This season, SONO was created to replace the professional basketball team Day One, which was suspended due to financial problems including unpaid wages.
Unlike last season, this year’s team is preparing to play ‘happy basketball’ with the full support of the club.
Reporter Moon Young-gyu reports.
[Report]
On the first day of their training camp in Gangwon Province, the Sono players reacted to the training field inside the parent company’s resort.
[“Wow~”]
[Kim Jin-yong: “I’ve never seen a gym facility like this in Korea…”]
Seeing the new courts, which cost hundreds of millions of won, the players, who had traveled to the National Assembly for unpaid wages, are overwhelmed with emotion.
[Captain Kim Kang-sun/Sono: “It was a little sad to go to the National Assembly as a basketball player, but (this season) I think I can play happy basketball because the government has given me a lot of support.”]
Thinking back to the time when he had to eat eggs because he couldn’t pay his restaurant bill, he’s just grateful now.
The players who once looked forward to the dismantling draft can now focus on basketball.
Some say they’re not a top-tier team, but that doesn’t bother coach Kim Seung-ki, who led the team to the 4th place PO despite the disbandment rumors.
[Coach Kim Seung-ki/Sono: “The objective power is (the underdog), but the players overcame that last year, and I hope they will do the same this year, so we will play emotional basketball and end up with happy basketball.”]
Sono is looking forward to the new season, even taking a profile picture in his new uniform, which will be officially unveiled on the 20th.