Some things have come up recently that brought back pleasant memories from 10 years ago. I didn’t expect to come up, but when you pick your teeth and dislodge a choco chip, you get a little memory of the cookie you ate. But always remember to floss! *joke sting*. So today we’re going to talk about the 2015 Gwangju Universiade and college sports in general. Yes, there are college sports in Korea, despite rumors of its demise. 

Let’s start with college sports in general. First thing to remember is that the way the United States practically worships college sports in some areas is not normal in the rest of the world. You aren’t going to find a coach at a Korean college that’s paid more than the university president and the mayor and the governor put together. So when I first came to Korea, it was a bit odd not to see big banners advertising a college game around town. To be fair, I didn’t see many banners when traveling around Berkeley or New Orleans either, so in some ways, college sports are not the only thing people in cities obsess over. The second thing to remember is that because of the pride based connections alumni form with their college, it becomes more common for alumni to follow their alma mater’s teams. This is also helped by the alma mater’s fundraising efforts, constantly calling graduates to ask them for donations to improve the stadium or whatever. South Korea does have alumni groups, especially for the big state universities, but the donations tend not to be sport focused, except for universities more sport-focused like Yonsei and Goryeo. There is a LOT less pride in your college here, unless you went to a SKY university. The third thing to remember is that students often have to pay for college out of their pocket or their parents pocket, so they are busier than most people and don’t go to sporting events. Not saying American kids aren’t busy, but I recall having time to go to at least 3 sporting events a semester when I was in college. Also keep in mind that game advertising is much bigger in the States than in Korea, especially for fall sports like american football. You can’t escape it. A fourth but minor factor is that students in Korea don’t pick their colleges solely on the basis of ‘fun school’ or ‘sports team preference’. I’m sure there’s at least 1 fan of the KU ice hockey team that applied to KU because they liked the team, but you’re not going to find many of those out here. And finally, college sports leagues are relatively new whereas in America the NCAA’s been around for decades if not almost a century. Basically what you need to know is that there isn’t the same emphasis on college sports here. But that lack of emphasis might be changing. 

Transition music

The equivalent of the NCAA in Korea is the Korea University Sports Federation, and they run the U-League which covers 6 sports. Student athletes can play baseball, basketball, football, soft tennis, volleyball, and ice hockey. One of the key things to remember with the U-League is that the universities decide which sports will be played at their campus. So it’s not quite like the US where even a tier 3 state school can field 10 different teams. You see many Korean universities specialize in 1 sport like the one in my town that only has soft tennis. It’s….(groan) yeah…, we’ll cover that later. Anyway, there’s no Title IX requirement for sports in Korean colleges so most universities only field men’s, but some field both and not always in the same sport. 

So where do Korea’s athletes get training? They go to academies, of course, and if they’re very good, they get to join sports schools, the touring clubs or even the pro team’s youth team. Some athletes even go to college and play a few years there before getting drafted by a pro team. You can make an argument that this is a more sensible approach to the American way of using college sports as a way for pro teams to avoid investing in the local community. Also of note is that there is a college all-stars vs high school all-stars baseball game in the summer in the Daejeon area. I haven’t heard of one for the other sports but I know the leagues are more interested in reaching out to kids these days, the few kids that are interested in sports anyway. 

Transition music

So where can fans go to watch games? Obviously at the university, but you wouldn’t know a big game was happening unless you walked by the campus and even then you might not see anything. This kinda grinds my gears because the universities could use sports to get the community better engaged. A lot of colleges are in places that don’t have pro teams and they could leverage this by marketing the games to the community. To find the schedules, you can check Naver sports and click on the sport you want to watch live, and you’ll see the crests of the universities playing that day. For more detailed schedules and records, go to K-u-s-f dot or dot kr and you get more info about the teams there. They also have links to their Youtube channels so you can watch complete games. Naver sports has some coverage but don’t expect an ESPN like experience. And of course, some of the matches are on TV and Naver Sports. 

And of course the most important thing, can you buy swag at the games? Since I’ve only been to one college sports event, I can’t say entirely. The Yon-Ko games were such an amazing and grueling experience that I didn’t have my eyes on any swag sellers but I noticed some special booths for students. I don’t believe they have a team gift shop or even a table like Gyeongju had, but I can’t say that for certain. I know that if you put a specific university name in Coupang, you don’t get hats and scarfs, you get books. If you put in Yonsei, you get milk products since they also own a milk company. You also get a few clothing items like hats, hoodies, and a ghilie suit because you gotta have branded gear on the battlefield! *joke sting* Except for Korea University because they lean heavily on the branded gear. You’d almost think they were an american college or something? *joke sting*

