In this episode we’ll talk about the sports that people can play in Korea, with interviews from some of the Bombers players and other sports guys around.
Rewrite for one host
New intro
Welcome to Hwa-ting Sports! I am your host Mr. S. Our show focuses on all things Korean sports with irreverent takes and 100% accurate never wrong sports commentary. Special episodes as the need arises. And with that, say it with me, 1-2-3 HWAI-TING!!!
Today’s topic is on sports you can play! There are adult little leagues slash weekend sports leagues for players of all skill levels. And if you don’t want to join a league, I will give you tips on how to join leagues and what wild things come up when playing. For example, Mr. P and I played Pickleball 2 years ago. We lost 1 ball when a delivery van ran it over, he fell and hurt his back and hips, and then our court was surrounded by little kids on bikes circling around us like those kids did in Children of the Corn. *Joke sting* So… we’re going to begin with talking about what sports have leagues in Korea.
Sport 1: Hockey
Let’s start with a sport that might be wrapping up, or might not. Hockey! As it’s early spring, there will be fewer people playing ice hockey. The bulk of the sports people play in Korea tend to start around this time of year, so I feel like this is the best time. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for ice hockey. I think most pickup leagues started playing in late fall or early winter. Keep in mind that many people leave over during the winter break, especially the college students and university professors like me. However, the rinks are open year-round so I guess the opportunities to play are year-round as well? To join leagues, you need to keep an eye out on websites and social media like Kakao and Facebook groups because leagues will advertise for players there. You could also go to foreigner-focused bars and see if teams have posted ads on their bulletin boards. You can also check taverns that have bulletin boards. Turns out that’s not just an RPG game mechanic for bounty-hunting characters. *Joke sting* It’s part of our advertising strategy! If you saw our ad at a bar, then it worked! Some bar owners are friends with customers who play sports and will let them post flyers. Recently a team in Jeonnam posted an ad for players starting in February. But doubtless there will be more. I don’t know much about serious leagues but the pickup leagues will likely allow new players to join a team. And there’s another option if you can’t skate or there isn’t an ice rink near you. Good ole’ field hockey! Or it’s better name- Ball Hockey! There is a ball hockey league in Seoul. I’m including its website in the description but I don’t know whether or not they are still active. I haven’t heard much about it in my time here, but back when there were far more foreign teachers around, the sport was a bit more popular. If you need a stick or other gear, make sure you know your size before you go shopping because getting something large returned through Amazon is a serious pain in the ass. You might be able to find deals from foreigners leaving the country and selling their old gear. And of important note, ice hockey requires some skating skill so don’t expect to be Theo Fleury when you put your skates on the ice.
Sport 2: Baseball
Our next sport is baseball. A sport that will be exciting and frustrating for you to play.
I used to play with the Bombers in a Gwangju weekend league from April to November. We used to play on a dirt field by the river with the other leagues. Oftentimes, your diamond will be along your city’s river though I have seen some leagues play at middle schools. As for the fields themselves, I believe they are mostly maintained by the cities. I say mostly because the adult little leagues I played in often sent people to the field to do maintenance, like cleaning up after a flood. To learn about a weekend league, I showed up to a league game and watched everyone play then talked to a coach. Now it should be noted that not all leagues allow players to join in the middle of the season like I did that year. So if people want to play baseball, they should go to the fields in their city starting next month. Another way is to look on Naver’s Band app or on Carrot. Teams and leagues will post ads asking for players to join. Where on Carrot should you look? Carrot is mostly known for selling secondhand goods. The app has a section called My Local where you can see posts made by locals about local matters, like missing cats. Friend of the show Mr. Choi said it was a common place for teams to look for players. Another spot to check is your local Facebook group, and your local Kakao groups slash channels. Sometimes teams post on there, too. You’re probably now wondering if there are teams of foreigners like the one I played on. Well, there are fewer of those around these days, but there is a league in Seoul that’s foreigner-run. Called the Seoul Baseball league, they play in parks around Seoul from April to November. You can check their facebook page- link in the description. They might not be around anymore but take a look regardless. And be prepared to forgo your summer vacation if you decide to join but not the entire vacation. My league had a monthlong break between mid-july and mid-aug because of rainy season and student holidays. Most of the folks you will play with will be 40 somethings and up and they got kids to go on vacation with and stuff like that. Although, if you don’t want to join a team or deal with weather, you can join or start a screen baseball league with your friends and play against each other there. That’s always fun. You should keep in mind you’ll need to pay for uniforms and other needed team stuff, and if you’re on an all-Korean team, they’ll expect you to be the best player on the field and hit all the homeruns. On close calls they will always plead with the ump and honesty won't exist when it comes to close calls. Some baseball league champions win money or discounts towards the next league year so expect play to be competitive and even cutthroat at times.
