I learned many new games on sports day when Hacheong middle school battled Shang Po middle school to see which was the more athletic school. The activities were different than what may be found in Canada. First, skipping is something that all students practice in Korea and most are quite good at it. I'm definitely the worst skipper here (for now). I will and already have been practicing my skipping and plan on being pretty good by the time I leave.
The first competition of the day was a school versus school exercise. All students from both schools were told to skip and at the end of 3 minutes the school with the most students who did not make a mistake or stop was the winner. Hacheong lost that round, but it was close. Next activity was to see who could skip longer while doing double jumps. That is, the skipping rope has to go around two times with only one jump. I only started to get this last week and can only do one at times. Some students can maintain double jumps for awhile, but it comes down to technique which I do not have yet. Even the more out of shape and non-athletic students are able to do a couple of these, so I am optimistic that I will be able to do these eventually. Some of the more athletically gifted students are able to do triple jumps. That is, one jump with 3 rotations of the skipping rope. It looks pretty cool! I hope I will be able to do that by the time my contract is over.
Next activity was soccer. Hacheong middle school has a good soccer team and it showed when they played Shang Po. We won every game and in dominating fashion. The first game which was played with the 3rd graders (9th graders by Canadian standards) and won by a score of 6-1. Even the goalie scored because when he kicked the ball it bounced over the other goal keeper and into the net. That in itself is pretty rare, but the exact same thing happened the next game for the 2nd grade class. They also won their game.
After the soccer matches were finnished they began to play Korean traditional games. Some of these would not be allowed to be played in Canadian schools because they tend to be a bit dangerous. One in particular involves one student running across the backs of the other students across the field. Students have to continually build a bridge for the running student to cross. That student is not allowed to touch the ground. It is pretty dangerous and I can see how someone can easily get hurt. I'm sure it has happened a lot in the past but this year it went flawlessly. There was three rounds of this game between the two schools. First round was 3rd graders, 2nd round/ 2nd graders and 3rd round/first graders. We won all the rounds.
Another game where there were injuries, though none severe was another traditional Korean game. This again was grade versus grade. Students were paired together with opposite gender. They had to run across the field with a big bamboo stick, go around a cone, run back and then (where most of the injuries occured) run with the stick low to the ground and have the rest of the team jump over it. However, some students would jump late, or early and the bamboo stick would hit their legs and cause them to trip. After they jumped over the stick, the stick would come back over the top before passing it to the next pair of student to repeat the sequence. What occured at times was for some students to jump over the stick, but forget that it was coming around over the top. They would stand up and they would get hit in the back of the head. For some reason, it happened more to the first graders, but at times there were some loud thumps when students forgot to remain crouched down. It was never too serious, but eventually, there were giggles from some teachers as the thumps repeated themselves more often than logically one could explain.
I had the good fortune of competing in a couple of events against some students and teachers from Shang Po. I was part of a relay race in which a baton had to be passed from one racer to the next. We easily won this race. I was matched again the Korean English teacher from Shang Po. I was also involved in a race which had one of my ankles bound to another person's. This involved three people working in coordination with each other. It was hard enough to have one of my ankles bound, but the person in the middle had two ankles bound. Again, we won the race. These wins, even though they involved teachers, gave the school extra points, though it was not enough for Hacheong to win the overall competition.The last activity was tug of war. Each grade battle the same grade from the other school. Unfortunately, we lost badly in every match. Our students seemed to be smaller and were over powered.
Overall, it was a good day and Hacheong middle school did much better than last year. I was told that the previous year Hacheong did not even win one event...gulp...that must feel bad. Next year I'm sure they will do even better.
The first competition of the day was a school versus school exercise. All students from both schools were told to skip and at the end of 3 minutes the school with the most students who did not make a mistake or stop was the winner. Hacheong lost that round, but it was close. Next activity was to see who could skip longer while doing double jumps. That is, the skipping rope has to go around two times with only one jump. I only started to get this last week and can only do one at times. Some students can maintain double jumps for awhile, but it comes down to technique which I do not have yet. Even the more out of shape and non-athletic students are able to do a couple of these, so I am optimistic that I will be able to do these eventually. Some of the more athletically gifted students are able to do triple jumps. That is, one jump with 3 rotations of the skipping rope. It looks pretty cool! I hope I will be able to do that by the time my contract is over.
Next activity was soccer. Hacheong middle school has a good soccer team and it showed when they played Shang Po. We won every game and in dominating fashion. The first game which was played with the 3rd graders (9th graders by Canadian standards) and won by a score of 6-1. Even the goalie scored because when he kicked the ball it bounced over the other goal keeper and into the net. That in itself is pretty rare, but the exact same thing happened the next game for the 2nd grade class. They also won their game.
After the soccer matches were finnished they began to play Korean traditional games. Some of these would not be allowed to be played in Canadian schools because they tend to be a bit dangerous. One in particular involves one student running across the backs of the other students across the field. Students have to continually build a bridge for the running student to cross. That student is not allowed to touch the ground. It is pretty dangerous and I can see how someone can easily get hurt. I'm sure it has happened a lot in the past but this year it went flawlessly. There was three rounds of this game between the two schools. First round was 3rd graders, 2nd round/ 2nd graders and 3rd round/first graders. We won all the rounds.
Another game where there were injuries, though none severe was another traditional Korean game. This again was grade versus grade. Students were paired together with opposite gender. They had to run across the field with a big bamboo stick, go around a cone, run back and then (where most of the injuries occured) run with the stick low to the ground and have the rest of the team jump over it. However, some students would jump late, or early and the bamboo stick would hit their legs and cause them to trip. After they jumped over the stick, the stick would come back over the top before passing it to the next pair of student to repeat the sequence. What occured at times was for some students to jump over the stick, but forget that it was coming around over the top. They would stand up and they would get hit in the back of the head. For some reason, it happened more to the first graders, but at times there were some loud thumps when students forgot to remain crouched down. It was never too serious, but eventually, there were giggles from some teachers as the thumps repeated themselves more often than logically one could explain.
I had the good fortune of competing in a couple of events against some students and teachers from Shang Po. I was part of a relay race in which a baton had to be passed from one racer to the next. We easily won this race. I was matched again the Korean English teacher from Shang Po. I was also involved in a race which had one of my ankles bound to another person's. This involved three people working in coordination with each other. It was hard enough to have one of my ankles bound, but the person in the middle had two ankles bound. Again, we won the race. These wins, even though they involved teachers, gave the school extra points, though it was not enough for Hacheong to win the overall competition.The last activity was tug of war. Each grade battle the same grade from the other school. Unfortunately, we lost badly in every match. Our students seemed to be smaller and were over powered.
Overall, it was a good day and Hacheong middle school did much better than last year. I was told that the previous year Hacheong did not even win one event...gulp...that must feel bad. Next year I'm sure they will do even better.
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