Some CSR programs are easy to photograph, but some are harder to see. A tree planted, a meal served, a check handed over — the impact is immediate and visible. But some of the most important forms of social contribution take shape slowly, through consistency, trust, and human connection. Our “Happy Dream Handball Classes,” a special program for children with developmental disabilities, is one of those efforts.
▲ SK Enmove employees and SK Sugar Gliders players joined a Happy Dream Handball Class at a special school in Seoul in November 2024.
| A Blind Spot Worth Addressing
Adapted physical activity — structured, expertise-driven sports education for children with developmental disabilities — has long been a blind spot in corporate CSR. In South Korea, where special schools face chronic shortages of staff and PE infrastructure, that gap is especially pronounced. That’s exactly what we found when we started looking for a place where our resources could make a real difference.
Two years ago, we asked a simple question: What if a company with a professional handball team and thousands of employees who could potentially play the role of special private coaches used that asset to do something that actually mattered?
Not a donation or a one-day event. A real, recurring program — built around students with developmental disabilities who wanted to move, play, be challenged, and connect with new people, but rarely got the chance.
So we decided to build the program properly — with educators, researchers, and long-term commitment from the beginning. We partnered with Korea National Sport University’s Department of Adapted Physical Education to design a curriculum that was safe, structured, and actually suited to each student. We brought in an NGO to handle coordination. And we asked our own people — employees and handball players alike — to show up, week after week, at two special schools in Seoul.
| Cultivate. Bloom. Harvest.
We were honored when Professor Gunhwan Bae of Korea National Sport University chose to make our Happy Dream Handball Classes the subject of his research — and even more so because his role went far beyond observation. For two years, Professor Bae showed up at every session as the program’s lead instructor: designing the curriculum, running the classes, and personally training our volunteers before each session. He was, in every sense, a participant in what we were building together. In May 2026, he published his findings in Frontiers in Psychology — a peer-reviewed international journal.
▲ Professor Gunhwan Bae of Korea National Sport University explains the Happy Dream Handball Cass curriculum to SK Innovation employee volunteers.
Professor Bae structures his findings around a single metaphor: farming. First you cultivate the ground. Then the flowers bloom. Then you harvest the fruit. It’s a metaphor that resonates with us — because long before this study, it was already how we thought about this work.
His findings tell three stories at once. Students with developmental disabilities grew more confident, more communicative, and more willing to try — learning not just handball skills, but how to build routines, follow new rules, and connect with unfamiliar people. Teachers and parents began seeing new sides of their students — watching capabilities emerge that the classroom alone had never been able to unlock. And our volunteers left with a deeper understanding of disability, a renewed sense of pride in what their company stands for, and a stronger bond with the colleagues who showed up alongside them.
▲ SK Innovation employee volunteers serve as one-on-one coaches during a Happy Dream Handball Class led by Professor Gunhwan Bae.
For us, what the study documents is something we already believed — that the most meaningful CSR isn’t about writing a check. It’s about putting your actual assets, expertise, and people into a problem that matters. We build programs to last, not just to look good.
We hope our special handball classes for children with developmental disabilities are just the beginning — of more programs, more partnerships, and more fields worth tending.
📖 Read the full open-access study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1817674/full
▲ Professor Gunhwan Bae (front row, far left), who led and studied the program, joins SK Innovation employee volunteers and students for a group photo at a Happy Dream Handball Class.
■ Related articles
- [Recap] SK Innovation affiliates’ social contributions in H2 2024: “Standing together, make it better!” – A journey of creating shared value as One Team
- [Recap] SK Innovation Affiliates’ Social Contributions in H1 2025: Racing Together for Positive Change
- [Recap] SK Innovation Affiliates’ Volunteer Week in H1 2026: One Team Spirit, 7,300 Hours – A Record of Giving