Sport 3: Football
And now we go onto everyone’s favorite; football! This is one of the cheaper and easier sports to play. You won’t need a lot of gear, but if you’ve got boats for feet, you’ll want to buy shoes from back home. Shipping them here will cost you a boat too. Like baseball, football pitches are all over the place. BUT…Not every pitch is a free-to-play zone. Many of the nicer pitches have a rental system that can be a bit byzantine to deal with. Some public schools leave their fields open for use by the community. Those tend to be 100% dirt and have an abundance of pebbles. Bring the bandages. The universities have a few fields open to the public but they are often used by the students. Not every university is like this though. If you want to reserve a pitch for you and your buds, you can go onto your city’s website, look for 예약 and type in 축구 and you’ll see the list of open fields. The website will have the prices and the available times. I strongly suggest getting a Korean friend to help you book it, as the procedure and rules can be byzantine at the best of times. And like baseball, you can use the same techniques to find a team! This also applies to football’s smaller cousin- futsal. You can find futsal pitches around most cities. Even small cities like Jeongeup have a futsal pitch. I’ve even seen indoor pitches, in case you don’t wanna deal with the weather. Or mosquitos. Some pitches are open at night, so if you’re a hagwon teacher and want a late-night option, this could work for you. There are some foreigner-run teams for football as well. I’ve found a few in my research. As of this writing, a few teams that are still active are Seoul Villains, The Seoul Saturday Soccer League, and Seoul Cosmos. I also found a Gaelic Football team in Busan. Called Laochra Busan, they have tournaments in the Busan area and they play the Seoul and Japan teams. You don’t see an Irish sport that often out here. Like most things, I stumbled upon it. Hell, I’d find the Oak Island treasure while playing beach volleyball. *Joke sting* Anyway, if you want to join a team, be prepared for road games. Pack accordingly. Also if you join an amateur K7 league team by accident, you could wind up leading them to promotion. You would become the neighborhood hero if you pulled that off! If you somehow played 3 seasons with your K7 team and got them promoted to K4, your coach might show up at your school and ask them to let you skip work to train. That would make one hell of a comedy movie if that ever happened.
Sport 4: basketball
Another sport people like to play is basketball. Everyone loves their hoop dreams!We all believe we can shoot better than Westbrook but we get to the court and it’s airball city! *Joke sting* If you want to play basketball, you just need to put on your basketball shoes and head to the park. You can join a pickup game pretty easy or call up your friends for some game time. The courts usually aren’t reserved like tennis & football, so you can play anytime. Most city parks have a hoop or two. If you want to play on a team, you will need to look around Facebook and the other sites as the teams and leagues post. You also need to decide if you wanna play 5 on 5 or 3 on 3. You think it doesn’t make a difference but it does as they are effectively different sports. I also recommend practicing a bit before joining a team, and learning some basics like pick-n-roll, screening, and facing the backline. You don’t want to get benched because all you can do is toss up bricks. As far as leagues go, one league that is still active is Project Ball, which is sponsored by Wilson. They play mainly in Seoul, and they run a 2-tier division. I saw on their instagram that they’re starting up an under-19 division as well. At any rate, there won’t be too much problem joining a league because the leagues and tournaments post fairly frequently and almost year-round since courts can be indoors and outdoors. Now the problem with the big gyms is that they are often used for volleyball and badminton, so booking them can be a pain on weekends. And like football, you’re going to want to bring your kicks from home before you start playing, especially if you have big feet. But you can find decent shoes your size around Itaewon and Pyeongtaek’s US military bases. Come for the shoes, stay for the marked up food! *Joke sting*
Sport 5: Bowling and Darts
And now we come to two of the league sports that are year-round and 100% indoors; Bowling and Darts! Almost every town has a bowling alley and almost every town has at least 1 bar with a darts machine. Some of the dart machines in Korea are tied into a dart league. You could join the national darts league and compete against pros from around the nation! Don’t ask me how to sign up or what to do if you accidentally knock someone in the eye that’s racing to the bathroom. *Joke Sting* Also, some of the foreigner bars that have dartboards also have dart leagues. If you want to play darts, you can go there and see if they’ve got a league running that you can join. (Emphasis) Just try not to blind anyone. *joke sting* Next up is bowling. I’ve seen some bits about bowling here and there, mostly in Seoul. A few of the bars and social clubs there had bowling leagues pre-covid. Dunno if any still do. I haven’t seen any posts about bowling on Facebook, but I have seen invites on Carrot. A good way to participate is to talk to your friends and start a team, then invite other teams in town to bowl with you. And like the shoes, you might have to buy your own if your feet are too big. Or you can bowl in your socks like I do. Sandals flying off my feet and everything!
