# Archery in Korea



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

I thought I would offer some insight into archery in Korea. Some of you know that I had the opportunity to spend my sabbatical leave in Seoul last fall. Officially, I was a Visiting Scholar at Yonsei University, but also had the good fortune to have been a guest at the Korea National Sport University (KNSU). I was in Seoul for 4.5 months and was at KNSU almost daily, interacting and training with the archery students and their coaches. KNSU is a government sponsored university that caters to all aspects of sport (competition, coaching, sports management, bio-mechanics research, sports psychology…). There are around a thousand or so students, and over 20 supported sports. About half the students are resident athletes. Athletes take academic classes in the mornings, and train in the afternoons on weekdays. On weekends, they train in the morning. A regular archery training session consists of around 150 arrows, shot over a 3 hour period. When the team is preparing for a tournament, there will be up to 3 training sessions per day. The archery students also run and lift on a regular basis. The skill of the archery students there is spectacular, and KNSU has produced many Asian, World, and Olympic champions. The students are hand-picked from high schools across Korea. Normal team size is 10 men and 10 women, all 1300 shooters, with the best over 1350. The system for athlete development in Korea is quite different than in the US. In Korea, there is very little recreational archery. There are archery programs in many schools, with paid a coaching staff. Students usually start in archery as part of an elementary school program, and continue in middle school. Anyone who is still involved in archery by the high school level is pretty much doing it to become a professional. Archery is a paying career in Korea, e.g. people can actually make a decent living as a professional archer or coach. I’ll post more later, as time permits.


----------



## x1440 (Jan 5, 2003)

I was born in Korea and I have family there that had connections at the Korean archery association so I was able train with the Seoul City Hall professional team for 2 summers. My first time we were housed in an apartment paid by the team and we had a maid that cooked all our meals. The 2nd time I went the team moved into the City Hall Sports Complex athlete training center. It's basically like a small Olympic Training center only for City Hall professional sports teams. Our training was M-F. On the weekends the athletes were allowed to go home. Since it was a professional team, the training was not as strict as the elementary-college level. In those levels kids forms are fine tuned so they shoot hundreds of arrows a day. The kids also have to run to the targets to retreive their arrows to maximize their shooting time. The fingers on their drawing hands are also as big as their toes and rock hard with calluses for all the shooting they due.

Profession teams the best archers from the college or high school levels. All the archers were 1330+ level. There were 2 former Jr. World Team members, 1 Olympic Team alternate, and all except for 2 were former members of the national team. One guy's scores dropped below 1300 and he was kicked off the team after his first year. The pro teams main goal is competition and personal scoring goals so training was a little more laid back. They don't shoot as much as the junior levels, they just shoot enough to maintain their forms. We shot a full FITA's once a week and the rest of the days were spent shooting and scoring 36 arrow rounds each at 70m and/or 90m. Our day started with a 1 mile run in the mornings, breakfast, 70m until lunch, after lunch we had a 1 hour break, then shot 70m or 90m again until 5pm. We would have weight training 3 times a week at 5pm and run a 6k on Friday mornings instead of shooting. Once a week we would end early at 3pm and play soccer for team building and to get our mind off of shooting. 

The team members told me stories of their early days shooting and a couple were in the Korean Military's Athletic Squad. The squad are for elite athletes and after basic training, they are able to keep training in their respective sports at the base. There is a similar squad for celebrities who serve in the country's 2 year military requirement. Physical punishment is normal in Korea and in sports it's no exception. One guy told me that in his early days, he would pluck the string so his coach held a knife blade against his drawing hand so everything he plucked, the knife would scrape against his hand. He had scares all over his hand. They said coaches carried around a stick and they would get hit on their arms for dropping their bow arms, plucking, bad releases, and other poor form errors. Overnight training was also used as punishments from time to time.

In Korea kids are chosen for particular sports in elementary school by the sports coaches at the schools. It's not based on their athletic ability or skills. It's sort of random, the coach picks who they want for their sports. Most of the team members I trained with wished they were never chosen. One guy had the body structure of a boxer and the team always joked that the boxing coached was too late in selecting him. Another guy had really good running endurance. He would lap all of us at least twice when we did our weekly 6k runs. They were all upset that they were not allowed to choose which sport they wanted to play in. 

