The lesson of history is that the judgment and decision of a leader who changes the framework of an organization must be prudent and prudent. Anyone can do it easily and quickly without considering the problems found comprehensively. However, if you are a responsible leader who has to consider various sub-organizations or another community together, you need to have a sincere attitude in judgment and decisions. This is because the leader’s decisions can determine the success or failure of the organization.
It is fundamental to grasp the essence behind the visible phenomena, and it is also the reason that insight and acumen to consider various angles, including forecasting changes and unexpected headwinds based on judgments and decisions, are virtues that leaders must possess. A leader’s judgment and decisions are so important. I’ve seen countless cases where decisions made to tear down and fix one visible problem have resulted in the loss of something bigger.
The reason why the out of the blue wise leader was given such an admonition is because of the recent rumors of a movement to replace the official used ball in the V-League organized by the Korea Professional Volleyball Federation (KOVO). Star Sports’ ‘STAR Ball’, which has been used as an official ball for the V-League since 2005, the first year of the professional launch, is the only International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) official ball in Korea.
While Korean Star Sports, Japan’s MIKASA, and MOLTEN are producing FIVB-certified volleyballs, ‘Star Ball’ is the pride of the Korean volleyball industry that breathes with the history of the V-League. However, it is known that recently, KOVO is considering replacing it with a ‘MIKASA ball’ in the official contract for use renewed every three years.
‘Mikasa Ball’ is synonymous with volleyball. As the strongest sponsor of FIVB, all international competitions such as the Olympics and VNL (Volleyball Nations League) are using ‘Mikasa Ball’. Everyone acknowledges that it is the best quality in the world, but it is a matter to consider whether using it will greatly help improve performance.
In the meantime, some of the domestic players have mentioned the ball problem as one of the reasons for the sluggishness of international competitions. Their argument is that they experienced difficulties in the sense of the game while using the ‘Star Ball’, which is different from the ‘Mikasa Ball’ in the domestic league, but this is more of an excuse if you look at it coldly. Of course, the reality is that the ‘Mikasa Ball’, which is used as a game ball for various international competitions, is bound to be the subject of comparison, but it is first necessary to scientifically examine whether the ‘Star Ball’ has any definitive flaws that cause a serious decline in performance.
Star Sports, which produces ‘Star Ball’, is such a company that also produces ‘Mikasa Ball’ as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Despite being a small and medium-sized company with weak capital, the general view is that the problem with quality is only a difference in skill level according to the frequency of use, as it has R&D (research and development) that does not lag behind the times and the international competitiveness that accompanies it.
Replacing the official ball for the V-League is not such a simple matter. This is because various interests are intertwined and it is deeply related to government policy and structural problems of Korean sports. Replacing the official ball could be a pod that goes out of sync with government policies aimed at fostering the sports industry. This is because the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which is in charge of sports, has promised to make sports industrialization for decades.
The policy to grow and nurture the small sports industry at the policy level is no exception even after the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol government. President Yoon attended the ‘2023 Korea Sports Vision Reporting Session’ held at the National Athletes’ Village in Jincheon, Chungcheongbuk-do on February 14, and emphasized that “we will intensively foster the sports industry as a national growth engine.”
Another problem is that one small and inconsiderate policy change in the V-League can act as a boomerang that causes more damage to the overall structure of Korean volleyball. If the official ball is replaced in the V-League, there is a high possibility that it will all be replaced with the ‘Mikasa Ball’ in elementary, middle, high school, university, and business leagues. In that case, not only the decline of the domestic sports industry but also the burden of increased costs is a worrying point. 토스카지노
As much as the price difference between the ‘Star Ball’ and the ‘Mikasa Ball’ is high, the economic burden of amateur volleyball will increase much more. Due to the structure of Korean amateur sports, which are operated with parental support, it is predicted that the increased burden will depend on parents’ pockets.
Above all, the biggest loss is the fact that the tower of effort and pride built up by a small company for a long time collapses in an instant. At most, people may ask why they are making such a fuss about replacing one official ball, but the cold reality of the Korean sports industry is that it is so weak and petty.