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Coach’s image engraved in the minds of players
Kim Mi Rae, diver at the Pyongyang Sports Club, has entered the rankings in different international competitions including FINA Grand Prix diving competition in 2015.
She is renowned among people for the correct performance of movements of high degrees of difficulty and stunning entry into water.
But most of them don’t know about her coach, Choe Song Hui (pictured).
It is Choe who chose Kim from among young gymnasts and trained her to be a diving ace.
Choe had been working as a diving coach at a sports club since 2011 after graduating from Korea University of Physical Education. She happened to see the girl who was learning gymnastics at Sosong District Juvenile Sports School in Pyongyang.
She closely observed Mi Rae who had a good sense of space and exactly reproduced any movements she had once seen. After repeated speculations and discussions, Choe picked her out as a diver and paid special attention to her.
“Since I left home to join the sports club, coach Choe took care of me as my mother would do,” Kim recalled.
The coach introduced new means and methods of training in order to address her shortcomings. Mi Rae had good physical ability, but was less flexible. Choe found the effectiveness and defects of the methods as she trained together with Kim.
“I think coach’s image engraved in the minds of players should be that of their motherland before that of any person. So I was more anxious about her and made more exacting demands on her,” Choe Song Hui said.
The coach’s efforts finally bore fruit: Mi Rae began to distinguish herself in international competitions.
Choe Song Hui shed tears of joy as she saw Mi Rae receiving congratulations from people after exalting the honour of the country by winning medals at different international games.
“I remembered the memories of the past when I made the crucial selection and decision and when we were crossing the extreme limits in training. I felt pride in being a coach, indeed,” Choe said with deep emotion.
The coach who transferred to the Pyongyang Sports Club with the diver some years ago directs steady efforts into the functional physical training to enhance Mi Rae’s stability and flexibility in the performance of movements along with psychological practice to enable her to cope with any circumstances in competitions.
Merited Athlete Choe Song Hui was chosen as one of the top ten coaches of the DPRK twice until last year.
THE PYONGYANG TIMES
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