Lee Taek-geun of the strongest baseball team transforms into a surprise instructor, and trains juniors to drink and drive, illegal gambling, and match-fixing

Mar 06, 2025

The KBO League exhibition game between Samsung and Lotte at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 14th. Commentator Lee Taek-geun is talking with Oh Jae-il. Daegu=Park Jae-man Reporter pjm@sportschosun.com /2024.03.14/

The Korea Professional Sports Association will introduce a special instructor for anti-cheating education for the first time. SBS Sports commentator Lee Taek-geun, a former baseball player, will be a lecturer in anti-cheating education.

The Korea Professional Sports Association (hereinafter referred to as the association) operates a special instructor for anti-cheating education consisting of former professional athletes, legal professionals, and incumbent front desk to strengthen fairness in professional sports and foster athletes' professional attitudes.

A total of nine special instructors on anti-cheating education, which will be operated for the first time this year, include former professional baseball player Lee Taek-geun, former professional soccer player Lim Min-hyuk, lawyer Son Young-bae (former senior prosecutor at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office), lawyer Kim Soo-hwan (KPGA advisor), lawyer Son Min-jeong, lawyer Lee Young-woong (member of the KPGA reward and punishment committee), KBL Lee Hyuk-joon, head of the management team, lawyer Kim Dong-min, a former legal team leader of the Korea Professional Football Federation, and Hwang Myung-ho, secretary-general of the Goyang Sono.

Lee Taek-geun during his active days. Sports Chosun DB

Special instructors were selected through recommendations from departments in charge of each professional organization. Last year, the instructor competency education and curriculum understanding education were completed and will be used as instructors for one year this year. In particular, it enhances the effectiveness of education by delivering the instructor's own experience, actual cases, disciplinary regulations, and legal punishment information together. Training will be conducted for professional players, coaching staff, and judges with professional instructors who have been appointed by the association.

A photo of cheating prevention education materials. Korea Professional Sports Association

Team training is conducted by each club in cooperation with each professional organization. It targets a total of 66 clubs and professional golfers (members), including 10 KBO League clubs, professional basketball (10 teams), women's professional basketball (6 teams), and professional volleyball (14 teams). Considering the team schedule, all training will be conducted by the instructor visiting the team in person.

The curriculum consists of two parts. The first part deals with social norms. As professional athletes are required to have high moral standards equivalent to public figures, they are taught on topics such as drunk driving, violent incidents, racism, and military service evasion. It is especially alarming by emphasizing that a single negligence may effectively end one's career. The second part deals with match fixing and illegal sports gambling, which are directly related to fairness. In particular, it explains the structure in which players are used by brokers, emphasizing overcoming the temptation of money, and suggesting that immediate reporting is the only solution.

This education, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Sports Promotion Foundation, aims to establish itself as a trusted professional sport by preventing cheating and various unsavory incidents that may occur in the professional sports world. To this end, the association plans to continuously develop educational curriculum and form competent instructors to support related education for professional organizations and clubs.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.