Chinanews.com, Changzhou, August 22, title: "Steel Coach" Jin Jiazhu: He loves China as his home
Reporter Tang Juan Ge Yong
20 meters × 40 meters, is the area of a standard handball arena.
In 9 years, more than 3,000 days and nights, every training day, Jin Jiazhu from South Korea will run back and forth thousands of times on the Chinese handball training ground.
Jin Jiazhu on the training ground.
Photo by Tang Juan
"As long as the athlete trains, Mr. Jin will run on the field for as long as there is no exception." said Li Haiying, Jin Jiazhu's assistant.
Looking at Jin Jiazhu running on the training ground, you can hardly imagine that this is a person who is about to enter the sixtieth year.
As a member of the South Korean men's handball team, Jin Jiazhu went to the Seoul Olympic Games and won the runner-up in 1988, and won the Beijing Asian Games champion in 1990.
Subsequently, Jin Jiazhu chose to retire as the coach of the South Korean national women's handball team. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, the Korean women's hand won the championship, which also made him a gold medal coach in the "handball world".
He has served as the coach of the women's handball national team in China and New Zealand and coached in handball clubs in Taiwan, the United States and other regions and countries.
After traveling around the world, Jin Jiazhu said that his favorite is China.
Handball originated in Europe and is the second most popular ball sport in Europe after football.
China introduced handball in the 1950s. Since its development, Chinese handball has become a strong team in Asia.
Jin Jiazhu on the training ground.
Photo by Ge Yong
Now, Jin Jiazhu has invested all his love of opponents in China.
From running the Chinese women’s handball national team to serving as the head coach of the Jiangsu women’s handball team, he trained a large number of outstanding female handball players for China, such as Zhao Jiaqin, Wei Qiuxiang, Lan Xiaoling, Qiao Ru, Jin Mengqing... Jiangsu women's hands have won back one honor after another, and they have established the dominance of Jiangsu women's hands in the country.
The steel coach Kim Kap Soo
"When I see the coach, my legs tremble." "On the training field, I've never seen a coach smile." "On the field, his face is always sturdy, like a steel plate, and he is a person who pursues perfection. We all Call him Steel Coach."
Asked what kind of coach Jin Jiazhu is, the team member of Jiangsu Women's Hand said.
Jin Jiazhu puts a countdown sign on the head coach's door every day.
Photo by Tang Juan
In 2002, the Jiangsu Women's Handball Team was established in Changzhou. In order to quickly improve the level of competition, in 2004, Jin Jiazhu was invited as the head coach to prepare for the 10th National Games next year.
After one year of coaching by him, Jiangsu women's hand won the sixth place in the 10th National Games and completed the task of participating in the competition.
Subsequently, Jin Jiazhu became the head coach of the Chinese women's national team and led the team to the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
At the Doha Asian Games, the Chinese women's handball won the fourth place. Although it is not easy to achieve this result, Jin Jiazhu, who is required to be perfect, is not satisfied.
He blamed himself for not achieving better results, so he voluntarily resigned as head coach and returned to South Korea to coach.
Kim Tae-hyun, the eldest son of Kim Kap-soo.
Photo by Tang Juan
Although he left China, his friendship with Chinese handball has never been broken.
In 2014, the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau once again extended an invitation to him, asking him to take charge of Jiangsu women's hands.
At that time, the Changzhou Handball Training Base in Jiangsu Province had become the only special training base in the country whose main task was to train professional handball talents.
"Jin Jiazhu accepted the invitation with little hesitation." When talking about Jin Jiazhu's Chinese friend, Yao Zhiqian, the Jiangsu female team leader, clearly remembered a detail that moved him.
"When discussing salary, Jin Jiazhu said,'We are friends. Let's make an agreement together. Whoever sets the price first, the other party can't counter-offer, otherwise it hurts feelings.' But he insisted on letting me speak first. When I set the price, He agreed without saying a word, with only one condition attached to him to participate in the International Hand Federation coach training class once a year."