The Joongang Daily article list
If you’re looking for other sports to play, you’re in luck! The Joongang Ilbo did your work for you! Reporter Mary Yang covered the various sports one could try in the Seoul area, from ice hockey to group jogging and finally shooting under Mokdong Stadium. There are a few sports I was barely aware existed, let alone in Korea. Like Padel. I’d heard of something called Padel but didn’t know what it was. I kept hearing “pedal” and thought it was an obscure version of cycling. It’s an eclectic mix of racquetball and pickleball. The key part is that the ball can bounce off the wall but only if it hits the ground first. It’s like playing inside of a big cube, I think. Sounds like we’re literally bouncing off the walls. Whereas the reporter literally bounced off the court. It’s not the easiest game to pick up. She even covered the pro wrestling society’s training grounds in Pyeongtaek. So there’s an option for listeners who want to become the next Million Dollar Man Ted Debiase. Nobody can be the next Rock. *Joke sting* I recommend checking out her series for ideas in case my previous ideas are not to your liking.
Some more pointers
Friend of the show and my teammate Justin gave us more pointers to share, so pay attention now or regret it later! First pointer is that beer leagues are not quite here yet, compared to back home. There is one that’s more relaxed called CatchBall. You don’t need uniforms or anything like that. I haven’t found much about the sport except on Naver Band, so I suggest looking there. Also be prepared for quote “new rules” and quote “rule changes” which often occur when there is a foreigner-run team. It got so bad one year we called our league the Jim Crow league. But one good thing that often happens is that teams often gather for lunch or dinner after the game, time and family permitting. You get to learn a bit about your fellow players and culture in general. Another important tip we learned was to bring lots of water because the nearest shop or fountain may be more than 500 meters away and you won’t have minutes to get to and fro between innings. Also, if the air quality is ass, the game might be canceled for safety reasons. While annoying, you’re going to feel like you’re breathing through a paper bag on the dusty days. *struggling breathing sound*
How to find physical therapy.
