Express Your Youth through Sports Activities

  Sports season is about to bloom in Korea – the opening of Korean professional sports leagues, especially football and baseball leagues for the 2013 season, which opened last month. The games will drag the hidden passion out from sports fans and boil their blood at a sports stadium. However, that is not at all. People, especially university students start their sports activities on the playgrounds. The sports grounds on Chonnam National University (CNU) Yongbong campus are crowded with people every day; Students from football clubs play football on the green playing field, several students play basketball on the basketball court, and many people jog along the track.

 One Way to Enjoy Sports: Playing Sports by Ourselves

 The ways to enjoy sports can be divided into two categories: active (playing) and inactive (watching). First, let us look at playing sports, especially across our campus. CNU students, especially freshmen join various sports clubs or small clubs under each college. Students’ sports club activities have existed since 1960 and this year, nine sports clubs are registered with the CNU Club Association, including basketball, football and mountaineering clubs. The Chonnam Tribune will introduce two clubs among CNU sports clubs in this article.

 Firstly, CNU Alpine Club (CNUAC), the oldest sports club was organized mainly by the members of the alpine club of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in March, 1958. They do a variety of activities such as mountaineering expeditions, guided-climbing and hiking. Kang Min-jun (Senior, Dept. of Chinese Lang. & Lit.) who is the president of CNUAC said, “I do mountaineering because it is fun, doing rock climbing is for kicks! For me, hiking is an exit from the routine of daily life.” He added he feels youthful when participating in the club activities. “Of course, it is not always easy to climb mountains with heavy loads, but I know that others are also as tired as I am and I can overcome anything with my colleagues. Through painful experiences in our club, I have learned to be more patient than before.”

 Dove was founded in 1987 to train students’ mind and body. Now, the club with 30 active members has a get-together with their club seniors once a month. They host the CNU President Football Tournament which is held annually from April to June and they take part in the games with newcomers. The football tournament is the big sports event in which each college’s football clubs participate every year. Not only for the school, also they interact with other universities football teams like GENTO, a football club of Kyungbuk National University and have a game once a year. “I joined this club because I was interested in football. Through the club activities, I kept in shape with regular training, made more personal connections, and developed a sense of confidence. I am even more active than before”, said Kim Jae-geun (Junior, Division of Wood Science & Engineering) who is the president of Dove.

 Another Way to Enjoy Sports: Watching Games

 We can enjoy sports through watching games on TV or at a sports stadium especially in our regions which have local teams. In Gwangju, there are two local sports teams: Gwangju Football Club (GFC) and KIA Tigers Professional Baseball Club (KTPBC). Many local residents support these two teams as well as CNU students. One of KTPBC fans, Joo Sang-hyun (Junior, School of Biological Sciences & Technology) said that he has supported the KIA Tigers team since HAITAI which is the former club name of KIA Tigers. “I watched the games of HAITAI and became a fan of this team. When I was in the army, I had an argument about baseball teams with my predecessor who supported Samsung Lions, another baseball team based in Daegu City.”

 As many CNUians like watching KIA Tigers’ baseball games, CNU’s General Student Council (GSC) offers tickets of KTPBC games every year. Hong So-ram (Sophomore, Dept. of Library & Information Science) who is a fan of both football and baseball said, “A ticket for a match is not so expensive and the enjoyable atmosphere of the stadium made by fans is fascinating. I visited the stadiums several times and it was great to support the team with others. It was worthwhile to me.”

 Positive Effects of Sports on Students

 What are the positive effects of sports? It can be explained that sports have three effects on physical, mental, and social well-being of an individual. Actually, one’s psychological condition is connected to one’s physical condition like the saying “A sound mind in a healthy body.” If someone is in a good condition and keeps in shape, his or her psychological condition will be stable. In other words, through sports activities, people can get rid of stress, rise from frustrations that have accumulated over time and work off the energy. Especially group sports activities can develop their social ability. They can learn how to relate to others through sports rules sportsmanship, good manners and the sense of fair play.  For this reason, most universities provide their students physical education classes as general education courses.

 CNU has five sports classes operated by the Department of Physical Education. This semester, about 150 CNU students have taken the classes. Kim In-sook (Professor, Dept. of Physical Education) who is in charge of the Dance Sports class introduced her class. “It is only a 1-credit Latin Cha-Cha-Cha course and about 30 students are taking my class this semester.” She explained the difference between sports classes and other classes. “Sport classes are quite different from other lectures. Most students choose my class because it is fun. During the class, they try not to compete with others and just sway cheerfully to the rhythm of the music at ease.” According to her, through sports classes, students can learn much more than just dancing and exercising. They learn other things, such as sportsmanship and good manners. For example, Professor Kim always makes her students bring a handkerchief for their dance partner. Wiping each other’s sweat, students can naturally learn consideration for other people.

 Enjoying Sports Events for University Students

 Even though students know the positive effects of sports, most Korean students rarely do sports activities. What is the reason for this phenomenon? At the university, most students spend too much time concentrating on their major study or employment, and they think that playing sports and moving their body is just a bother. Some students even say that playing sports is a waste of time. For this, the GSC has a plan to play a leading role in students’ physical activities. Kim Min-gyu, President of the GSC said that there will be sports events for students of universities located in Gwangju and Jeolla Province this year. The events will be organized by the Student Unions of the universities and supported by the Gwangju Metropolitan City. If the GSC completes this year’s sports events successfully and continues to host this kind of events with students, then students will care more about sports activities. 

 By Pyun Ja-seong, Student Editor