Florida State freshman Sung Min Kim hopes to bring American football to South Korea

Meet Sung Min Kim, an idealistic freshman at Florida State University studying sports management with a passion for football and a desire to teach. Sung moved here from Incheon, South Korea and hopes to bring the sport he loves back home and inspire a new generation of players.

Sung (pictured right) with IFAF team member

Sung was first exposed to football when he lived in Virginia, where he played for his middle school’s football team before he and his family returned to Korea. Sung continued to play during high school, but explained the complications football faces that hinder its ability to attain the sort of popularity that it has here in the United States.

“Most Koreans see rugby and American football as the same thing. In Korea there’s only college level football and (the equivalent of) semi-professional football. High schools typically don’t sponsor football teams since it’s not a popular sport. Usually in Korea, high school sports are only for serious athletes that would focus solely on their sport and not even attend class. This presents a challenge since most Korean high school students aren’t willing to devote their high school years to playing a sport that doesn’t bear a promising career for them in their country [South Korea].”

Sung also has his own accolades in football. Sung played in the KNFL (Korean National Football League) as a running back. Internationally Sung has also played as a member of the International Federation of American Football, a grouping of all football associations outside of the United States.

Through the federation, Sung was placed on the U19 development team comprised of the best players under 19 from around the world. This even lead to an opportunity to play the US U19 team at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

U19 International Federation of American Football team

Seeing a challenge

Sung created his own club team “The Rhinos”, along with the first football program in his high school. Sung not only played on these teams, but he also coached them. Due to a lack of Korean teams, they played against high school and club teams from US military bases. When we asked Sung what experiences football had brought him he made it clear that football was not just an interest, but a passion of his.

Sung’s club team The Rhinos (Sung pictured far left)

“Football has brought me maturity through coaching and personally financing the teams. I dropped out of high school so that I could work two jobs in order to finance the teams. I used the money I earned to buy pads from the US and used social media to spread the word about my teams and to help find recruits. Korean culture is very academically focused so it’s a huge risk to take on a sport in lieu of academic reputation. Football is a very unique thing in South Korea since it’s a very homogeneous country and it’s very worthwhile to expose new players to a new culture and broaden their perspectives.”

Sung, while making tremendous personal efforts to see football as a sport grow in his home country has recognized that the culture of Korean football itself is in part preventing it from expanding.

“The culture of American football in Korea is one that is stagnating. The higher ups don’t have the ambition to improve the league and bring it to the next level. They seem like they lost their passion. I’ve received threats to be barred from American football in South Korea since higher ups in the sport didn’t agree with my approach to help improve it.”

It doesn’t stop at Florida State

Aside from his time on the field, Sung wants to learn more about football and hopefully be able to apply it to Korean society through his time here at Florida State. For Sung, football is his number one reason for attending Florida State, hoping to learn the finer points and to eventually join the team as a walk on. Sung makes it clear that these goals however, are not easy to attain.

“Getting to know the football faculty is difficult since I’m unknown and have had a hard time getting my foot through the door. I’ve been going to the football office asking about walk on try outs or to meet with the coaches but this was during football season and the team was extremely busy.”

For Sung football is truly a passion, however his plans don’t end with graduating from FSU, but  instead he hopes to be able to go back to Korea to help implement American football on a larger scale.

“While I might not see the image I have for football in Korea during my lifetime, I hope that I can create a better foundation for the sport. I don’t want the next generation of players to play on dirt fields or be without equipment like I was.”

Sung hopes there will be other kids as inspired by the sport as he has been, and that he can create a lasting impact on children throughout his home country.