hankyoreh

Sam Kim

“When I was six, I was playing an ice hockey card game and his card came up. I guess that’s how it all started for us.” Sam Kim, a Korean-American video analyst for the South Korean men’s national ice hockey team, recalled the shock of first learning about coach then NHL player Jim Paek (now coach of the South Korean national team). The fact that a Korean was a star player famous enough to have his own card also meant an end to Kim’s own dream of becoming the first Korean player on the National Hockey League.

Over two decades later, the two have been brought together by fate after the now 32-year-old Kim joined the national team last September. A native of the US, Kim played hockey through high school. But after going to Boston College to study economics, he began focusing on his studies, while volunteering to assist the school hockey team with video analysis. After graduated, Kim decided to change course and become a professional ice hockey video analysis expert. “My parents said, ‘What are you doing in something that doesn’t even pay anything? You should find something that makes money,’” Kim recalled.

But his love for hockey was too great for him to leave the rink behind. He began communicating with Paek by email a few years ago. Since joining the team last year at Paek’s request, he has been hard at work night and day.

“In other countries they have two to three different specialists focused on analyzing offense, defense, and the opposing team. For the South Korean team, I have to do all of that myself,” Kim said. “But everyone’s working hard, so I can’t complain,” he added. Kim’s duties involve sitting in front of a computer all day long editing videos of the team’s games. Finding and downloading footage for North American hockey league teams is relatively simple. But it can be next to impossible to find videos of the teams South Korea will be facing in international competitions.

“In the past, I’ve had to go on the other team’s Twitter and pretend to be from that country to get video for a match,” he laughed. Helping Paek from up close has also been a rewarding experiencing. “Coach Paek always emphasizes teamwork and demands that you are constantly thinking 24 hours a day if you want to be good,” Kim said. “The athletes’ technique, mindset and confidence have all improved compared to a year ago.”

By Kim Chang-keum, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]