“Come on! Run some more! Pass the ball!”
A shrill high-pitched whistle and the low but powerful bounce of a basketball. Combine that with the nonstop chanting and cheering, and it’s like being at a rock concert. The cheers of joy and sighs of disappointment made the atmosphere in the gym even more intense.
The “enthusiastic basketball boys” ran around the court all day, burning their youth white. For them, it was not just a “competition” but a “festival”. This was the scene at Seocho General Gymnasium on the 29th, the day of the 16th SK Knights Danjangbae Junior Basketball Tournament.
No other team in the men’s professional basketball league is as passionate about ‘youth development’ and ‘revitalizing club basketball’ as Seoul SK. The team has been holding the ‘SK Knights Danjangbae Junior Knights Basketball Tournament’ for 16 years. The tournament covers elementary, middle, and high school, and this year, the middle and high school tournaments will be held first, while the elementary tournament will be held at the end of June. A total of 24 teams (18 middle school teams and 6 high school teams) from the club’s affiliated junior nights clubs participated in the tournament, which consisted of league games for each group followed by a tournament to determine the winner.
9am. The festivities for the ‘passionate basketball boys’ began with the matches between two teams, one from Hanam and Gangnam, and one from Suji and Bundang (secondary), on two courts at Seocho Gymnasium. The ‘juniors’ wearing SK’s home and away uniforms battled it out on both courts. The cheers of the parents who came to the stadium also began to grow louder.
After the middle school league matches in the morning, the high school league matches started at 1:30 pm. At this point, the secondary school teams also started the round of 12 tournament. As the tournament began, the tension in the gym began to build. There was still a lot of clumsy youth play, but there were also the occasional surprises. Heo Nam-young, head of SK Youth, who organized the tournament and presented the awards, said, “The players’ skills are improving year by year. “It’s always great to see youth players enjoying themselves like a festival,” said Heo, who organized and presented the award. It’s always great to see them enjoying themselves like a festival. They care about each other and give their energy on the court, and that’s what we want from our youth players.” 스포츠토토
In the secondary division, which lasted into the evening, Western (Goyang) won the title after defeating Uijeongbu 34-33 in overtime. In the high school division, Bundang defeated Dongdaemun 23-7. Yoon Hae-chan (17), who won the title for Bunding for the second consecutive year, said, “I can’t explain how happy I am to win this year after last year. This tournament is like the World Cup for junior knights across the country. I’m very emotional.”
Kim Sung-joo (15) from Uijeongbu, who was the runner-up in the secondary division, said, “I’ve been playing basketball as a Junior Knight since I was in the fourth grade, and this was my best performance yet. It’s too bad we didn’t win, but I think we had a good experience.”