“Before I started playing team sports, I didn’t know that I was a person who wanted to win that much.
On the evening of the 21st of last month, three women gathered at the basketball court of Sangnok Neighborhood Park located in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do. The members of the Uijeongbu Geumo District Life Sports Group, a local women’s team sports group with 16 members, were scheduled to play basketball with four people that evening. The fact that it was a bad day with a lot of snow during the day, that it was cold and windy for outdoor sports, and that one member was late could not break their will to play basketball.
However, there was no goal in the basketball court. The goal of the park’s basketball court, where they used to gather, disappeared while playing basketball with other women’s futsal teams recently and concentrating on futsal. The embarrassment was brief. Woo-hee (pseudonym, 30, office worker), who first started this meeting in August of last year, and Young-rin (pseudonym, 27, public official), who participated from the beginning, skillfully moved to the parking lot, opened the trunk of the car, and took out a badminton stick. “Let’s play badminton today.”
It is August of last year. In addition to the simple wish of having someone who can play badminton together in the neighborhood after work, if there are a lot of people, he has in his heart the simple ambition of “I want to occupy the neighborhood park basketball court”. recruited women to Just two weeks after posting, about 5 women applied for membership. As they continued their activities, people who came through acquaintances and women who had taken basketball lessons together gathered. Currently, the number of members is 16, composed of women in their 20s and 30s.
The sport started with badminton and expanded to various team sports, including basketball, table tennis, and futsal. The meeting date and event are decided in such a way that members vote on the days available for the next week in the group chat room without a set day or event. Meetings are held about three times a week in this way, where only those who can participate can participate. They are active enough to organize a reading group and a basketball group inside.
“I want to go into the middle of the basketball court”
Like many women, most of the members, including Mr. Woo-hee, who organized the meeting, had no team sports experience. It’s not that I didn’t have any exercise experience, but I’ve been doing exercises that I mainly do alone, such as gym, swimming, and yoga. As the reason for organizing the group on the topic of unfamiliar team sports, Woo-hee chose the “basketball court, which was not always my seat,” although it was in a park that she always passed by.
Of course, “it was awkward at first.” His skills were lower than that of the male middle school students who had already occupied the basketball court, and it was unfamiliar to be in the basketball court. It is said that there were people watching. However, I was able to quickly overcome the awkwardness of “not alone, but because there were many”. They were all beginners with similar skills, so I felt comfortable. At first, I learned basketball by watching YouTube videos, etc., but as I came across a women-only sports class, my skills improved and my confidence increased. Youngrin said, “I have an internal small group of about 7-8 people, and I take basketball classes once a week on a regular basis.” She enjoys team sports in all disciplines, but she says she has been focusing on futsal most recently as she plays against the local women’s futsal team.
Making new relationships that deepen through fights and conflicts
They said that it was surprising to see the desire to compete and competitive spirit that they didn’t know existed inside of them while playing team sports. Su-a (pseudonym, 26, college student), who joined the group relatively recently, said, “When people meet for the first time, they only exchange greetings, and as soon as they enter the game, they immediately bump into each other and say, “It’s a foul, it’s invalid, it’s absurd,” he said. They exchange opinions fiercely as if in a fight. At first, it is unfamiliar to them, and they say, ‘Should I win this way?’ I thought,” he said.
Sua says her team sports experience makes her realize that women have fewer opportunities to learn “how to conflict” as they grow up. He said, “When I think about my relationship with my girlfriends up until now, there has been a compulsion to be kind and not quarrel with each other. It’s a pity that women don’t have the opportunity to train to maintain relationships while experiencing conflicts like in sports games when they grow up. Arguing with each other He said, “I have never experienced the experience of becoming a strong ally by drawing conclusions, even though I have a lot of emotions.”
bumping and screaming… Freedom to express your desire to win
Youngrin also said, “During basketball class, I ran, bumped, and screamed until I was exhausted to the point that I almost felt like I was out of breath. I felt catharsis. Something I didn’t know I was being suppressed was revealed. He felt the need to take care of his health, such as being diagnosed with varicose veins while working at work. He thought that it would be good to have someone around his house to exercise with, so he found a local group and joined. Young-rin also said that it was unfamiliar to express the desire to win. “I haven’t liked sweating since I was a teenager. I didn’t like to show a competitive spirit or a competitive spirit, but rather, I wanted to become a ‘(expected by women) meek and quiet kid who does his job well’.”
