Martin Hyun

Martin Hyun
Born	May 4, 1979 (1979-05-04) (age 32) Krefeld, West Germany
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position	Forward
Shot	Left
Played for	Krefeld Pinguine
National team	Germany
Playing career	1996/97–2004/05

Martin Hyun
Hangul	현종범
Revised Romanization	Hyeon Jong-beom
McCune–Reischauer	Hyŏn Jong'pŏm

Martin Hyun (born May 4, 1979, in Krefeld, Germany) is an author and former ice hockey player in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga.^[1]

Hockey career

The son of Korean immigrants in Germany, he began playing ice hockey at the age of 5, progressing his way through local youth leagues and into the Krefeld Pinguine's youth development system.^[2] He became a regular player for the German Junior National Team. In 1997 he was called up by Coach Miroslav Berek and Manager Rüdiger Noack to begin the season with the Elite league team at the age of 17, where he scored two goals in five preseason games playing alongside former NHLer Peter Ihnacak. Hyun played most of the season with the second-league playing development team.^{[citation needed]} In 1998 Hyun decided to go to the United States to further his education and pursue his hockey career at the same time. He first studied at Benilde-St. Margaret's High School, a Catholic school in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, later transferring to Northwood Prep School in Lake Placid, New York.^[2]

Soon after arriving in the United States, Hyun became a fan of National Hockey League player Paul Kariya who has Japanese heritage. After failing to be picked in the NHL Draft during the World U-17 Championships in Moncton, Canada in 1997, Hyun put aside his pursuit of a professional NHL hockey career, and enrolled in Colchester, Vermont's Saint Michael's College, where he played NCAA Division II hockey.^[2] In 2002 Hyun won the ECAC Division II Northeast Championship with the Purple Knights.^{[citation needed]} Upon graduation in 2003, he entered a masters' program at the University of Kent's Brussels campus; while a student, he also played for a Belgian Hockey League team in Leuven. He returned to Germany in 2004 to sign with the Krefeld Pinguine.^[2] With his signing Hyun became the first Korean to ever make it to the highest professional league in Germany. He made his league debut on September 17th 2004 against the Cologne Sharks. Hyun chose to wear Number 71 to honour the accomplishments of Korean guestworkers in Germany. In April 2005 Hyun was invited by German President Horst Köhler to attend the state banquet in honour of the state visit of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. Hyun is only the third player of Korean heritage to play in the highest league, the earlier two being Jim Paek and Richard Park.^{[citation needed]}

Retirement

After only one season, Hyun retired from professional ice hockey to move to South Korea, where he worked with the National Assembly and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to promote Korean-German friendship. Though Hyun sometimes faced racism and exclusion in Germany, he stated that he felt like even more of a stranger in South Korea; he returned to Germany to enroll in a doctoral programme at the University of Bonn, where he is writing his thesis on the experiences of second-generation Korean youth in Germany.^[2] He also gained more experience in the political world with the German and European Parliament and the Ministry of Generations, Family, Women and Integration. He has published a book entitled Lautlos-JA Sprachlos-NEIN (Silent-YES Speechless-NO) on the social integration experiences of second generation Koreans in Germany. The book was published in 2008 by EB-Verlag Hamburg ISBN: 978-3-936912-84-5. In his highly-acclaimed debut book Hyun was supported by his friend and bestselling author Wladimir Kaminer. They both performed together on stage at the Goethe-Institut in Seoul. In 2008 Hyun was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the European Year of the intercultural dialogue, which has been called out by the European Commission and European Parliament.

Politics

Hyun has become a vivid fighter for minority rights in Germany. In 2007 Hyun was selected among thirty young leaders with a foreign background to participate in the Bertelsmann-Foundation Leadership-Program in order to promote social integration of minorities in Germany. As a professional ice hockey player Hyun inititated a mentoring-project for children from low income families and helped children with cancer. On October 10th 2008 Hyun received a second invitation from German President Horst Köhler to talk about the demographic change and increasing diversity in Germany. In 2010 Hyun initiated the "Hockey is Diversity" campaign to promote diversity outside the boundaries of sports in Germany.

Awards

• 1997 World U-17 Hockey Championships, Moncton, Canada^{[citation needed]}
• 2002 ECAC Division II Northeast Champion, USA^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "독일 아이스하키 현종범: 통일 문제 연구하고 싶어요”(German ice hockey player Hyeon Jong-beom: I want to do research about the problem of unification)". Hankook Ilbo. 2005-04-17. http://www.hani.co.kr/section-006000000/2005/04/006000000200504171326305.html. Retrieved 2007-09-14. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Meltzer, Bill (2006-07-14). "A hockey life on three continents". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/features/pond/hyun071406.html. Retrieved 2007-05-30. ^{[dead link]}

http://www.amazon.de/Lautlos-Sprachlos-Grenzg%C3%A4nger-zwischen-Deutschland/dp/393691284X http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/418.0.html?&L=0 http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/hockey-is-diversity.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1&cHash=5002e87665

External links

• Personal blog
• Martin Hyun's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Martin Hyun – player profile and career stats at European Hockey.Net

Persondata
Name	Hyun, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 4, 1979
Place of birth	Krefeld, West Germany
Date of death
Place of death