Sports Day!

A couple Saturdays ago was Kids Day in Korea, so almost all of the schools had a Sports Day on the Friday before that weekend to celebrate.  I knew this was coming, but was uncertain as to my role in the event.  All I knew is that I had no classes that day (even though I love my job and my kids, that is a nice little treat at the end of the week) and that I would maybe help a out in some way.

Notice how they are in lines squatting down.  This is an example of how they keep them 'in line' during assemblies and such as I mentioned in the last post.

It actually started off fairly boring for me in the beginning, as it was held like an official ceremony entirely in Korean.  I stuck it out through the long-winded speeches given by the principle, vice-principle and head teacher; then watched as the excited kids began running their relay races.  It was really fun to watch because I used to love racing kids when I was that age (my old T-ball coach used to call me Flash... it was kind of a big deal).

Here's a real nail-biter!

The younger students ran just half a lap, and the older students ran a whole lap.  They also had to put on the blue or yellow shirt for their leg of the race (which was maybe the best part, as some of them ran most of the way still trying to put it on).  

Here is a shot of the relay races from the stands.  There were many of these races, each having 1 or 2 students from each grade per team.  I'm not sure how they picked the teams, but they sure were competitive!

Next was the event I didn't expect: the staff verses 6th grade class in Tug-of-War!  I was helping to stretch out the huge rope not realizing that I was about to be a participant, when it suddenly became very clear that all of the teachers were gathering on my side of the rope!  I wish I had some footage of this, however I do not.  They put me at the very front of our team, which made it a lot of fun (of course I had to egg on my students on the other side!)  Since I was unaware of my participation prior to the start, I failed to warm up or stretch in any way.  I nearly dug a hole in the sand from tugging at about a 30 degree angle from the ground AND strained a muscle in my chest (no stretchy), all in a failed effort :(  We went two times, and I guess they had the numbers on us, and a bit more collective determination.  In any case, it was still really fun, and definitely not boring!

As time went on I began playing catch with one of the other teachers while some of the students watched.  I haven't played baseball since 6th grade, and every time I've done one of those speed pitch things at the fair I usually miss the strike zone by a mile.  However, taking it nice and easy I managed to avoid throwing any wild pitches, and even showed off a gaudy wind up for the students for every throw!  It was a good time, and made me want to get a baseball and glove again some day.  All in all I did enjoy my first Sports Day, and I look forward to the next one that my school has!