“I don’t think that just because I’m short, I can’t play basketball. There are difficulties, but I want to overcome them.”
The 22nd Korea Basketball Association National Elementary School Basketball Championship, which opened at two locations including the Gimcheon Gymnasium from the 18th, attracted attention as the shortest player in this tournament played an active part in the southern part. The main character is Jeong Yoo-jun (122cm, G), a first grader at Bibong Elementary School.
Jeong Yoo-jun, who participated in this competition as a member of Bibongcho, was a player who stood out at a glance. Compared to his older brothers, he is a handful shorter, but Jeong Yoo-jun, who worked harder on the court than anyone else, sweated hard and radiated passion on the court despite his short stature.
Jung Yoo-jun overcame his height inferiority with momentum. The passion to run one step further than others brought more chances to his colleagues and Jung Yoo-jun. Are these efforts fruitful? In the match against Maesancho on the first day of the final tournament on the 22nd, Jeong Yoo-jun succeeded in scoring two goals (4 points) while running around the court in a short time of 5 minutes and 47 seconds.
Jeong Yoo-jun, who has been playing basketball for three years, said, “I started playing basketball at the age of six. His older brother (Jeong Jin-woo) started playing basketball first, and he naturally became interested in it following his older brother. I played basketball every day following his older brother, and it was fun, so I started playing as a player myself,” he said about the reason he started playing basketball.
Even though he lost, he met strong player Maesancho, and Jung Yoo-jun showed his tenacity not to give up the match until the end even though he had difficulties with opponents who were superior to him.
Jeong Yoo-jun said, “It’s my first time participating in the tournament, and I’m happy to score the first goal in the last game. He felt better when he scored the second of two goals. He said it was more thrilling because he put it as a jump shot rather than a layup,” he said. “It seems really hard. It was even harder because I had to keep running. Still, the hyungs helped me hard, so I scored a goal and finished the game well.” 안전놀이터
There were still more immature points, but Jeong Yoo-jun’s efforts to somehow overcome his inferiority drew applause from the officials watching the game.
Jung Yu-jun, who had practiced quite hard with his friends beforehand to participate in this tournament, vowed to improve his skills by further polishing his skills in the future with this tournament as an opportunity.
Jeong Yoo-jun, who said that he is 122 cm tall, said, “I don’t think that just because I’m short, I can’t play basketball. He has difficulties too, but he wants to overcome them. And since he’s still young, he thinks he could be tall enough. Through this tournament experience, I want to learn basketball more diligently in the future. I lost in the quarterfinals unfortunately, but I want to work harder in the future and make good memories with the hyungs.”