said.
The national team, which ranked 23rd in the world hockey rankings, has pulled together a series of unprecedented results in recent years after Paek took the helm in July 2014.
In February, hockey players received a hero’s welcome after returning to Seoul with a silver medal from the Sapporo Asian Winter Games. Before Sapporo, the men’s hockey team won bronze medals four times during the previous Asian Games in 1986, 1990, 2007 and 2011.
Their winning Asian Games silver came three months after the national team achieved a stunning victory against Austria during the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge (EIHC) tournaments. Korea defeated Austria 6-4 for the first time after a losing streak in its previous four games against the European country ranked 19th in the world.
Seventeen foreign-born athletes in various sports have obtained Korean citizenship ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Four more are in the process of becoming naturalized Korean athletes, seeking to represent the country in the Olympics.
The migration rush ahead of the Olympics has stirred a pros and cons debate among Koreans. Those who are skeptical about migrant athletes expressed worries about a possible rift between Korean-born and foreign-born athletes caused by their cultural differences and different learning experiences. They said such tensions could be visible in team sports, such as ice hockey.
Paek flatly denied such worries. The Korean-Canadian manager said there are no tensions in the ice hockey team and both Korean-born and foreign-born players have no problems working as a team. He said solid teamwork is one of the winning factors behind the national team’s winning silver during the Asian Games.
“Those foreign-born players have been in Korea for many years and a couple of them played here and one of them played in Japan first before he came to Korea. So they are used to Korean culture,” he said.
“In my eyes, they are all Korean. They are not different races or Koreans or Canadians or an American…. They are respected by their peers. They respect Korean society.”
In his prolific career, Paek, who was born in Korea and went to Canada when he was a year old, played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992 when the club became the Stanley Cup champion in consecutive years.
He is the first Korean-born athlete to play in the U.S. National Hockey League (NHL) and have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
Paek’s smooth, effective leadership has been lauded as the national team has defeated teams that it had never beaten before. His strong credentials as a hockey player and deep understanding of both Korean and North American cultures have enabled him to lead the diverse team successfully.
“Jim is a classy guy who has been taught and educated by great teammates and coaches,” said Martin Hyun, deputy sports manager for the PyeongChang organizing committee. “His knowledge of the game and how to conduct oneself as a player on and off the ice is a tremendous asset to the development of Korean Ice Hockey. Richard Park and Jim have built a strong foundation on the road to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next year.”
Professor Kim Yu-kyoum from Seoul National University said there’s no doubt Paek is the right man to lead the current men’s ice hockey team where foreign-born athletes play a significant role behind team Korea’s stunning success in recent years.
“However, I disagree with sport administrators or the government regarding their strategy to upgrade the competitiveness of Korean ice hockey only by accepting foreign-born athletes shortly before the PyeongChang Olympics,” he said.
Kim said such an idea is short-sighted. “I think there should have been a more systematic and long-term approach to make the national team stronger,” he said. “For example, the government or the hockey association could have considered inviting Paek much earlier than 2014 to give him enough time to prepare for the Winter Olympics and to pay more attention to strengthen Korean-born players’ capabilities. I think this would have been a more durable approach.”