The sports

The sports, and the people

Girls' participating, and people's cheering for their hometown team.

1. girls' participating

I still remember the game that I watched pretty long time ago, and it was the women's soccer game, S. Korea vs. U.S.It was pretty shocking to me, as the result was 4:0. What the hell is happening! I was yelling,  thinking that U.S isn't that much good at soccer. But I realized that it was just my stupid stereotype right after I participated to the soccer season of high school in Minnesota.
I had some opportunities to watch the games of girl's varsity or JV soccer team, and I still had a stereotype that girl's might be "suck" at soccer.. But my opinion just shifted dramatically right after I watched the girl's varsity game. It was so awesome that they seemed to understand the strategy far better than me, and their sights were terrific that they were used to make some amazing vertical long-pass to each other. And girls in my high school in Minnesota are participating not only soccer but also a lot of different sports in all seasons.

These are  not common in S. Korea, as there are still traditional stereotypes remained that sports are only for males. Even though the social status between males and females has been developing horizontally , it is still hard to find women participating to some sports.
Actually I think some of them even have negative opinions about sports, I still remember one of my anonymous girl-friend's(the friend who is a girl :D) reaction after listening to the result of Olympic soccer qualifying game in 2011 on TV, she asked me "Why are you guys crazy at those stupid balls! And Korean soccer is suck nowadays!".. Well I couldn't deny her last phrase :( ..But it was pretty sad to hear her voices that sports are not fun, even before she participated..


So,, it is not that much weird to see the result of friendly match of women's soccer team between Korea vs. U.S, as the demands and interests of women at the sports are TOTALLY different..

2. Why so many people are cheering for the "highschool game" !!

2002 World Cup was a amazing national event in S.Korea. Nobody expected that Korea would beat Poland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain and go to the semi-final game in the World Cup. Millions and Millions of people went out to the street just for cheering the national team in the World Cup. (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HliB9VSxU28&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DHliB9VSxU28 )

Not only the World Cup game in 2002, people have been crazy at the fascinating games of the national sports teams and players, including the figure skating games of Kim Yuna.

Wait a minute, Didn't I write that the women's participating on the sports are really low? But why "all the people" , not only males but females are enjoying these national sports teams' playing?

Here is a Korean's unique characteristic, they are watching the national team's playing, not just they are enjoying that sports, but they think the team "Korea" is really important team enough to dedicate their passions and interests on it as they are Korean. It is  nice to see the people falling in love with watching Olympic or World Cup day and night, but the problem is..... After the Olympic or World Cup, most of them usually lose all the passions and interests on sports, and never keep paying
attention to their hometown sports teams or city sports teams as they don't feel anything special about those teams.. For example, it is pretty hard to see the people watching FC Seoul's soccer match on TV, even though those people were dedicating their time and passions for the South Korean national team soccer in the last World Cup.


So you might think that Korean's are crazy at soccer after you watch the video that I linked above this post, but... The fact is.... Many of them were watching those games not they love soccer, but they love big national team, so they have no reason to watch another small games that are always held in their small hometown..



After I came to Minnesota, I got some chance to watch the football game of my highschool. Actually, I didn't know anything about football at that time, but I just went there to experience the culture of America..
Hmmm. I was expecting that there would be few audience at the first time, as "Highschool game" wasn't a  big deal at all in my home.  But right after I arrived to the stadium, I could find hundreds and hundreds of people cheering for the "Highschool game" Not only the highschool students but also the citizens living in Northfield. It was pretty impressive that people are paying attention to such a small game. There must be someone who were watching these game just because they are in or they came from that high school,not they like the sports "Football",  but the most impressive part was that they didn't ignore their hometown game and give interests only of the "big team",  as Koreans often do..