Upcoming Basketball Match is a Battle of the Sexes

“I am aching all over, and I can’t even raise my arm.” (Laugh)

Park Chan-sook (46), the current vice-chairman of Korea Sports Council who once enjoyed fame as Asia’s best center in the 1980s, is working hard with the basketball these days.

She is not trying to return to the basketball court in her mid-40s.

She is practicing for the “male vs. female match” between “Venica,” a male entertainer basketball team, and an Old Star team comprised of former female basketball stars, scheduled to be held prior to the All-Star game of the WKBL Summer League at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on August 19.

Park, who says she is playing in a game for the first time in 15 years since she retired in 1990, practiced with other older stars for two hours on August 11 at the Eunkwang Girls’ High School gymnasium located in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

“My heart throbs at the thought of wearing a uniform once more. I am reminded of the old times. I should show a good performance in front of the fans…”

Besides Park, the Old Star team includes Chung Mi-ra (49), Bang Shin-shil (46), Choi Ae-young (44), Park Yang-gye (44), Cha Yang-sook (43) and 16 other former stars in women’s basketball. The “big-eyed center,” Chung Eun-soon (34), the youngest player on the team, is busy looking out for her elders.

The head coach of the Old Star team is Yoon Jung-ro, who was a forward for the national team in the 1970s, and the coach is Kang Hyun-sook, director of public relations of the Korea Basketball Association.

“Venica” is composed of entertainers such as actors Sohn Ji-chang, Lee Jung-jin, Park Hyung-jun, and comedian Lee Hyuk-jae, and this team is known to exceed the average amateur team in basketball skills.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com