Volleyball coach appeals one-year suspension

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Volleyball coach appeals one-year suspension

Former Korean men’s volleyball head coach Kim Ho-chul said Monday he has appealed the one-year suspension that he received earlier for attempting to join a pro club while still under contract with the national team.

Kim said he filed his appeal with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), which must review it within 60 days.

On April 19, the Korea Volleyball Association (KVA) suspended Kim for one year for actively seeking a professional club coaching job, though he was under contract through 2022.

Kim was formally notified of the punishment last Tuesday, and he had a week within which to appeal the KVA ruling.

“I apologize to fans of volleyball for causing trouble, but I also feel the penalty was too severe, and I want the truth to be revealed,” Kim said. “I’m not doing this to get the national team job again. I just want to restore at least a small bit of my dignity.”

Kim became the first full-time national team coach in February last year. Kim was signed through the 2022 Asian Games, and he was supposed to face a midterm review after the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The sticking point between Kim and the KVA is a clause in Kim’s contract that the two sides have interpreted differently.

The contract states that if Kim wanted to move to another coaching position during the period between the 2018 Asian Games and the 2020 Summer Olympics, Kim must hand back 50 percent of his annual salary.

Kim took the clause literally, apparently willing to return half of his salary as long as he was allowed to leave the national team for another job. But the KVA countered that the clause was inserted only as a deterrent, and it was never meant to keep the door open for Kim to leave before his contract ran out.

Yonhap
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