Why is it that those born and raised in a capitalist society where competition is encouraged, and even women of a generation with a reputation for internalizing competition, say, “I was afraid to show off my competitive spirit and competitive spirit”? Young-rin explained, “Since childhood, I have heard stories of a woman being ‘strong’ when she expresses her desire to win, but that is never a good reputation.” Sua said, “If a girl shows any radical emotions while attending school, she is teased like a ‘gangster wife’ and gives a signal that she is ‘spattered’. . He added, “I already know that competitive and challenging women are considered to be ‘bounce’, so there is a vicious cycle of not taking on more challenges because the burden of failure increases.”
They say that after experiencing team sports, their hesitation in expressing their competitive spirit in everyday life, such as work, has decreased. Woo-hee, who boasted of being the “foul king” because of his enthusiasm for winning the game, said, “In the past, when the company found someone to take on an important project, I took a step back. He said, “When I have people who are goal-oriented, achievement-oriented, and who do not hide their desire to win in team sports, they seem to resemble each other.”
The pressure of the gaze looking at the sweaty female body
If expecting them to grow up with a ‘(feminine) personality who does their own thing quietly without being too active’ was the trigger that made them reluctant to play sports in their teenage years, the pressure of the tight gaze surrounding the woman’s body is a more intuitive and direct moment. They generally avoided exercise since their teenage years, citing “the fear of being sweaty” as a common reason for this. Jung-min (pseudonym, 28, preparing to change job), a member of the group, said, “I liked sports until I was in elementary school. I even participated in dodgeball competitions as the school representative. Through this experience, I became conscious of the way I looked at my body. I really hated seeing people sweating while exercising, having my bangs fall backwards while running, and seeing other people see me because my heart was shaking.”
Sua said, “Girls sweat, smell, and get dirty from working out are all made fun of. Moreover, when it comes to girls’ bodies, such as getting their backs wet from sweat and clothes sticking to their bodies, the boys talk in group chat rooms almost in nano units. I can’t let go of my heart because I know it’s being evaluated,” he said. In such an atmosphere, Mr. Young-rin said, “Women self-censor themselves,” adding, “Even among girls, friends with long hair and working hard to manage their appearance become the object of envy.”
Although they distanced themselves from daily sports activities due to the burden of showing off their competitive spirit and the obsession with their appearance, it was not possible for these women to build up a wall with exercise. It was because of “exercise for diet purposes,” which is almost the only exercise recommended, allowed, and imagined for them. All four women interviewed at the meeting said they had exercised to lose weight. Sua said, “I liked sports enough to be a swimmer until middle school. But in high school, as the evaluation of each other’s appearance intensified, I hated my shoulder muscles that had been trained by swimming. avoided,” he said. Jimin, who said, “I was stressed about weight gain during puberty,” also registered a gym for the purpose of dieting and tried running, but “I didn’t like doing it too much and it wasn’t fun. did.
‘Women can’t do it like this’ Stop treating kkakdugi
It is said that even if a woman starts exercising for the purpose of improving physical strength, it is common for women to think that exercise is for the purpose of dieting or changing the shape of their body. Jimin recalled, “I started strength training using my lunch break at the company’s in-house gym, and everyone asked me if I was on a diet.” He said, “I started strength training, and on my way to work in a month, I couldn’t breathe even if I ran at full speed to avoid missing the blue signal at the crossing.
Sua, who attended the martial arts dojo, said that the dojo treats female and male members differently. He said, “I went to boxing and jiu-jitsu studios, and even if I am a beginner, I teach women a more relaxed version of the technique. In sparring, male members make it easy, but women let them back down. I heard that you are doing well.” He said, “When I went to the dojo with my hair cut short and looked similar to other men, I was given the image of ‘a boy who was crazy about exercise’, and then I started training similar to men. Those who warned me that it will get thicker, urged me to do more, do more, encouraged me to participate in the game. Of course, even then, they said, ‘The women’s match is not a battle of skill, it is only won with vigour and determination.'” .
They say that it was only at this meeting that they found “the freedom to be okay with sweating, getting dirty and smelling” through exercise.
“I want to be strong… the real power is muscle”
Those who put fun in team sports want more women to know this joy. Young-rin said, “I hope that women-only physical education classes held by local governments will increase the number of team sports unfamiliar to women, such as basketball and soccer, rather than Pilates and badminton.” Woohee ordered a more fundamental solution. He said, “Ever since I was young, I watched from afar when boys occupied the middle of the playground and kicked a ball. Of course, there were ‘unusual’ girls playing soccer with the boys, but I wasn’t a very unusual student. Girls naturally I hope that students will not be confined to gender stereotypes in public education so that they can roam around the playground.”
In team sports, the world of winning, they are growing their muscles to win today. “Women with good, caring, and slender bodies (consistent with the image of women expected in society) get a good reputation. So, I think before that, I thought that a slender body was power. But the real power was the muscles. . I want to be strong. I want to be strong. Is it too instinctive?”
