KAIAC, the Korean American Interscholastic Activities Conference, which is comprised of American Army base schools and international schools in Korea, has been around for 39 years. With 13 different sports as well as 6 different activities in the conference, KAIAC offers students an organized league similar to one they might participate in the United States.
Renee Draszkiewicz, current Varsity Girls Volleyball coach for Division 2 side Asia Pacific International School (APIS), gave her views on KAIAC as well as a comparison to competition in America based on her own experiences of 8 years of playing and 3 years of coaching volleyball at club, high school, and college levels in the Chicago area.
Coach Draszkiewicz stated that there was a fairly equal level of competition amongst schools in KAIAC, but she further explained that the level of varsity athletics in America is much higher than that of KAIAC schools. She attributes this to a different focus on athletics in KAIAC. While the main focus of athletics in America is on winning games and competitions, KAIAC has focus on fun, emotions, and learning about the game. The Coach elaborated that as the level of competition is lower, improvements in teams is seen more.
Draszkiewicz gave her opinion that in America, many athletes play because they know how to play, have talent, and have experience in the sport, while in Korea, many athletes who are not as familiar to the sports show even greater dedication to learning for improvement.
“This willingness to learn in KAIAC is very different to the prior experience of sports in the States” she stated, “It gives coaches great satisfaction as it is really awesome to see growth at all the schools throughout KAIAC.
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