¿ What Is Happening to Yeon-Koung Kim ?

You wonder who this magnificent player is, who engrosses all the "Best Scorer" and "MVP" awards every season in every league. You search the list of renowned athletes in your mind, including Yuna Kim, Ji-Sung Park, Se-Ri Park, and few others. Still you cannot find out who this player is; the name, Yeon-Koung Kim, is not in your list.

A South Korean female professional volleyball player, Yeon-Koung Kim, is the heroine of this impressive career. Only 24 years old, Kim is Korea's most decorated player within the last years. Every players, coaches, and fans that observed Kim's play named her as "the Gamova of Asia", "the player of a century", "the top notch hitter", etc. Kim's annual income approaches one-and-a-half billion won, definitely a world-class level. And still most of the Koreans do not know even of her name.

 Yeon-Koung, KIM 

Using such public indifference over volleyball, Heungkuk Life, her domestic club, and Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO) are "enslaving" Kim. According to the local rule, a female volleyball player can achieve FA (FA: a player who is eligible to sign with any club or franchise, not under contract to any specific team) Qualification after playing for six seasons. After she joined Heungkuk, she played for four seasons, then she entered Japanese League for two seasons, and moved to Turkey League for a season. Even though she played in Japan and Turkey, not in Korea, it was as a status of "leased player", not as "FA player". What this means is that she played seven seasons as a Heungkuk Life player, exceeding the required six seasons for FA Qualification. But Heungkuk argues that her three seasons at Japan and Turkey should not be counted for her FA qualification. 

Kim, who already achieved so many things not only in domestic but also in international stage, does not want to remain in Korea; she wants to stay in Turkey, wants to learn more among worldwide players and coaches, wants to become a better player. And now Heungkuk impedes her from achieving her dream, just to keep its team in top place in V-League. KOVO, which should be a mediator between Kim and Heungkuk's struggle, leans toward Heungkuk.

Recently, FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) judged that Kim, even though she is a FA qualified player according to the laws, still belongs to the Heungkuk. FIVB's decision is based on a document that Kim, Heungkuk, and KOVO signed; its first and second clauses suggest that Kim is a Heungkuk player, thus if she wants to run in Turkey league, she needs to return to Heungkuk after spending two seasons in Turkey. However, the third clause mentions that the above articles are valid if and only if FIVB judges Kim to be a Heungkuk player. Heungkuk and KOVO forced Kim to sign this document, promising that signing this document would not impact FIVB's decision at all, and the document would be kept by KOVO, without any circulation. Even though Kim did not want to sign the document, she needed to depart to Turkey as soon as possible to prepare for the following matches, and it was sure that Heungkuk and KOVO would not let her go without sign. So Kim signed. And what happened? Heungkuk and KOVO sent the document, changing its title from "Agreement" to "Final Decision" so that FIVB would mistake temporary concurrence for definite resolution, without notifying Kim about spreading the document.

This is what is happening to the worldwide superstar volleyball player. She cannot play on the court, just because of Heungkuk and KOVO's stupid logic. Kim once said in interview that she enjoys the moment she runs for national team the most because she loves her nation. She has played the London Olympics without any break, and boosted the Korea Team to the fourth place for the first time in thirty-six years, but all she got in return was a knee surgery (due to the excessive amount of play she did in London) and the nation's betrayal. 

Kim must be free. She must be qualified as a FA player, so that she can play the volleyball freely. Kim recently proclaimed that she would continue this fight, until she gets a fair judgment without intervene from Heungkuk or KOVO. Right now, her fan cafe members are helping her struggle; there is an ongoing online petition site, which signed-up list will be used to request FIVB reconsideration about Yeon-Koung Kim. Please join the sign, if you ever want to see Kim shining on the court once again. This is the moment your help is needed, to save the greatest volleyball player of the age.