After studying in her native South Korea, Daye Kim was inspired to change her path after watching her home nation at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
The idea of eventually working with athletes to help them reach their potential led her towards sports science and eventually to Bath’s BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science course.
She spoke to us about her love of the subject, moving from East Asia to Europe and where she hopes her degree will take her.
On track to help my country’s athletes
I'm from South Korea and started doing a degree there, but it just didn’t feel right.
After finishing the foundation year, I decided to start afresh and study in the UK. I chose Bath because of its rankings, but also because of a conversation I had with someone in the recruitment team. She’d visited South Korea and spoken about the University with so much pride. That conversation was the tipping point for me; I’d always dreamt of living in Europe and this just felt like the right moment.
Even though I’d lived in Canada when I was younger, moving to the UK was still a big change. At first, I was shy and unsure, especially with the accent and all the new terminology. I remember an early talk from a modern pentathlete where I didn’t understand half the technical words and was still getting used to the different accent - I felt quite overwhelmed.
But the support here was amazing. My tutors picked up on how I was feeling and got in touch; and I had a course mate in my accommodation who helped a lot too. For anyone who’s a bit shy or unsure – don’t worry. There’s so much support, and people genuinely want to help you succeed.
You don’t have to be ‘sporty’
Having watched the Beijing Winter Games and seen some of the struggles that individual and team athletes go through to perform to the highest level in South Korea, I felt driven to be part of the story that helps them achieve. As a non-athlete myself, I needed to find a different way to offer that support.
In South Korea, sports science isn’t such a big thing, so this whole area was new to me. Bath has such a strong reputation in this subject and lots of connections with the industry. There are always guest speakers, volunteering opportunities, and chances to get involved. It’s all good experience.
Even though I didn’t consider myself sporty, I joined the dodgeball club for fun, and I’ve ended up becoming the women’s captain. We even won silver at the University Mixed Championship recently - the first time Bath has ever medalled in that competition. It’s such a huge achievement and something I never imagined when I started.
I also help with social media for our course, filming vlogs and writing posts. This has helped build my confidence and creativity.