Jung Kang-ho, the real protagonist of the movie ‘Rebound’, recalled his days at Busan Central High School in 2012.
On the 5th, a movie that thrilled basketball fans was released. That’s ‘rebound’. Rebound deals with the true story of Busan Jungang High School in 2012. At that time, Busan Joongang High School won the runner-up in the 37th Korean Basketball Association Long-Ki Tournament held in Wonju with six players, Cheon Ki-beom, Jeong Kang-ho, Hong Soon-gyu, Bae Gyu-hyeok, Heo Jae-yoon, and Jeong Jin-wook.
The actual protagonists of the film taught basketball directly to the actors who played their roles. He also appeared in a cameo in the film and participated in the preview together.
Jung Kang-ho, one of the protagonists of the 2012 Busan Central High School myth, said in a phone call with this magazine, “It is so meaningful and honored that my story came out. Director Jang Hang-jun jokingly said, ‘Usually these works deal with the lives of dead people, but you are all alive’. I’ve seen the movie three times, and it’s really amazing, and it’s just an honor.”메이저사이트
In 2012, Busan Joongang High School lacked enough players to the point that the basketball team was in danger of disappearing. Coach Kang Yang-hyun managed to gather 6 players, but the training environment was very poor. Their goal was not strong enough to pass the qualifiers for the 37th Korean Basketball Association long-term competition.
Jung Kang-ho said, “Basketball is a 5-5 game, so we trained with 6 people. There was nothing I could do. It was focused on quick attack practice or basic skill practice. Or, we did pattern training with 5 people without defense. It was really poor, so I didn’t participate in the tournament with high expectations,” he recalled.
Although only 6 students participated in the competition, the potential of Busan Central High School was unexpectedly strong. It was not difficult to achieve the first goal by passing the group stage with a 3-game winning streak. Busan Central High School’s promotion continued in the tournament, and even when Jin-wook Jeong left due to injury, five players played full-time and succeeded in advancing to the finals.
“To be honest, I didn’t think much of it when I entered the finals. I’m usually very nervous, so I just played the game without thinking. When (Jung) Jin-wook was injured in the match against Jemulpo High School in the quarterfinals, I thought, “It was a big deal.” Still, coach (Kang Yang-hyun) instilled a lot of confidence in the players.” These are the words of Jeong Kang-ho.
The final opponent was Yongsan High School, the strongest high school. The ace of Yongsan High School at the time is currently KBL’s top guard Heo Hoon (Sangmu). Busan Jungang High School faced Yongsan High School with five students, but the power gap was too great. At the end of the 4th quarter, Hong Soon-gyu and Heo Jae-yoon were sent off for 5 fouls, so the game ended with 3 players: Chun Ki-beom, Bae Gyu-hyuk and Jeong Kang-ho. It was a runner-up worth more than winning.
Jeong Kang-ho said, “I didn’t feel it until the quarterfinals, even though my body was tired. He played only with the thought that if the ball bounced, I would grab the rebound unconditionally. But in the semifinals and finals, it was really hard. I couldn’t even run in the finals. After finishing runner-up, it was really amazing that our story came out on the Internet or in the news. It seems that the players were just curious about each other because they weren’t in the spotlight.”
Jung Kang-ho, who went to Sangmyung University after graduating from Busan Jungang High School, was nominated by Anyang KGC with the 1st pick in the 2nd round of the 2017 KBL rookie draft and realized his dream of becoming a professional player. However, he only played an average of 3 minutes and 42 seconds in 10 games on the professional stage, and he is preparing for his second life by retiring from his active career at the end of last season.
Jung Kang-ho said, “I have only played basketball so far, but he is experiencing a lot by traveling abroad and learning the guitar. He is preparing for his new life by doing things he has never done before.”