Update from Seoul

Coach Tom sent United supporters and email from his trip to Seoul, Korea. It reads;

UNITED Supporters,

This is Tom Atencio from Seoul South Korea. I am sitting in my hotel room at 8:01 PM Wednesday September 9 which is 3:01 AM September 9 in Portland. The time difference of 15 hours offers challenges in regard to your body’s internal clock not to mention the 12 hour plane ride. When traveling such distances it is important to sleep on the plane and immediately get into to the rhythm of the country visited. This means your internal clock may be saying its bed time but the destination says its breakfast time.

My room faces two hillside temples constructed by Korean kings over 800 years ago. Seoul is a very busy city with all the amenities and challenges of any big city; outstanding cuisine but horrible traffic. This is my second time to Seoul my first was in 2002 for the World Cup. The people are great and usually try to speak any bit of English they may know.

I am here as a guest with United coach Kim Un Bong. I have known Kim since he joined United in 2003. As a director of coaching, I see many resumes and at times some coaching candidates stretch the truth. Kim’s resume was very factual and modest; South Korean National Team, professional player, and an international coaching license. After being with him for one day in the country of his birth he is much more then his resume. He is a well known icon throughout Korea. We are very fortunate to have Kim as a coach in our club; he is humble and classy.

Today we visited Icheon United FC. Icheon is the third largest city in Korea and about an hour driving distance from Seoul. Icheon FC is currently in fourth place in the Korean first division. Professional clubs in Korea are mandated by the Korean Association Football to have youth teams U10-U16, senior youth teams, a second team (which is basically a reserve team for the first division team), and a first division team. Kim and I met with Park, Ee Chun the technical director for the Icheon Club on the professional stadium field which was used during the 2002 World Cup. Park’s job is to hire and develop coaches to train all players in the Icheon club. Park is a very humble man that played with Kim for several years and captained the Korean National Team. I was introduced to the following team coaches: U11B, U12B, U13B, second team, and the first division coach. We saw each team train and conversed with all coaches. The first division coach managed/coached Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

At team training all players begin training by greeting all adults with a bow and hello. I was greeted by all players at training with many taking time to talk to Kim. Training itself was very technical at the youth level with a mixture of juggling, dribbling and possession in very tight spaces. The second team and first team were preparing for upcoming games so training was tactical and light. All teams included speed work during warm up, emphasized consistent work rate and respect for each other. Icheon FC is a first class club!

Keep in mind I am one day ahead, so I will be writing updates each evening.


Tom Atencio
Director of Coaching and Player Development
Tualatin Hills United Soccer Club


I will post all of Tom's updates from Seoul as they come in.

GO SODIUM!