They wouldn't tell me exactly how much they were paid but they said it was a little better than an average job unless you win competitions. If you win the Olympics the government buys you a house, car, and you get an annual government stipend for the rest of your life. The head coaches changed both times I went. They are both the former and current Thailand's National coaches. The 2nd coach I trained with was actually the assistant coach my first year, Kim Sun-Bin. A few archers from other teams and former team members came to visit during my time with the team. Kim Bo-Ram, the 1996 Korean Olympic team member was one of the vistors. The coaches were talking about how so many countries were recruiting Korean coaches and elite level archers to coach in their country. They said starting pay was $100,000 USD. It was kind of sad to hear what happens to the archers they get kicked off the professional teams once their contract expires and are not renewed do to their performance. They either go back to college to earn a degree if they came straight from high school or work in the archery industry as coaches in the school levels because they have nothing else since they spent their entire lives training for a professional team.


----------



## FlBowHunter2000 (Mar 29, 2011)

wow, maybe this needs to be moved to the PRM


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

Korean society is very different from American society. I'm not saying it's any better or worse, it's just different. Americans tend to embrace individuality, whereas in Korea conformity seems to rule. I've heard stories of harsh treatment and physical punishment in Korean sports training. But I've never witnessed any of it, at least not in the archery program at KNSU, and I think I was pretty well embedded in that program. The coaches were very well respected, the students did whatever they were told without question or hesitation. The coaches were stern, but I never heard them even raise their voices, let alone a hand. Most of the time, the relationship between the students and coaches was very friendly. Dr. Kim Jinho was especially motherly. The students were very well disciplined. During break times, they were just like any American kids: they listened to music, joked around, and were all very friendly. But once practice started, it was straight to business. No more joking, minimal talking, just shooting. All the students were required to live on campus in the dormitories, males and females in separate buildings. There was a special cafeteria where only the athletes and coaches were allowed. The food there was very good, and very healthy. Three meals a day, all included with tuition (which was subsidized by the government). The regular cafeteria was on the other side of the campus. For the equivalent of around $3, more food than I could eat. Curfew was 9:00 PM. Anyone not back in their dorm by that time was in trouble. They could leave campus on weekends on certain occasions, but needed permission to do so. Overall, I grew to know and like the kids very much, and (because of my age and academic position) they treated me with a great deal of respect. They even tolerated my lack of skill, and spent quite a bit of time coaching me.


----------



## BLACK WOLF (Aug 26, 2005)

x1440 said:


> In Korea kids are chosen for particular sports in elementary school by the sports coaches at the schools. It's not based on their athletic ability or skills. It's sort of random, the coach picks who they want for their sports. Most of the team members I trained with wished they were never chosen.


That blows my mind. It's really random? The coaches don't base their choices on anything? Do they allow all the kids to participate in all sports at an early age before they are chosen to see if there's any natural talent with any of them for a particular sport? Can some parents buy their kid's way into specific sport?

Great thread!!!

Ray :shade:


----------



## Vittorio (Jul 17, 2003)

No, it is not totally random. Antropometric measures and phisical shape is usually dominating the choice of the boys and girls for archery. And, of course, no left hand is allowed.


----------



## freddyd (Jan 26, 2009)

Thank you Dr. Lieu for educating us on Korean archery. I agree with the others: this thread is fascinating. It's refreshing to hear more about archery in other parts of the world. I'm curious to know how Korean coaches who found jobs in other countries, i.e., Kisik Lee, alter coaching to benefit other programs. Or is it basically the same? If it's ok to ask, what did you learn from your sabbatical that you implemented into UC Berkeley's archery program? 

Btw, we'll be doing a college campus tour this summer. Mainly for our childens sake. Wife and I want to expose our kids to different colleges.

Again, great thread!


----------



## BLACK WOLF (Aug 26, 2005)

Vittorio said:


> No, it is not totally random.


Man...I didn't think it would be.



Vittorio said:


> Antropometric measures and phisical shape is usually dominating the choice of the boys and girls for archery.


There was mention above about a boy's whose build was better as a boxer. I'd be curious as to why he was picked for archery if alot of reason is based on antropometrics.



Vittorio said:


> And, of course, no left hand is allowed.


I wonder why that is?

Ray :shade:


----------



## vsaluki (Feb 28, 2011)

DK "Americans tend to embrace individuality, whereas in Korea conformity seems to rule."

While I like shooting a bow, I can't imagine the meaning and significance of my life being centered on that - even more so if I didn't choose it for myself.


