Hyundai Mobis hosts youth archery tournament to expand school sports clubs

Hyundai Mobis held a middle school archery tournament Saturday to promote youth sports culture, aiming to make archery as accessible to students as soccer or basketball as more schools incorporate the sport into their physical education programs.

The auto parts maker announced Sunday that it hosted the 2026 Hyundai Mobis School Sports Club Archery Tournament at Namseoul University in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.

About 300 students from 15 middle schools across the Greater Seoul and Chungcheong regions took part. Hyundai Mobis has held the tournament twice a year since 2022, targeting students at middle schools that run archery programs as part of regular classes or after-school sports club activities.

This year, as the number of participating schools grew, the company split the competition by region. The first tournament covered students from the Greater Seoul and Chungcheong areas, with a separate event for students from southern regions to follow. The split was designed to shorten travel distances and strengthen safety management.

Competitors formed three-person teams and competed in a team format. Winning students received trophies, certificates and medals, while their schools received archery equipment including bows and arrows.

Retired archers belonging to Myeonggungoe — a group of former competitors with international tournament medals — also attended, coaching students on form and aiming techniques and giving live demonstrations to energize the competition.

Hyundai Mobis has consistently pursued corporate social responsibility activities centered on archery, connecting the sport — in which South Korea is internationally competitive — to school physical education so students can develop focus and a sense of achievement. The initiative also broadens the range of sports available to students beyond the field-based team games that dominate most school programs.

Archery is gaining ground in schools. According to the National Education Information System, the number of elementary and middle schools running archery as a school sports club activity exceeded 100 for the first time last year.

School sports clubs are school-based clubs under the School Physical Education Promotion Act, open to students who share an interest in a particular activity. When more than 100 schools adopt a given sport, it becomes eligible for formal recognition as an official school sports club category following discussions among regional education offices nationwide. Archery is now expected to achieve that status within the next one to two years.

Hyundai Mobis also works with the Korea Archery Association to support teacher training, equipment distribution and the development of digital instructional materials. Physical education teachers who run archery clubs at their schools receive coaching knowledge and techniques, while students get equipment and educational content to train safely on campus.

Support also continues for middle schools that have incorporated archery into regular classes. Hyundai Mobis helps schools run a 15-week archery curriculum each semester, and last year about 4,500 students at 35 schools nationwide took part in archery activities through the program.

Hyundai Mobis said it plans to expand support for youth archery activities and continue related programs to help the sport take root as a recreational activity in schools across the country.