Unable to play, soccer ball artist is Eurobac champion

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Unable to play, soccer ball artist is Eurobac champion

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Woo Hee-yong performs a ball-keeping technique. [JoongAng Ilbo]

While French soccer style has often been called an art, there is one person who has truly become an artist with the soccer ball.
That person is Woo Hee-yong, 43, who was crowned as champion of Eurobac 2007, a competition in which participants show off their individual ball skills.
The contest held in Wien, Austria last Monday featured 30 people, all experts at keeping a soccer ball from hitting the ground using kicking and heading skills. Woo participated as the 2002 champion.
Just like athletes in gymnastics who perform technical moves named after the person who first introduced them, Woo has created a couple of moves that he demonstrated at the Eurobac.
The crowd was amazed when he performed a move he calls “Russian Ballet,” in which he kicks the ball in the air with each leg taking turns while his knees are bent.
Another specialty is his “Blind Heel kick,” in which he throws the ball over his head backwards and kicks the ball back over his head using his heels. Overall, this individual expertise in football skills is called “freestyle.”
The Eurobac win has earned Woo a berth at the Euro 2008 Football Championship, where he will be the official promoter of the championship.
His role is to visit each stadium on game day and perform his skills.
A native of Seoul, Woo was a football player until high school when an injury forced him to give up the game.
Woo then turned his passion for football into learning his current trade. In 1989, he headed a soccer ball for five hours, six minutes and 30 seconds nonstop to etch his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. For that stunt he headed the ball 389,694 times.
He went to Europe in 1990 and trained while watching Europe’s professional league. He is now a promoter of the British Premier League’s Fulham Football Club, making appearances at games. For 10 minutes, he earns about 3,000 pounds ($6,100).
Woo hopes the young generation will follow in his footsteps and create a new cultural activity. “I want to give hope to the young to learn freestyle so they can become top performers,” Woo said.


By Chung Young-jae JoongAng Ilbo [africanu@joongang.co.kr]
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