It's a pleasure to meet you. Could you please introduce yourself and share what you do for work and how long you've been with your current job?

Hello, our names are Bae-hyun Ahn, Soo-hwan Yoo, and Ki-hoon Yuk. We work at the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion, and we are responsible for the sports welfare of Seoul National University members. All employees of this institute are current graduate students of the SNU Department of Physical Education. If I can explain our roles and responsibilities at the center, Bae-hyun Ahn has been planning and operating sports events within SNU since July 2021, Soo-hwan Yoo is mainly in charge of the state subsidy project while managing and supervising 37 representative sports departments of Seoul National University, and Ki-hoon Yuk is an assistant that is in charge of leasing the sports facilities on campus. Both Soo-hwan Yoo and Ki-hoon Yuk have been in office since March 2022. 

Could you please briefly introduce what the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion does?  Also, the SNU members are familiar with the POSCO Sports Center, and I believe they will be curious about the affiliation between the two institutions. Could you explain this relationship to us? 

Bae-hyun Ahn: The SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion was officially launched in December 2017 as an annex to the headquarters to meet the demands of SNU members for sports activities. Our slogan is "Sporting SNU! Active SNU!" as sports are fundamentally fun,  powerful, and important in education, right? The center has a lot of energy! In other words, I would like to describe it as a campus power plant(the energy source manufacturer) that invigorates energy to the members of SNU through sports. There are a total of seven major programs, including SNU-Games, SNU-Fun, SNU-Walk & Run, SNU-Fair, SNU-Good, SNU-Outdoor, and SNU-Gymnasion. 

I heard that you aim to promote participation in sports programs, events, and various sports that are accessible to all SNU members. What activities have you mainly focused on recently? 

Soo-hwan Yoo : Recently, we have been putting our focus on SNU-Fun. SNU-Fun is a very popular program on campus and is held during the first semester, the summer semester, and the second semester. This summer semester, 22 paid classes are available in various sports such as yoga, Pilates, tennis, golf, basketball, futsal, soccer, badminton, table tennis, weight training, and dance. During this time, 340 people, including professors, employees, and students, applied to the classes. 

In addition, we have events such as a swimming program for people with disabilities(October), a comprehensive sports competition for all SNU members (October to November),  SNU-Fun program (October to December), a sports night inviting OB and YB alumni of Seoul National University's athletic department (November), and a ski and snowboard camp (January 23) for students and employees scheduled for the second semester. 

I was very curious when I saw an email last November announcing the operation of a new program, SNU-Good (a swimming program for people with disabilities). Please share how this program came about, the reasons why you created this program, and if there were any difficulties or learning points in planning and creating this program! 

Bae-hyun Ahn: As mentioned earlier, Seoul National University has been making steady efforts to meet the needs of its members for sports activities. But, Prof. Euichang Choi, the former head of the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion, pointed out that SNU had not thought much about sports welfare for the minority. Since the SNU graduate school of the Department of Physical Education had a special physical education lab, it could start a swimming program for people with disabilities with graduate students from the lab as instructors. 

We also visited and observed the Seoul Gomduri Sports Center (a sports facility for the disabled) located in Songpa-gu to prepare steadily to ensure that nothing was missing during the program development. Employees of the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion visited the Center for Students with Disabilities to ask for advice, but they discouraged us from developing the program. They shared a response from an SNU member with a disability that shared "I won't apply to the program because I have a perception that there will be an entry barrier to the sports program. Also, because there currently are not many members with disabilities at SNU, and more so because of COVID-19." 

However, when we promoted the program to SNU members by sending mass mail, a total of eight people applied for the program. 

Though there were unexpected situations in conducting the class due to the different degrees and types of disabilities in the classroom, some of which were new to swimming, the class proceeded to develop smoothly as the needs were communicated and identified to the instructors. 

Above all, the participants were happy throughout the program, and we hope the swimming program for people with disabilities will continue. 

Considering the experience of using the POSCO Sports Center swimming pool, it seems that members with disabilities in wheelchairs had a lot of inconveniences even before they entered the swimming pool, for instance, barriers in the changing room. How did you solve this problem? 

Bae-hyun Ahn: As you may imagine from your own experience at a swimming pool, it is difficult for members with disabilities to use the swimming pool facility without help. Currently, there is a significant lack of sports facilities for people with disabilities on campus. The SNU-good program faced many difficulties in terms of facilities, but thanks to the help of POSCO employees and instructors, we could finish the program safely. 

While running the program, I realized that it was an urgent matter to build sports facilities and arrange equipment for people with disabilities on campus. I hope the school will take practical measures, such as estimating the appropriate budget to make this happen.