So you’ve played a sport or become a weekend warrior. Now every muscle in your body is sore. See what happens when you don’t stretch! (Scolding voice) You didn’t pay attention to your coach in PE class, didn’t you? (end voice) And so this segment is dedicated to finding medical care for your bumps and bruises! Fortunately in Korea, medical care is not too expensive! But watch out! Many outpatient things are not covered by the NHIC. You might want to consider private health insurance supplements, especially if you’re older or injury-prone. You can also buy helpful things like electric shockpads on coupang that might be cheaper than the pharmacies. But you can’t buy hard painkillers there. Unfortunately, this isn’t Armenia, guys. When I went there on vacation 10 years ago, I noticed the pharmacies didn’t require prescriptions. If you wanted to, you could have taken home Percocet and Oxycotin in huge bottles! I was seriously tempted to go home with a few bottles and stock up our team’s medical care kit. Customs can be picky about that stuff so I decided against it. Anyway, if you can’t get to a sketchy 3rd world republic for your medical needs, you can still get prescriptions from your doctor back home. You may need to have them translated in Korean so the doctor or immigration can understand your medicine. If you need pain therapy, let’s discuss your options. Most people go to the hospital and get looked at by a specialist, depending on the hospital size. Larger hospitals tend to have more departments, but even your local 보건소 can point you in the right direction. You can skip this step if you already know your ailment, or at least which tissue group is affected, by going to a 물리치료 . There, you can get a pain shot, electroshock therapy and a prescription for medicine. The shockpad feels like a bunch of ants are running across your back. Some places even have massage tables to help get your kinks worked out. There are some rehab hospitals and clinics as well. They have exercise equipment like pilates weightlifting systems that let you go in and do rehab exercises. Those tend to be privately run and not covered by insurance. Their staff’s English level tends to be low, but that’s not guaranteed. If you’re in a large city like Gwangju or even Busan, you may be able to find a clinic with English speaking staff. They even advertise in the foreign papers and magazines. I went to one in Gwangju for months when I sprained my back playing basketball. If you’re in a small city, I suggest loading up Papago or Google translate with the key phrases describing your pain issues before you go to the hospital. If you forget, don’t worry. It’s not like they’re going to cut off the wrong leg *joke sting* that only happens in Florida hospitals *joke sting*. Moral of the story here is it’s better and cheaper to get treated when the injury is minor before it becomes a season-ending injury. I learned that the hard way.
Game of the week!
Originally I was not going to mention it because I didn’t hear or see much advertising for it on the tv or internet, but it’s actually important now. The (ISU) World Short Track Speed Skating championships are happening in Beijing this weekend and it is a way for a talented skater to get an automatic bid for Team Korean in the olympics. That would leave everyone else to have to go through the squid game trials *joke sting* aka the national team trials, according to the Korean Times. Keep an eye out for Choi Min-jeong and 2024 World Cup champion Kim Gil-li to vie for that automatic bid! You can watch for free on Naver sports, link in the description. Also, if you’re more interested in a game that you can actually attend, I suggest Suwon KT SonicBoom vs Changwon LG Sakers this Sunday at 2PM at Suwon KT Arena. Suwon is in 4th place but LG is only a game ahead. So we got ourselves a little bit of a playoff preview going here. I’m not sold on any of them beating SK but it’s still going to be a fun watch.
Ending
Thanks for tuning in today! We hoped you learned something new about Korean sports like I certainly did! Please share this podcast with your friends & family, anyone you think would be interested in irreverent takes on Korean Sports. Especially give this to rookies. They need alllll the help they can get. Don’t forget to rate our podcast 5 stars of course. But don’t do it if you don’t like us. You can email the show at hwatingsportspodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment on our various podcast sites. Hate mail will be read aloud on special episodes and ruthlessly mocked. Fan mail will be mocked but in a more wholesome way. And speaking of fans, a shoutout to our listeners in Nairobi Kenya! Home of the second best football team in the FKFPL! Our next episode will be on the 21st of March and we’re talking about baseball! Will Kia repeat *cheer* or is this Samsung’s year *ahhh sad sound*? Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our live-in cycling expert James! If you want to read our transcript, go to hwatingsportspodcast dot com. Guests of the Hwa-ting sports podcast dine at Graeme’s Kitchen!! Enjoy all the delights like the bottle of cleaning soju he bought the first week because he thought it was water! Appetizers included the bag of chicken nuggets stuffed into the back of the freezer! Also including the box of chicken feet from a long-defunct chain that he bought once while drunk and passed out pantsless in the doorway so the deliveryman put them in the fridge! While supplies last! For dessert this month, Graeme’s kitchen is serving up a barely nibbled strawberry birthday cake bought by his small hagwon but he doesn’t like strawberry so it’s yours for free! This month’s drink special is apertief but you have to bring your own mixer because he drank it all! Until next time, Korean sports fans!
Notes
ISU Beijing feed Naver sports
Drama! At the fight club: Training like a Korean pro wrestler
An English speaking physio-therapist in Gwangju (Kakao Map)
'I'm the discount version of Kim Ye-ji and that's pushing it': Training like a Korean sport shooter
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/section/tags/More/Good%20Sport
Listings in Sports & Weekend Fun
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