The purpose of this study is to examine the athletics unit in the military prior to the establishment of Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp and reveal the background of establishing the Corp and the transition process of the organization, as well as exa...
The purpose of this study is to examine the athletics unit in the military prior to the establishment of Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp and reveal the background of establishing the Corp and the transition process of the organization, as well as examine the effects of the performance by the athletes in the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp and the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp on the elite athletics advancement in Korea.
To accomplish such study purpose, the study was conducted by using the literature on the military athletics history after the 1960s as the primary data and using 『The National Defense Athletics VISION 2015』, the Ministry of National Defense report material, the military athletics unit report material and interview with related personnel as the secondary data.
First, it is the result of examining the athletics unit in the military prior to the establishment of Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp, the background of establishing the Corp and the transition process. During the period from 1960 to 1980s prior to establishing the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp, each field unit was in charge of the administration of athletics unit that found to lack in the efficiency in the administration and operation. In the midst of such situation, the government and the Ministry of National Defense continuously sought to establish the athletics unit in the military, but the army athletics guidance unit that was established ended up overseeing every elite sports team in the army in the midst of the situation where establishing a comprehensive military athletics unit was not easy due to budgetary issues. As a result, the army tried to increase the operational efficiency by cultivating elite athletics in a single system, but the nay and the air force could not get away from the unit-specific administration.
One of the distinctive changes prior to establishing the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp began at the start of The 5th Republic. The government started to reinforce its support by showing a greater interest in cultivating elite athletes, and the nation faced a period in which it required the role of military in athletics as the nation hosted the Olympics and the Asian Games. As the athletics department was established, it supported the effort of discovering excellent athletes and cultivating them in a scientific and systematic way during which it found out that the military service issue was involved in the continuous management of excellent athletes, resulting in major changes. The government searched for a new alternative to stop the deterioration of competition capability of excellent athletes, which led to the established under the agreement with the Ministry of National Defense for the purpose of continuously cultivating elite athletes.
Second, it is the examination result on the performances of athletes in the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp. The performances by the Sangmu athletes in both national and international competitions since its establishment are also very highly regarded. Among the medals won by the Korean athletes during the Olympics, the percentage of medals won by the Sangmu athletes was 10%. In the Asian Games, the percentage was about twice higher with 17%, and they achieved the result of 87 new Korean records as well as several new records in the competition in the aspect of records in addition to the performance aspect in various domestic competitions. In addition, it sent representatives in the general meeting and executive committees of various competitions in the CISM competition, thereby achieving the result of solidifying friendly relations with friendly nations.
Third, it is the examination result on the effects of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp on the advancement of elite athletics in Korea. It was found that the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp is cultivating and managing over 10% of the entire excellent athletes of our country to maintain and enhance their capabilities. In addition, it was found that the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp contributed significantly in the advancement of the national athletics by being a bridge between the military and the society in the aspect of maintaining the performance capability of excellent athletes. In addition, the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp is considered to have contributed significantly in the advancement of athletics in our country by not only providing the opportunities for athletes that possessed superior capabilities even before the enlistment to maintain their capabilities but also providing the opportunities of a new take-off for the second-tier group athletes.
The study on the transition of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp and its contribution in the elite athletics has an important meaning in the sense that it can contribute in establishing and advancing the theory on the military athletics and the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp. It is thought that a following study should be conducted based on this study on various ways that take into account of the unit characteristics to utilize the function of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corp not only for cultivating elite athletics.