Dream of a 'football star' who was hit by a drunk car, Yoo Yeon-soo's Paralympic tour that found new hope in shooting
Aug 31, 2024
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October 18, 2022. The K-League 1 season of professional football was almost over. And for Yoo Yeon-soo (26), this is a day I don't want to remember forever. Yoo Yeon-soo, the goalkeeper of the K League 1 Jeju United at the time, was involved in a collision while driving back to his accommodation in the middle of the night with fellow players and trainers. The driver of the other car caused an accident while driving drunk.
Yoo Yeon-soo's injury was serious compared to his fellow passengers. Many hoped for a safe recovery, but were eventually declared paraplegic, and eventually retired in November last year and ended his career as a soccer player. It's not his fault, but he has to get paralyzed from the waist down and eventually give up his dream of being the best goalkeeper in the profession. Frustration and disappointment came in waves.
However, Yoo Yeon-soo overcame it bravely. As a former professional soccer player, he faithfully performed rehabilitation treatment and exercise. He tried to make various changes with the mind of trying to become a main player in the first division. He also ran a rehabilitation training center and received barista training. But 'Fish'You can't live away from the water. Yoo Yeon-soo is back in the world of sports.
His choice was to shoot the disabled. When Yoo Yeon-soo, a professional soccer player until just a few years ago, said he played sports for the disabled, he sent love calls in various sports. Because he was a coveted talent. After careful consideration, Yoo Yeon-soo chose to shoot. And I visited the site of the 2024 Paris Paralympics to cheer on the `shooting seniors' and tour the scene.
Yoo Yeon-soo visited the Chatoru Shooting Center in France, where the first Paralympic shooting match was held on the 30th (Korea time) while filming a documentary. On this day, the Korean shooting proved that it is a good sport for the Paralympics by winning gold (P1 men's 10m air pistol adjustment head) and silver (R2 women's 10m air rifle Lee Yoon-ri) and bronze (R4 mixed 10m air rifle head Seo Hoon-tae). Yoo Yeon-soo said "Seeing it directly from the scene, I think he chose to shoot really well. It was nice to see all the gold, silver and bronze medals today."
In particular, Seo Hoon-tae (Kolon), who won the bronze medal, has a relationship that taught Yoo Yeon-soo what he should have as a shooter. Yoo Yeon-soo gave me various advice on what kind of exercise I should do for shooting even though I didn't have any special friends"I cheered hard. Congratulations on winning the bronze medal and doing better in the next competition, so I hope you won't be disappointed. I'm always rooting for you."
As for the reason for choosing shooting among various sports, Yoo Yeon-soo said, "Shooting is ranked on one shot and one shot, which was so attractive. It was also good to maintain a strong concentration because it was in line with the goalkeeper he played before."
Yoo Yeon-soo's new dream is to be a member of the national team. His goal is to be selected as a member of the shooting national team and participate in the Los Angeles (LA) Paralympics in 2028. Yoo Yeon-soo said, `I want to shoot well and show good performance for my parents who had a hard time for me. If we focus on producing results that we can be satisfied with ourselves, we hope that we will be able to participate in the 2028 LA Paralympics and win a medal." It is hoped that Yoo Yeon-soo's new hope will lead to fruitful results.
wman@sportschosun.com