----------



## x1440 (Jan 5, 2003)

BLACK WOLF said:


> That blows my mind. It's really random? The coaches don't base their choices on anything? Do they allow all the kids to participate in all sports at an early age before they are chosen to see if there's any natural talent with any of them for a particular sport? Can some parents buy their kid's way into specific sport?
> Ray :shade:


Parent's can't buy their kids way into sports. Kids that watch the Olympics and dream of winning a gold medal also have no way to fulfill their dream unless they are selected from a young age which is very sad. 

I asked the coaches and archers if their kids would do archery and they said probably not. Most didn't want them to anyway. They wanted their kids to have a regular education and get a prestigious job.



Vittorio said:


> And, of course, no left hand is allowed.


Actually, no left eye dominance is allowed. Coach Kim Sun-Bin is left handed, however he was forced to shoot right handed when he started. He ate, wrote, and kicked/bated/threw left-handed when we would play soccer or baseball. He was the alternate at the 1996 Olympics and was on the National team multiple times since he was a junior. He shot the US Open/Nationals in the eighties in the junior division but on the second day he noticed he was bumped to the adult division because his score was so high and he still placed top 3.

There was an elementary school comeptition at our range during my time there and a few girls were also left handed but they were all shooting right handed.


----------



## Beastmaster (Jan 20, 2009)

vsaluki said:


> DK "Americans tend to embrace individuality, whereas in Korea conformity seems to rule."
> 
> While I like shooting a bow, I can't imagine the meaning and significance of my life being centered on that - even more so if I didn't choose it for myself.


That rule of thumb is pretty common in Asian based countries. Even as washed out as my genetic heritage is here in the United States, that type of thought process is still prevalent in 3-4th generation Asians.

-Steve


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

X1440… Thank you for posting about your experience. I think it provided some much needed insight into the “mystery” of Korean archery. Everyone who reads X1440’s account should be careful not to misinterpret it. It may sound like Korean kids have their careers picked out for them at an early age by someone else, whether they like it or not, regardless of talent or aptitude. In my experience, this is not true. Korean parents, like any other parents, want their children to be as successful as possible. Often, this means trying to identify a child’s strengths as early as possible, and then developing those strengths starting as early as possible. In Asian culture, as well as with many other cultures in the world, identifying a child’s strengths is usually left up to qualified adults: parents, teachers, coaches, etc. Children are considered to young and inexperienced to make such an important choice for themselves. If, for example, a child shows early success in math and science, he/she probably would have been pointed toward a technical career. For athletic talent, Vittorio is spot on. A child is selected for a sport based on body type, coordination, speed and reflexes, temperament, etc. If a child is selected for archery, but he/she was initially unsuccessful, I am certain that choice would be changed. In the case of X1440’s friends on the professional team, they perhaps would have chosen a different sport for themselves, or perhaps they would have been better at another sport. But they had the “misfortune” of being good at archery, so that was the talent that was developed. Many American parents do something similar when their children go to college. Many children may be good in the arts and they may want to pursue that path, but they are pushed into business, law, engineering, or medicine (if they have the aptitude), because those careers more easily lead to stable well-paying jobs. Vittorio and X1440 are also correct about no left handers.


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

freddyd said:


> Thank you Dr. Lieu for educating us on Korean archery. I agree with the others: this thread is fascinating. It's refreshing to hear more about archery in other parts of the world. I'm curious to know how Korean coaches who found jobs in other countries, i.e., Kisik Lee, alter coaching to benefit other programs. Or is it basically the same? If it's ok to ask, what did you learn from your sabbatical that you implemented into UC Berkeley's archery program?
> 
> Btw, we'll be doing a college campus tour this summer. Mainly for our childens sake. Wife and I want to expose our kids to different colleges.
> 
> Again, great thread!


freddyd… Be sure to look me up when you’re on campus. I’d be happy to give you a personal tour.

