Veteran infielder Choi Joo-hwan (SSG), who will turn 35 at the end of this month, boldly challenged the prejudice against himself and the world’s common sense about veterans.
At the SSG 1st team spring camp held in Vero Beach, Florida, USA, Joo-hwan Choi said, “When I became a starting player at Doosan in 2017, I had a good memory wearing Company A’s sneakers. Company B’s slogan, ‘Just do it’, was also too much. I liked it, but I wanted to go back to the good times, and I felt that the sentence that best fits me now is ‘Impossible is nothing’.”
The slogan of a famous sports brand A, ‘Nothing is impossible’, is for those who challenge the world’s prejudice, and it is a sentence that has recently captured Choi Joo-hwan again. It really touched my heart so much that I even changed my sneakers from B to A when I started a track and field PT this year. He wanted to break the negative gaze toward himself, saying, “I have been evaluated as not being good at baserunning. But I really hated it when everyone decided on the answer first and made a judgment easily.”
This winter, Joo-hwan Choi added one more training program. He learned how to utilize 100% of his leg muscles when running while receiving one-on-one PT from a track and field trainer, and even identified that his ankle strength was weak compared to his strong upper body and thigh muscles.
The effect of the new training was amazing. Out of the 7kg I lost this winter, I succeeded in improving my constitution to the extent that my body fat exceeded 6kg, and thanks to that, people around me even asked if I had plastic surgery. In addition, even though he has not yet improved his physical condition to 100%, he is receiving rave reviews from coaches saying, “The best physical condition” and “The movement itself has changed when defending or running” and is receiving high expectations. 스포츠토토
What he challenges is not only the prejudice against himself as a ‘slow player’. As a veteran who will soon turn 35, he wanted to make an exception to the world’s common sense that ‘exercise ability declines after a certain age’.
Choi Joo-hwan said, “I am 36 years old in Korean age, and if my feet are quick at this age, it can cause a sensation outside of baseball. While claiming, “Of course, I felt that I was a frog in the well while trying new things,” and did not forget to reflect on myself.
It cannot be easy to change the prejudice toward oneself and the common sense of the world. Knowing that made it even worse. He added a new PT to the existing PT, and started preparing for the 2023 season immediately after the celebration. There are over 100 newly added training methods. It’s still the same in spring camp, according to roommate Jeon Eui-san, when young players come in after night training, they go out and exercise alone for two hours.
In the self-management sector, it was confirmed that the veteran’s determination was this much. Joo-hwan Choi said, “I felt my motor cells come to life while training this time. And at the same time, I really felt, ‘You did really well by not drinking or smoking.’ I ate one glass. All I had was a glass of wine with my wife to celebrate Christmas. As for my diet, I ate a hearty breakfast and had a salad in the evening. My body really didn’t lie.”
Most of all, it is a big thing that I found new development possibilities and became interested in sports at an age when others would be thinking about retirement. Choi Joo-hwan said, “These days (exercise) is really fun. I prepared with no regrets, and I think this year will be the turning point of my career as a player.” I want to write properly,” he said.