Leaving at Last

At last he’s leaving for the dream stage.

A promising basketball teenager, Kim Jin-su (age 15, a third grader of Sam-il Middle School), is this boy. He is going abroad to learn advanced basketball since there is no competition in the nation’s middle school stage. He will leave Korea and enter as a ninth grade student at Mont Clair High School in L.A. (U.S.) on July 27. He has been admitted as a scholarship student, winning around $20,000 per year. He is the first to enter the high school stage in the U.S. as a Korean basketball player.

Kim made his final decision of entering Mont Clair High School, a private school, due to his visa, although at first he received entrance permission by both Artesia High School and Windward School. Mont Clair, a school of tradition which opened in 1956, has a powerful men’s basketball team that has won six times in the last 12 years in its local league.

Kim will be coached on advanced basketball skills systematically in a gym that even has weight training facilities while staying in a dormitory.

Kim has been taught English and mathematics privately while preparing to study in the U.S., in addition to building up his physical strength for about three hours everyday at a sports center in Kangnam, Seoul by traveling from his home in Suwon, Kyoungki province via subway.

Kim said, “It is somewhat frightful to think about going to the U.S., but I’d like to be a good player and I’ll do my best for that.”

His final goal is to enter the NBA. He wants to challenge the NBA and succeed like his middle school senior, Ha Seung-jin (Portland Trail Blazers). Kim said, “I met Seung-jin when he came back to Korea, and I envied him. I’d like to be a player like him.”

Kim Jin-su, 203 centimeters tall and still growing, led Sam-il Middle School to win a triple crown last year and also won a league and a national youth athletic meet three consecutive times this year. He scored nearly 30 points through his accurate shooting. Despite his height, he also has a lot of speed. It appears that his position will be forward like his idol, Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves).

Kim is highly likely to be selected as a national team player in the Asia Youth Championship in India in September as he is being headhunted by the U.S. high schools. If he is selected as a national team player, he would be the first in history as a middle school student. Korean Basketball Association Strengthening Committee Chairman Kim Tae-hwan, alluded to the possibility of Kim’s selection by saying, “I saw Kim Jim-su running and found out that he is by no means inferior to a player at the high school stage.”

Kim answered, “I’ll come back immediately if I am selected. I’d like to be at the head of the team defeating China.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com