It does seem that Korea is developing a tradition of exporting its coaching expertise to other countries, including Lee Kisik to Australia and then to the US, and Chun In Soo to Chinese Taipei. I think the basic principles of technique and form that they’ve always taught are the same, but the approach to coaching had to change. Some training practices that I witnessed in Korea (but not at KNSU) would not be considered acceptable in many places in the West, and might even cause some US parents to press charges. Coach Lee Kisik realized this, and successfully adapted his methods to suit. But he still demands an almost Korean level of discipline, dedication, loyalty, and respect. The development of a single common training system also seems to be very Korean, and goes back to the concept of conformity as opposed to individuality. Coach Chun In Soo, who incidentally was a KNSU graduate, hasn’t been in Taiwan for too long. His job will likely be a bit easier than Coach Lee’s because the people in Taiwan are already immersed in a culture that is very similar to that in Korea. I actually had a chance to speak to Coach Chun when I was in Korea. He brought the Taiwan Team to KNSU to train at his alma mater for several days. The main problem he faces is the lack of depth on the Taiwan Team. In Korea, there are many 1300 shooters. In Taiwan, they are few and far between. So in Taiwan, as in the US, a major problem includes filling the pipeline as well as training elite archers.

As for what I will be bring back to UC Berkeley… When I finally got back to UC Berkeley, the Spring competition season was beginning, so I was not going to make any major changes until the season ended, which it just did. However, this summer and fall, I will start to make changes because I see in my archers some things that now make me cringe. The main thing that I learned while I was in Korea, after finally establishing that their coaches thought was descent form, was to keep everything simple and to relax. After that, the body will naturally do what it is supposed to do. I showed the coaches the BEST method being taught in the US. Their general reaction was, “Why would anyone take something so easy and make it so complicated?” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that something like BEST was what was needed in the US. BEST is so detailed, with every single step broken down into such minute detail, that there is no room for alternate interpretation, i.e. no room for the individuality that Americans are infamous for. It may not be the ultimate technique that everyone has been searching for, but it filled a need for a standard method that had never been successfully filled before. After mastering the standard method, people can then alter aspects of it as needed to suit the individual. At UC Berkeley, we will continue to teach BEST to our competition classes. After a student makes the Team, we will then allow deviation from BEST to suit individual needs, using the methods I learned when I was in Korea.


----------



## zal (May 1, 2007)

DK Lieu said:


> Coach Chun In Soo, who incidentally was a KNSU graduate, hasn’t been in Taiwan for too long.


Don't forget that Taiwan has had Korean coach from 1989, and iirc was first country outside Korea to have a coach who had been coaching medal winning national teams in Korea before. But the system is different, I heard it was adapted to Taiwanese culture, ie more western-styled. Apparently this results as lack of depth in talent.


----------



## x1440 (Jan 5, 2003)

DK Lieu said:


> The main thing that I learned while I was in Korea, after finally establishing that their coaches thought was descent form, was to keep everything simple and to relax. After that, the body will naturally do what it is supposed to do.


I totally agree. While I was there I asked the coaches were changing my form and one of the other archers came up to me and said get into the "T" form without holding my bow. I did and they supported my arms and said RELAX my shoulders. That's how you should feel at full draw. The whole principle of Korea's method is "bone to bone" biometric shooting. Using your bones to do all the work. They were saying in the US they see a lot of archers using muscle. Visiting coaches during the elementary school competition were told I came from the US so they watched me shoot and they all said I was using the typical Western Muscle technique. This was in 1999 and 2002, before the BEST method came along. To demonstrate they superiority of the "bone to bone" method, they had me do a draw-off with a coach who had not shot for over 10 years. He said let's see who can hold the longest. I held for 3 minutes and began to shake, but the coach held for over 8 minutes and let down. He put his fist together and said see how my knuckles fit together and are locked? Then he rotated one fist 90 degrees and said now the knuckles are not aligned and the connection is weak. This metaphor was for my bow shoulder and bow arm because I had a hard time rotating my elbow out and the coaches didn't like it. 

If you look at the Korean shoot, they all look very relaxed at full draw and their shooting looks effortless. Even though the women are shooting 40+ lbs and the men are shooting 45-50lbs. They are all very skinny and not more muscular than Americans, but they are holding more weight. In the US you see a lot of archers with bowed backs or shake even when they are hold light weights. The first thing we think is that they are over bowed, but if you look closely at their form, they are out of alignment and not using their bones to support the weight.

Although this site is in Korean, www.bowkorea.com has lots of good information and lots of nice pictures from competitions and training camps. Korea has a national coaching system where coaches and Pro archers get together to get updated on the newest methods. You can use Google to translate the page to broken English. The pictures are worth looking at and gives you a glimpse into the how archery is in Korea.