Since then, Jin Jiazhu has never left Changzhou, Jiangsu, nor China.
Since that year, Jiangsu women’s hands have been “opened up” all the way, winning 7 national championships, and won the 13th National Games championship in 2017...
In Jin Jiazhu's room, his favorite Chinese calligraphy works are hung.
Photo by Ge Yong
The steel coach also has "round the finger soft"
On one wall of Jin Jiazhu's office, he wrote a paragraph in Chinese: "For the common goal and common dream, bleeding and sweating together can achieve handball with Chinese characteristics and the future of Chinese handball."
Jin Jiazhu regards the future of Chinese handball as his own responsibility, but owes his family a lot for this.
"Kim Kap Soo's wife is a sports dancer in South Korea. In South Korea, she goes out to work and earns higher than Kim Kap Soo's income. However, in order to support Kim Kap Soo's love of handball, she chose to give up her career and take care of the family." Yao Zhiqian said in a colleague. In the eyes of the athletes, Jin Jiazhu is a "excessively qualified" coach. For so many years, most of the time his wife came to China to visit Jin Jiazhu.
"Every time my mother comes, she will cook a lot of Korean food for us, and her spicy cabbage is very delicious. Every time before she leaves, she will cook a lot for us and put it in the athlete’s cafeteria. Because of the epidemic, it has been more than a year. The mother is not here. Speaking of which, I really miss the spicy cabbage made by her mother." The athlete Xiu Lijie said of her mother, her face was full of miss.
When Jin Jiasu talked about his wife with reporters, the "steel coach" would have a shy tenderness on his face.
"For my spouse, I failed, with a maximum of only 50 points. For so many years, we have gathered little and separated more, especially when the family needs a man to take care of her, I am not by her side. I even lost the game and I was in a bad mood. , I went home with a sullen face and did not speak, but my wife has always supported me. My parents passed away early, and my father-in-law and mother-in-law treated me very well, knowing that I was preparing for the 14th National Games in China. My wife told me a few days ago I, my mother, went to pray and wish the Jiangsu women's hand can win the National Games." Listening to Jin Jiazhu talking about his family, he can hear his deepest love for his wife and family. He incorporated this love into handball. Hope to use better grades to thank his family for their support.
On August 29th, Jin Jiazhu will lead Jiangsu women's hand in the 14th National Games held in Xi'an.
Today, he puts a countdown sign on the head coach's door every day.
Under the influence of his father, when Jin Jiazhu’s eldest son celebrated his birthday not long ago, his birthday wishes in his circle of friends were "Wish the Jiangsu Women's National Games win the National Games."
With handball and love to make China home
"In 2014, when I graduated from university, my mother told me that Changzhou is similar to Busan. It's good. Let me go to see, learn Chinese, and accompany Teacher Jin by the way." Jin Jiazhu's eldest son, Jin Tae-hyun, told reporters that he had planned After studying Chinese for a few months, he returned to South Korea, but then he stayed with his father and became a scientific research coach for Jiangsu women's hands.
"I found out that China is different from what I imagined. I also lived in New Zealand with my father for a while, but I feel at home in China." Jin Tae Hyun, who has been in China for seven years, can already speak Chinese very well. He likes Chinese food, and he also likes to travel around China with his friends.
Kim Tae-Hyun learned about handball from his father since he was a child. In his heart, his father is an idol. Now he works with his father in China. Kim Tae-Hyun always refers to his father as "Teacher Kim".
He said that his father is more like a "mentor", his father loves handball as much as he loves life, and he is willing to pass on this love.
In 2019, based on Jin Jiazhu's contribution to Chinese sports in Changzhou, the Changzhou Municipal People's Government awarded him the "Honorary Citizen" medal.
For Jin Jiazhu, this honor makes him feel more belonging.
"I went back to South Korea and joked with my Korean friends that I am from Changzhou." Jin Jiazhu said that after more than nine years in China, he fell in love with China and his career was in China, which kept him giving up. His mentorship is in China, and he hopes that his handball coaching career and the rest of his life will also be spent in China.
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