According to the news on the SNU sports clubs, in the first half of 2022, various SNU sports clubs performed well in external competitions last year and this year, especially the performance of female students was noticeable, including the women's basketball club and the women's handball club. As you may know, the idea to expand women’s participation in male dominant sports was selected at the 2017 Diversity Pioneers Challenge. This idea was made into a policy proposal to the Office of Student Affairs. Can you explain the efforts SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion is making to promote inclusive participation of female members (such as institutional systems, programs, physical environment, etc.)?

Soo-hwan Yoo: Of the 37 sports clubs managed by the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion, in six clubs, female members are the majority. These clubs are the women's basketball club (founded in 2014), women's volleyball club (founded in 2010), women's ski club (founded in 1976), women's soccer club (founded in 2009), women's handball club (founded in 2017), and dance club (founded in 1946). Even if clubs with names with "Women's OO Club" is no longer established, male and female ratios are evenly mixed in various sports clubs such as tennis, taekwondo, and judo clubs. In addition, more classes catered to women, such as yoga, pilates, and Korean dance classes, were newly created at the 2022 SNU-fun course. 

In addition, in 2021, we have developed a SNU-walk map that encourages walking exercise to not only women but to all genders and ages who can easily engage in physical activities on campus. Through SNU-walk, a physical activity with relatively less form, rules, and competition, we hope to engage more SNU members to participate voluntarily in physical activities. As a result, the response from the SNU members was great, too. Thankfully, Seoul National University Information Systems & Technology also developed the SNU Walk app in 2022. 

COVID-19 has limited many opportunities to enjoy sports. Since last year, the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion has proposed programs to access sports in various ways, such as book recommendations on sports and lectures to foster sports literacy. What do you think are the most helpful support facilities and systems to pursue diversity in sports? For instance, would operating and expanding the number of programs  in an unpopular sports club (or programs) be helpful? 

Ki-hoon Yuk: First of all, I think the most necessary part to pursue diversity in sports is to expand facilities for unpopular sports and encourage participation in related programs. Currently, facilities such as the general stadium or tennis court with many users are continuously managed by facility managers and SNU members, while relatively unpopular sports facilities such as judo courts, taekwondo courts, and dance rooms are managed only through the sports department. 

Therefore, I think the diversity of sports can be further increased if the related sports teams could increase inviting events to the public and actively promote unpopular sports. 

I think it will need a lot of help from the SNU members to revitalize unpopular sports. In addition, in terms of facilities, I would like the school to help maintain and repair existing facilities and expand overall sports facilities. When you are in charge of leasing sports facilities, many members often cannot play sports due to a lack of space. Have you been to a basketball court in Building 40 or a basketball court in the parking lot of the engineering school in Building 301? The facilities exist, but they are not maintained and are not in a condition for anyone to use. If the school manages these currently unusable facilities with a little more interest, it is expected that more SNU members will be able to participate in sports. 

 

Also, from a sports diversity perspective, what should be improved or is needed within the facilities or programs?

Bae-hyun Ahn: I had a time of reflection while conducting an interview with the students with disabilities at the swimming program I mentioned earlier. As an employee of SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion , I came to think that, "maybe I lived too indifferent to diversity," and realized"the moment I was indifferent to diversity, it led to discrimination." With that realization, I decided to plan and operate sports programs and events with an inclusive perspective. 

Ki-hoon Yuk: I hope that there will be an expansion of diverse sports-related facilities and the establishment of programs where all participants will feel welcomed. When I was an undergraduate student, I learned about unfamiliar sports at the course "Special Activities", which was one of the required courses in physical education. I remember that all students enjoyed exercising in a line with the purpose of exploring unfamiliar sports, "To allow various participants to join the sport." However, due to the lack of new sports-related facilities and the lack of instructors who can teach new sports properly, it was not categorized as a regular class. I hope various support will be provided to newer sport programs so that these areas can also be popular. 

Soo-hwan Yoo: First of all, facilities should be managed well at the school level so that good facilities can be used for a long time. It also seems necessary to actively promote these facilities so that members of the school can use it. In particular, there was a lack of publicity or guidance for international students, and through this interview, the  SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion  will also consider ways to improve the promotion of our institution's business to diverse members of the school.

I hope we, the  Diversity Council,  can collaborate with the SNU Center for Sports Development & Promotion in the future. Lastly, do you have any comments or suggestions to add? 

Soo-hwan Yoo: Since the programs were carried out with a small number of staff, there are many shortcomings and difficulties. As the Diversity Council proposed, I hope we will be able to take part in the sports literacy lecture together under the theme of Sport and Diversity.