----------



## julle (Mar 1, 2009)

mmmh, sounds like i need a Korean coach


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

julie… you really don’t need an Korean coach, just listen more to your American one. American coaches are just as knowledgeable as the Korean. Rick McKinney had it all figured out a long time ago, and if you go to his book “The Simple Art of Winning”, you’ll discover that it basically teaches the same thing that is being taught in Korea now. BTW, Rick has a Gandhi type mystique there. The main difference between the Koreans and the Americans is the mental attitude of the coach and the student. The coach is there to teach, and the student is there to learn, not to have fun. 

x1440… you are spot on about physical strength vs. biomechanical alignment. KNSU coaches and students took over 2 months to fix my stance, draw and alignment to their satisfaction. Until then, I shot only blank-bale. There was no point in shooting regular distance if form was incorrect. Rick McKinney pegged body alignment 30 years ago, but it took Lee Kisik to really pound its importance into American. Most of the KNSU students were as skinny as rails. The women were a lot smaller than I was, but they were able to pull a lot more weight than I could. Poundage for men and women sound about right. If you look at the Koreans, they are no bigger, stronger, faster, more flexible, prettier, or smarter than Americans. They just know how to do it.


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

I thought I would say a few words about archery equipment, since many American seem to be obsessed with equipment. At KNSU, students came with their own equipment. The school buys one set of arrows for each student each year. Beyond that, they have to buy their own. All the recurve equipment was Korean made: Win & Win, Samick, MK, and Kaya. This was partially out of nationalism, but also becasue import duties dramatically increase the cost of foreign equipment. In general, archery equipment in Korea cost more than in the US, even the stuff that is made in Korea. The most popular risers were the W&W Inno CXT, and Samick Master. All bow grips were modified with epoxy putty and wrapped with tape to give a slightly higher grip. Most popular limbs were W&W Apecs and Samick Extreme. Most popular sights were Shibuya Ultima (carbon), with a few using Shibuya Dual Click (carbon). Arrows were exclusively Easton X-10, stainless steel points, 1.75” spin wings, and Beiter over nocks. Arrow rests were mostly ARE, but a few used the plastic Hoyt Super rest. Plunger buttons were exclusively Beiter. Students made their own strings. Tabs were mostly Cavalier, modified with homemade finger spacers.


----------



## Vittorio (Jul 17, 2003)

> The main difference between the Koreans and the Americans is the mental attitude of the coach and the student. The coach is there to teach, and the student is there to learn, not to have fun.


It's not a matter of mental attitude, is a matter of social environment and objectives. Archery in Western countries is an hobby more than a sport. In Korea Archery is a profession more than a sport. Imagine to have to learn archery to get a salary, and if you wil not be good enough, no salary at all... 
We have may be 4 to 15 professionals in archery for each of the western countries, and for sure they are training at the same level as Korean archers are, and are got paid to do so. Well, Korea only has 1300 professional archers and an entire system to keep their number almost constant with the pipeline filled continuously with new talents to replace those abandoning. But, also Korea can't generate too many "champions", as training can make a 1330 shooter, but training only will never make a 1350 shooter, as to reach that level you also will need the misterious "talent" ingredient in the mixture, not so common to get. So, people like Chung Jae Hun, Park Kyung Mo, Kim So Nyung and Lee Eum Kyung can also stay there on the top for 12 years or even more.
Huge number of professionals gives anyhow many chanses to get out more talented archers than the small numbers we have. This is the real secret.


----------



## DK Lieu (Apr 6, 2011)

Thank you, Vittorio. Your explanation is much more detailed and accurate than mine. It is the social environment and objectives that creates the mental attitude.


----------



## freddyd (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks Dr. Lieu for your insights! It would make sense that Lee Kisik's BEST be appropriate for American archers. I think most of us need the minute details and the biomechanics behind the form. I like how BEST is standardized. I find it ironic how the Koreans say to keep it "simple and relax" when a lot of us obsess over it. Perhaps, its the Asian Zen/meditative attitude which allows such thinking? I like your quote: "The coach is there to teach, and the student is there to learn, not to have fun." Boy, you're so privileged to be able to go on sabbatical and study archery! I hope your team does well!


----------



## tome708 (Jan 2, 2012)

I am starting an online on you honor weekly archery league. Trying to reach out to as many people in the archery community as possible. It will be beginning 2/1/2012 for 8 weeks. Would like people from around the world to participate. Questions/Interest contact Tom at [email protected] Participation is free, and for fun.


----------

