The Woomi Hope Foundation, together with the Korea Paralympic Committee, held "Woomi Jump Up" over seven days and six nights from the 22nd to the 28th at the Icheon Athletes' Village in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, the foundation said on the 29th.
Woomi Jump Up is a program that discovers and nurtures promising young athletes with disabilities among children and adolescents, providing a foundation for them to grow into national team members. It is held twice a year, divided into winter and summer sessions.
This summer sports camp, held under the theme "Discovering Young Sports Talent With Paralympic Medalists," drew 35 promising athletes selected from across the country. Participants experienced 14 basic Summer Paralympic disciplines, including track and field, swimming, table tennis, badminton, goalball, and judo, exploring which sports suited them best. In particular, this year, Kim Yun-ji, who became the first South Korean female athlete to win a gold medal at a Winter Paralympics at the 14th Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Paralympics, participated as a mentor, sharing her experience as a national team member and her life as an athlete to motivate the participants.
In addition, a "Skill Up Program" helped participants improve their individual abilities by enhancing mobility skills, basic physical fitness, and coordination. Alongside this, the foundation ran a career program consisting of guidance on advancing to special physical education middle and high schools set to open, as well as special lectures by parents of Paralympians, drawing a strong response from participants.
Scholarships were also awarded to the 10 athletes selected as top performers at the camp so they could devote themselves to training. "Although it was a short period, it will have served as an opportunity for these promising young athletes to gain confidence," a Woomi Hope Foundation official said. "We will continue to support these young talents until they stand on even bigger stages."
