Playing sports abroad

Coming abroad, there was one aspect of my life I was not sure how I was going to keep up: sports. I’ve played team sports my whole life; it’s how I exercise, a large part of my social life, and I enjoy the competitive space to relieve stress and build community. I knew soccer would be easy enough to find, but lacrosse is my main sport, and it just so happens that Yonsei has a women’s lacrosse team. I reached out over the summer and not getting a response, I hoped would be able to just walk onto the team. I kept up with their socials and in the first few weeks of school, they released their sign ups. They also hosted a booth at the club fair, where every club on campus from sports and e-sports to music and dance, social clubs and supportive groups advertised their organizations. I signed up for lacrosse and 2 weeks later was on the team.

We practice twice a week, once conditioning and skills focused with the two American coaches and once captain run, getting as many touches as possible and going over any questions or confusion. Because fall is off season, there are only a few tournament weekends of actual game play, but I wouldn’t want much more commitment abroad anyways. The team is so welcoming to foreigners and those who haven’t played, spending time ensuring everyone knows what's going on and making the sport accessible to everyone there. As someone who has played lacrosse for a while, it’s been fun to learn aspects of the game as the Korean girls play it, and for me to be able to teach them about my style of play. It is a little more money than I wanted to spend on a sport, but costs about as much as the gym membership some of my friends opted for and is arguably way more fun.

After games, we all go out for samgyeopsal together, talking about the game, our school lives, and our lives growing up and at home. There’s a good number of international students playing on the team and it’s fun to connect with them and the local Korean girls. Playing a club sport has proven a special place to step foot outside of the abroad bubble and into the local culture.

Lacrosse game against Korea National Sport University. Photo courtesy of Korea Lacrosse Association. 

Last weekend, a friend and I traveled to Gyeongju for an (inter-) national frisbee tournament. I’ve never played ultimate before, but I know how to throw and his team needed more women. It was the perfect opportunity to see more of the country, connect more with my friend outside of the school context, and challenge myself with a new sport. Before the tournament, we went to an open practice at Sungkyunkwan University so I could get some touches and be at least a little familiar with the sport. My friend occasionally joins their practices as well as goes to Suwon to play with a team there. Through reaching out to people and teams, and making connections at practices such as these, he’s opened himself up to more opportunities to play, such as this tournament we found ourselves in. 

It was admittedly more frisbee than I signed up for, but it was an incredible experience playing in a Korean tournament and meeting people from all over the world. Through sideline chatter and the dakgalbi dinner, I learned more than I ever needed to know about frisbee and its culture, getting closer to the teammates I had only met that day. We played 8 games across 2 days and ended in the early evening, enough time to still explore the historical city, which was the real reason I agreed to go. 

Ultimate frisbee tournament in Gyeongju. Photo courtesy of Jea Kwan Tscha, Korea Ultimate Players Association (KUPA).

Most nights on the big field, there is a pickup soccer game of some sorts. A mix of locals and internationals playing together on various sized goals and fields. My friends and I usually go and just throw the frisbee around, but we’ve started joining in on the pick up. I played soccer in high school but have only just started to fall back in love with the sport, in part through experiences like these, where it’s just a group of friends all playing together for fun. The game lasts an hour or so depending on interest and people flow in and out before everyone sort of collectively decides they’ve had enough. The lights turn off on the field at 10pm, so there’s sort of a natural time to step off the field and head back to the dorm for a convenience store ice cream or into Sinchon for something more to eat.

There’s opportunities to get out and play sports everywhere, it just takes a bit of initiative. Be the person to ask where & when, find someone to go with you or say yes when someone asks you, and be confident in yourself! Sports are a great way to meet people and cultivate a space for yourself outside of some of the pressures of life abroad, and just so cool to be able to say, “yeah, I played in an ultimate frisbee tournament when I was in Korea.”

KUPA Tournament teammates<3