Girls' Sports Day...is the Coolest!

Stade de Hakik YoGo: The Colors!

So it was Sports Day last Thursday. At a girls' high school. Girls' in Korea, compared to other Western nations, hardly play sports during their school tenures. The only student-athletes you see at the high school level are carefully selected boys or girls who have that gift, and they basically cruise through school without having to really study that much. The rest are geared toward studying for that dreaded college entrance exam or studying a tradecraft, while these selected few are groomed to be future athletes for club teams or university teams.

Jump it up!

So sports at a girls' school is hardly a huge thing. I see girls going to gym class, but the things I really hear (yes, that's right, "hear," because you don't see them outside doing any of this stuff) them do during PE class is learn to dance or jump-rope. Yeah. I am very lonely man during lunch time as I practice my jumpshot. I have had, however, the pleasure of tutoring some curious girls who came out to play ball with me, and even taught some of the tomgirls how to set a pick and shoot a J. "Computer blue."

My Class 1-3: Parasoling It Up!

I thought this Sports Day would be a joke. Just let these girls go in, do some jump-roping and do some silly games, put some make-up on, and look pretty for the big chiefs of the school. I was wrong. Ohhh boy, I was wrong. Let's just say that yours truly was getting in on the action and rooting for the girls as they poured their hearts out over the whole thing.

There were relay races: ones with obstacles like hurdling over hurdles, diving under v-ball nets, and the leg anchor having to put her face into a pan of flour, or something like it. It was absolute madness. It was cute to see the girls who cannot run properly chug around the track with poor posture.
Soni Representin' Wit Dem "1-3" Ladies (Man, Soni is dark!)

Then there was the homeroom race where 38 girls position themselves as one long pathway, as one girl, positioned in the middle, is led by two adjoining girls who guide her down the path as she treads on the backs of her fellow girls. I saw some girls tumble off really bad because they went too fast. Some girls got injured! Thankfully, Nurse Joy (I forgot the ladies' name) was on had to put some ointment on the boo-boos.

"The Dash on Backs Race"

Then there was the regular relay race, old track and field style. 1st level students had prelims, as well as did the 2nd levels, and just like track and field, had the 1st leg run it all the way to the anchor leg. Some of the races got so heated that some girls were elbowing each other to get position at the end of the track, because the track was so small (Sports Day was held in the gym because of bad weather). Your teacher Mr. Soni saw one girl literally elbow another as they were going on the final turn. The latter fell hard as the former finished the race, but our male VP was on hand to slap her DQ papers on her forehead. I liked how he took charge and made things right.

There was also the classic tug-of-war game, as these girls really put on some weight to tug away. Very spirited indeed.

Then, there were some events for the teachers to get their sports on. Mr. Soni was in the "Love Game," where a teacher is paired up with a student, usually a teacher outside the student's homeroom, as they run a relay race with their feet bound together. Their goal is to keep a balloon between them as they reach the end of the track and pop the balloon together. I was paired up with a 2-2 girl, a very smart girl, named "Aerie." She is in my extra English Conversation Class, and she is just a grand of a student. She and I struggled to get down there because our rhythm was off, but she and I got the job done. We paced ourselves by counting our steps, "1...2...1...2." Our team ended up winning the race. I was laughing really hard as girls screamed in jealously as Mr. Jang (the school dubbed "hottie teacher") ran down the path with a girl student.

Soni and Aerie Prepping for The Love Game...oddly named indeed.

Since the gym was at full capacity and filled to the brim with screaming teenage girls, the atmosphere was like a mix of being at a boy band's concert and the NBA finals. It was that loud. Girls can scream. They can sing and they can get crazy. They were singing all sorts of Korean pop and traditional (like, real old traditional) Korean faves as they cheered their teams along. Also, 1st level students supported their "sister" students in the 2nd grade, if their homeroom number corresponded with theirs. For example, my 2-3 girls cheered on the 1-3 girls when they did an event, and vice versa. It was a really unique atmosphere and it was fun to be in. In fact, after finishing neck-in-neck in the teacher/students' relay, Mr. Soni ran down the track and pumped some fists in the air to get the crown going. I did the signature Hulkamania/WWE ear call (where I circle my hands and put them on my ear to hear their roars of approval), to get them to pump me up for my next event. I figured, "I don't think I'll be in the state championship anytime soon, or even the World Cup Finals, so let's have fun now and just bask in the moment." The American side of gyrating my hands and pumping my fists, Allen Iverson style, was a huge hit with the ladies.

