Sports Day in Korea

A candid shot taken by one of my kids

Today we'll be covering what Sports Day in Korea is like (similar to Field Day where i grew up).  We will tell this story through pictures.  Enjoy.

Decorated and ready to go

Prizes for the day

When I came to school I found this in the normally clear field in front of the school.  They had food trucks, new bikes as prizes and tents for parents and visiting officials everywhere.

  Now it's time for the actual sports day to start.  So our first sport is .... playing traditional korean percussion while marching in taekwondo uniforms??  Ok.  Why not!  It makes a good show for the parents.  Note that by now parents for nearly every child in the school were here along with the Vice Principals of every school in the area and half the nearby village.  This was becoming a serious event.

 Ready?

 Catch!

 For a while i just watched with the other English teacher at my school, Duncan (pictured in red).  Then we were called into action to ... catch shoes that where being kicked at us by our students?? Sure.  What the heck!

 Can you spot the foreigner among the parents?

And heave.  Can you guess which team won? (hint: look at everyone else on my team in the previous picture)

Goal!!! 

A few rounds of tug of war later (both parents vs parents and kids vs kids),  and a game of pass the giant ball up and down lines.  It was time for the main events the first of which was .... synchronized dancing??  Ok, a school full of kids dancing in front of the whole town it is!

Y .. M .. C .. A  (not really but wouldn't it be awesome if it was)

After the dancing, lunch and a round of karyoke concluded (yes even singing is a part of sports day here) it was time for the relay race.  First they had a parent race.  When the moms ran, it was cute.  When the dads ran, it was much more serious (and much funnier).  Then it was time for the main event.  A school wide relay race.  Everyone in the whole school participated.  Including me.

And I do mean everyone!  Look at how cute the kindergartners are!

Here Duncan and I are having a laugh before the race.

Standing side by side, awaiting our turn to run.

 And away he goes.  Note the feet.  It was slick and i was able to run better this way.

 After the race (which my team won!), it was time for the closing ceremony (where a random raffle gave presents to nearly every child there, including 8 brand new bikes) and then cleanup.  Being the big, strong guys that we are, Duncan and I were asked to do most of the heavily lifting.  We were happy to oblige.   We actually left school at the normal time.  But as you can see, this day was anything but normal :)