Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Faron]

I love coaching sports and was wondering if the public schools have sports teams and play each other maybe once or twice a week? The oppertunity to coach them are probably slim but I would also just enjoy watching them play. Does anybody know if athletics are an important part of school? Thank you in advance.

[peppermint]

I know my elementary school has a soccer team

[Sofa_King]

Yes, they usally have a sports team, but they usually do not want the foreigners involved in coaching. A Korean must be in charge of everything, which makes sense due to the language barrier and cases of emergency. Also, the types of sports varies from school to school. For instance, one school may specialize in fencing and another may place a lot of emphasis on soccer.

If you do go and watch, they love having you there.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

My school scraped a soccer team together to play one match against another school in the district. I came out to watch; it was pretty pathetic - mostly a big gaggle of girls chasing a ball around in one big group, and only two or three who could actually play a bit of soccer. That's about all the sport I've seen and PE is a joke at my school.

One guy I know is a bit involved in his school's soccer team and often plays with the kids. He talks about this with much more enthusiasm than he does about teaching English. If you're really keen on this make sure you get a job at a boys school. A boys technical / industrial school will have more time for sport, though the level of interest in English in these places can be next to zero. And soccer is far and away the most popular sport here - if you're into other sports you may be out of luck.

[Chillin' Villain]

[Faron]

Thanks for the help guys....... I think sports might be a very good way of releasing all the stress from teaching english all day. Something that hasn't been metioned on this forum. White people don't play sports in Korea? It's the one thing you can do that involves little language, just a basic comprehension of the sport.

[xtchr]

Well, I'd quite like to play something on a casual basis, just for a bit of fun and exercise, but I just find they are so anal about it here. For example badminton practice/playing takes place EVERY night of the week, and you MUST go. And they are either so competitive that it's ridiculous, or else it's a complete sham, like when they play volleyball at my work (education department). Because there are supervisors and bosses playing also, the whole confucianism bollocks kicks in and younger players 'lose' so that the older guys and big-wigs can look like the true winners they are.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Faron]

Maybe........just maybe we could organize an ESL teacher soccer game once a month in and around Seoul. Might be a good way to have fun and just socialize with other teachers. What you guys think? How many of you out there play soccer or are up to the challenge of learning how to play?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Kenny Kimchee]

I'm curious about this. Here at my junior high school in Japan, I reckon about 70% of my kids do club activities (basketball, tennis, art, band, etc.). How common is it in Korea?

[Sooke]

[Hater Depot]

I still wonder how Korea manages to produce top athletes. I've never seen any varsity sports or organized youth leagues. But there several Koreans in MLB and they have a successful national soccer team. Where do they come from?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Kenny Kimchee]