Ski Jumpers May Join High 1
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
South Korean national team ski jumpers Kang Chil-gu and Choi Yong-jik are in negotiations to join the High 1 ski team.
High 1, Korea's only ski jumping team, revealed that they were looking to sign the pair, as well as national team coach Kim Heung-su.
"The terms of contract have not been discussed yet. But we are, in fact, trying to sign them," High 1 sports team manager Kim Youl-back told The Korea Times.
"If they agree to our terms, the deal will be done, next week," added Kim.
High 1 met with the jumpers' parents to tell them they were interested in signing their sons after the FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup held in Alpensia Stadium in Pyeongchang, Korea.
Joining the High 1 team would mean that Kang and Choi can focus all their attention on flying through the air, without being concerned about funding.
Until now, they have only received about 3.6 million won a year in funding for training from the Korea Ski Association and before the Alpensia ski jump stadium was built in Korea, there were no acceptable domestic facilities where they could train.
When they went abroad to train or compete, they often had to pay for it themselves, but that will all change if they sign with High 1.
"They won't need to do that anymore," the High 1 manager said. "We support all costs, facilities, equipment and food to them. We help our team to concentrate on their training.
The manager declined to reveal the salary they are offering the two jumpers but did say they would be well taken care of financially.
"To be honest it is hard to compare our boys' salaries with those of overseas jumpers. But they will get a pretty good salary. And if we calculate all our support, the amount will be huge."
"We cannot reveal their exact salary, but Kang and Choi's salary will be more than seven times what they were making before."
"In addition when they achieve good results in competition, they will be rewarded with incentives," added manager Kim.
Despite all the disadvantages Kang and Choi have faced in their pursuit of success at world events, they have done surprisingly well. The 25-year-old Kang grabbed a bronze medal in the K-95 (106-meter hill) event in the FIS Cup held in Oberwiesenthal, Germany.
Kang and Choi also produced a gold medal in the team competition at the Winter Universiade held in Harbin, China in February.
"I heard that many companies contacted them after the movie "Take-Off" became a big box office hit, but I think they will join our team," Kim said
Korea's two other national team jumpers, Kim Hyun-ki and Choi Heung-chul, have been members of the High 1 team since last year and felt it was a bit unfair that they were receiving far more funding than their teammates.
"We feel very sorry because we are a team," said Kim Hyun-ki on the Web site for the hit movie "Take-off" when the pair re-signed earlier this year.
"We hope that they will come to our team and train together."
If High 1 sign Kang, Choi Yong-jik and coach Kim, they would then have all the national team jumpers, as well as the coach. This could potentially have a very positive effect on results at the Vancouver Winter Olympics next year.
High 1 is also planning to take the team overseas for training in November.
"It is a little premature to speak about their contracts, because nothing has been decided," said a Korea Ski Association official. "If they reach a deal, it will be very good because the players will have chance in these circumstances to improve their ability."