Today is the beginning of the "Sports festival" at the Korean high school where I work. I was supposed to have 4 classes today, but all my classes were canceled, as apparently the students have to practice.
I have a confession: I've never been fond of sports: especially ones done with a team. I like physical activities such as bowling, pool, badminton, bike-riding, hiking, yoga, and walking. If I play a game, I prefer to do with a small group of people, as in under four players.
In America, we have football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. The big sport here in Korea is soccer. I know it's revered all over the world, but I just can't see the point of it. And people here go absolutely crazy over it!
In any game, one person will lose and feel bad; one person will win and feel good. In addition, a team sport sets up an "us and them" dynamic: good guys vs. bad guys. With an international game, nationalism becomes involved. I saw this dramatically illustrated when Korea and Japan hosted the 2002 Worldcup. Korea was "good", and everybody else was "bad".
Many people seem to think that such international sporting events help foster closer relationships between countries. I tend to think in the opposite way: such games instead reinforce racism and nationalism.
A two-day sports festival... at least the students are enjoying themselves! It's not often I see the students with such big smiles!
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