Tony Jung

Behind some of the more quiet students, one can find some the most interesting backgrounds and stories. Such example is perfectly exemplified with Min Sang Jung or, as most Seabury students know him, Tony.

Jung, who hails from South Korea, has plenty to say in regards to the differences between America and Korea. “The biggest differences are language, culture and the people,” says Jung. Another thing Tony needs to adjust to is to the size of Seabury, as he described his school in Korea as much bigger. While he misses Korea and the friends, food and family he’s left behind, he says that in America he still has “great teachers and great friends.”

Jung’s greatest accolade people might not know about is quite impressive: he was a goalkeeper for the Korean Youth National Soccer Team. However, Jung’s experience was not all sunshine and rainbows: “It was really hard. My coaches would hit me because I was [playing] bad.” He also described that in games “some kids would kick me and I broke my ankle.” Despite these hardships, his experience was still a positive one, due to his love of the game: “When I was playing soccer for my team it would make me happy because I love soccer.”

While only being here for a semester, he has already participated in basketball and was a key member of the boys middle school soccer team. Jung, who clearly knows quite a bit about soccer, has an interesting take on a difference between the soccer he experienced in Korea and Seabury soccer: “I like the team play here. In Korea, if there is a really good player at striker, they play alone. In the Korean National team, Son (Heung-min) plays alone because there is no team around him. They were not playing with ‘team play.’ For the middle school, I played defense, and we played with a lot of talking, tiki taka and teamwork.” This style of play is what middle school coach Joe Comparato and high school coach Ivo Ivanov have been emphasising since taking the reigns of their respective programs.

Next year, Jung will most likely be Seabury’s starting Varsity high school goalie, which is pretty significant given he will only be a freshman next year. Two years ago, the boys team only started three freshmen, and did not start a single one last year. “I’m scared,” says Jung. “I’ve never played with high school players, and I don’t know how the ball speed will be. The middle school ball speed was pretty slow. I am excited to play with high school players.”

Even though Jung keeps his head down and does not brag much at all, he is very talented at what he does, so keep an eye out for him in the hallways, on the basketball court and, most importantly, on the soccer field.

What people are saying:

“I know he loves to play video games” - Bruce Xu

“He has GOAT status”- Enzo Karam

“He is super athletic and very helpful” - Coach Rios