transition music

So now let’s talk about a fun thing. What was the Gwangju Universiade in 9 sentences or less? First it was a big gathering of college athletes from around the world, like a summer olympics for college kids. I’m not exactly sure how athletes are chosen to represent their countries, but both Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama participated in previous years. Also the Kansas Jayhawks represented America in a thrilling double overtime finals against the German team. It was so thrilling it got covered on ESPN! Anyway, Gwangju put the athletes up in a nearby apartment complex that was just finished, though it wouldn’t let them unwrap the mattresses. The 21 events were spread out over the stadiums and fields all over the city and into Naju and even Chungju for rowing. Good luck getting from an afternoon rowing match in Chungju to the nighttime running races in Gwangju World Cup in one day! So yeah, being strategic about what you wanted to see was important. Speaking of which, I don’t remember tickets being very hard to get but I do recall the final basketball game nearly selling out. I planned to go to a baseball game but a typhoon hit so mine was canceled, which the organizers should have expected because this is Korea and we do get early typhoons. 

Anyway, that’s about 9 sentences, so let’s take a walk down memory lane for some of the things I remember. Gimme a minute to warm up the memory machine. It’s got a lot of dust on it *joke sting*. I remember going to the Kim Dae Jung center with some friends to watch fencing and it was exciting but boring at the same time. They gave us a bunch of mini national flags so we just waved them around and pretended to cheer and took a few home to pin up on office walls and stuff. Next we went to Donggang university for some basketball that week, and there was Japan vs Australia on tap. During the match someone kept shouting “Get Boned” which should have been “Nippon” but he was saying the n as a g. And all match, he was shouting this and we went from amused to annoyed and back to amused. Japan lost so clearly it didn’t help. Later we went to Dongshin in Naju and saw volleyball there. On the weekend my wife and I went to Gwangju Women’s and saw Rhythm Gymnastics. There was a really popular gymnast in Korea and she was there too. And of course the basketball finals. All in all it was a really good experience, made easy by lots of public transit between the stadiums.

Transition Music

So now I’ve learned that Chungcheong province will host the next one in two years and my city is in line to host one in 2039. The Chungcheong one is interesting because they plan to have events in Daejeon, Sejong, and both provinces. Now there are a lot of cities and a lot of trains and buses. But you run into the problem of getting back to Daejeon for an event there, because you’ll need to factor in local traffic. So while I think it’ll be successful, it’ll be harder to go to multiple events in a day, unless they’re all in the same city.  

I have no idea why the president pledged to get my metro area the Universiade. We ain’t ready and we’re spread out over 3 places divided by water. You won’t have as many traffic problems but distance remains a serious problem, along with money. If Chungcheong doesn’t do well, it might be time to pull the plug on our bid. 

Game of the week

We’ve got…what’s this? Winter sports? In July? Ok, didn’t expect that. We’ve got mixed doubles curling in Uijeongbu on Friday until Tuesday. If you’re in the area and wanna cool down, check it out! It’s an all-day thing so stop by anytime from 9AM to 730PM. Also in unexpected sports this week is the The 20th Asian Roller Skating Championships going on in Jecheon about 45min northeast of Chungju by car or half hour by train. They’ve got roller speed skating, hockey, and figure skating. The races will be outdoors so I don’t recommend those unless you have one of those powered neck fans. I would never be caught dead with one of those on *joke sting*. As far as the other sports, it’s going to be a hot weekend so I recommend only going to night games. KIA vs Lotte in Busan looks promising. Samsung vs KT in Suwon could be good as well. I think this weekend’s one of the better ones for competitive baseball. Over in football, I’m liking Gwangju FC vs Jeonbuk and Gimcheon vs Jeju on Saturday, and Gangwon vs Ulsan and Seoul E Land vs Suwon Bluewings on Sunday. If you live in Seoul and want something to do tonight, I suggest W Kleague makeup game Seoul City Hall vs Incheon Red Angels at 7PM. And finally, if you live in Suwon, you can see wheelchair basketball at 서수원칠보체육관 all afternoon saturday and sunday. I think we’ve got a lot to work with, and a lot of reasons to stay indoors, too. 

Ending

Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those lost lost souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to James! A shoutout to our listeners in Belém Brazil! Home of the SC Belem, a decent side that’s probably better than all my favorites put together! Next episode will be on Aug 1st and it’s about billiards in Korea. Your favorite smoke filled rooms!! Until next time, sports fans!

(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at Estoy Loco just off the beach Gwang Alley Busan! Enjoy the finest tacos and virgin mojitos this side of the intl date line, all without cilantro! Kick back to the gentle voices of drunk English teachers trying to order in Spanish and botching every syllable! Take part in their double or nothing pool tournaments where yes you can bet your shirt but they’ll make you put it back on because nobody wants to see your outie!