Then came the parade. Each homeroom went out there, dressed in crazy costumes, displaying some kind of theme about school, Korean life, or dreams. For example, some girls in 1-7 dressed as "bad students" who drank too much soju, while the rest of the class dressed as good students. Then, in front of the whole audience, the good students literally blew away the bad students, who fell in unison. Laughter erupted with a mix of applause.
The Parade: 2nd Level Girls Dressing It Up!

Some homerooms were really creative, and some were so-so, but the award of best production had to go to class 2-7. This is Mrs. Lee's class, who is an English teacher. Their girls went all out and did a wholesale mini-drama of stages of a Korean girls' life. From singing little kids' songs at their primary school age (where students dressed as baby kids), to a few of the girls dressing as "ajumma" and doing a crazy dance in which ajumma do at a certain age at dance halls, it was sarcastic but hilarious. It brought the entire house down.
Athletes, Doctors, Goofy Girls Oh My!

One highlight of that skit was one of the girls' in the class, dressed as an elementary school student, literally skipped to me as her production came to a close and gave me her lolly pop "prop" that she used, as a gift. I was filming their parade this whole time, so I got this student running up to me on tape to hand me her lolli, while I give her a thumbs up for her nice gift. I was very touched by her kindness.

Finally, after all the games, came..."the dance." Oh boy...I thought it would be one of the goofy dances where everybody does a group dance like in anime series, "AzuManga Daioh," (okay, if you don't know the reference, its all gravy), but no, it turned into almost like an American High School dance. Pop music started to play over the speakers as students rushed to grab our lady principal and forced her to dance.

I was dead before I could even move. One by one, each homeroom who had the chance to see me persistently grabbed me by the arms and pulled me into their class circle like I was about to get pummeled like a gang inititation. "Dance!" they cried!
Party Time!

Now, I'm no dancer. I like to dance on my free time, but that does not mean I can dance. There is a major difference between having the skills to do so and just doing it to do so.

Since I had such a fine time, I figured I give them a laugh riot and did whatever crazy moves I had within me. Various roars of approval, laughter, and screaming literally turned my eardrums into mush.

In fact, all the popular male teachers like Mr. Jang or Mr. Kim (2nd level teacher, not the English teacher), were forced to dance. The popular Ms. Han Bora, the darling lady teacher of the school, was dancing to the approval of her 2-5 students. Everyone got in on the act. I didn't know that Koreans had the "Bust A Groove" Syndrome in them.

Meanwhile, I sweated so hard because the room started to get hot, filled with the heat of screaming and crazy teenage women. The AC units were blasting right after the music stopped. Then came the awards for the winners...but I could not stick around to see them...I was off to the airport.

In the end, this was one of the craziest but most memorable events during my career here in South Korea. I remember last year's Sports Day at the boys' school, where it was very simple. They simply played competitive sports such as b-ball or soccer. They had a tournament with simple champions to be chosen.

Here, to get the girls to do something, they got creative, and the creativity sure paid off. Zany games, competition up the wazoo, and just having a good time by all was simply pure joy to see.

Seeing the singing, and the dancing (no offense, my fellow Baptists), I thought to myself about what heaven is going to be like. The room echoed with the chorus of fun and bouncy Korean music, with claps, drums, and PA microphones going off in many directions.

I thought, heaven will be like this, but way, way, way bigger. And we will be praising the One who gave us all the instruments of praise in the first place.

Wow! That was fun. Now off to Taipei...