It's time to say Goodbye

Hello, everyone! I’m back.

Fall is coming to Vancouver. Of course it’s still hot but I can feel the cooler breeze nowadays and it’s also raining a lot more!

I came here a year ago when the weather was like this. I was so excited and dreamed of many things to do in Vancouver. I thought a year would be very long time and in some ways it was. I missed my family (except for my mom and brother because I came here with them), friends, my ex-boyfriend (no, just kidding) and food. But, on the other hand, it was also a very short time especially after I started working with Football BC. Time has gone really fast since I started here in May. I don’t know why but I guess that’s because working here was so fun and exciting:)

Last August at English Bay

I’ve written 11 posts in the last three months and it’s hard to believe this is my last post with Football BC. I know you’re going to miss me! 

To get inspiration to write my last post, I re-read my first post that I wrote back in May. Reading through the post I could look back at that time and I think I had a great time with Football BC and I experienced a lot.

When I wrote the first blog post I mentioned I didn’t have any football knowledge. I didn’t even understand why people watch football. But now I can understand a little about football and enjoy watching it but I know I still have to learn much more. I went to BC Place to watch a game and visited several kids camps. Now I can tell what’s a good play and a bad play. If I didn’t work here I might never have the opportunity to watch a football game in my life. I’m glad I could watch it and I really thank Football BC for giving me that great chance.

Furthermore, I had a chance to meet many people who work with Football BC and even famous players. When I had my first interview with Darren and Sunny I was so nervous to talk to them. I had no idea what to ask and how to ask. After the interview, listening to the recording I felt really shy because I thought my English was terrible and I could feel that I was nervous. But my post about Darren and Sunny was clicked by a lot of readers and I was proud of it. And when I interviewed Dave and Angus, I felt more comfortable than before. It would be a great step for my future goal of being a sports journalist. 

Above all, my English skills both speaking and writing have really improved over the last three months. I had many chances to talk with my supervisors and other interviewees. Also I had to write a post every week. (It was hard and a little bit stressful though…) It made my English improve a lot and I’m sure that my English has improved a lot more in the last 3 months than in the 9 months when I was a student of an ESL school and the Gastown Business College. 

Well, I experienced many things and learned a lot. And I would like to pick the three best moments and the three most difficult moments working here. 

My best moment was interviewing Angus Reid. We were lucky to run into Angus at a camp. We decided to use that chance to interview him so honestly I didn’t have a lot of information about him. But after the interview Angus told me it was the best interview he has ever had. My supervisor also said he was impressed. I was so proud of it and I felt my English speaking improved.

My second best moment was going to BC Place and watch a Lions game. As I told you, if I didn’t work here I might never have had the chance to watch football. It’s not a popular sport in Korea and I wasn’t interested in it at all before. Because Football BC let me experience this it has widened my interest in sports.

My third best moment here was… well, actually it’s the best and one of my most challenging moments.

It was at the Seahawks camp! It was very interesting event and I saw Russell Wilson which was really cool. But that day I also had to try some football obstacles and it was very hard to do. My ability was terrible and if you watch the video, you will know what I mean. I was so shy to be on camera and my face in the video was also terrible… haha yes, it was the best but also worst moment for me.

Another difficult moment was my first interview with Darren and Sunny. Well, it was the first time I ever interviewed someone in English so it was probably natural for me to be nervous. But I just want to go back to that day and interview them again. (Of course to do better than the first time!)

My last difficult moment working here was… no, is now. 

Until now, on my second last day as I’m typing this, I can’t believe my internship is finishing. I’ve never done an internship before even in Korea so it was the first internship I did. I was nervous and worried at first but also excited. And I really enjoyed my working here.

To work with Football BC, I achieved everything that I wanted. I wanted to widen my sports knowledge, make a career that can be helpful for my future and improve my English skills. I can’t say I have a perfect sports knowledge, career or fluency in English but I gained and developed a lot. 

Now it’s time to leave and go back to my school life. It will be busy and hard but I’ll never forget my time here and I’ll miss everyone I met working with Football BC (even though they might not remember me…) I will always remember working here and try hard to achieve my long term goal. If I become a famous sports reporter I’ll let you know through this blog!

Until then, I hope it won’t be a long time before we meet again. I hope all my readers take care of themselves. If I can I will upload my life onto this blog, even if it’s not related to Football.

So… It’s time to say goodbye! 

Take care, stay health and be happy:)

Thank you for reading my blogs for the last few months.

감사합니다! (Thank you!)

Who wants to be the next Angus Reid?

Hi there, it’s Hayley again! Did you enjoy long weekend?

For me, it was really exciting weekend. I’ve been here with my mom and younger brother - who is not a sports guy- for almost 12 months and my daddy came to Vancouver last Saturday! We are leaving soon (we will be going home to Korea in a couple of weeks) so he came to have a vacation with us. As soon as he arrived home we talked about the records of our favorite baseball team :P

We had dinner together after a long time and we went to Victoria on BC day. It was great weekend!

Anyways, back to the football blog.

Before the long weekend I visited a football camp that Football BC technical director Dino Geremia runs and helping him out was Angus Reid, who retired from BC Lions earlier this year.
When he had a break, I had a chance to talk with him.

How did you come here to coach kids today?

- I’ve known Dino who runs this program since I was maybe ten years old. He helped me through all of my young age with sports, he was always there for me. Then I grew up playing football in this province. I was at the young level, high school level, college level and eventually the pro level. So for me, I have two connections. I played a sport here and I’ve known Dino since I was young. So anytime Dino calls and has to deal with the helping kids playing sports I always say yes.

How do you like coaching kids?

- I love it. it helps keep me young and it keeps me around the sport a little bit. I’ve been involved in  sports since I was young so I can’t just leave, I need to be around it. This is a fun way for me to feel young again and help give back a lot of what I’ve learned from a lot of coaches in my life. Now I can help pass it on to the next generation.

When you coach kids, don’t you want to go back to the field?

- Yes, I do. Until I get out there and my body starts aching, sore and I realize I’m not young like these guys anymore. So in my head, in my heart ‘Yes’ but my body says ‘You’re done. It’s over.’ It’s okay. I live through them now. 

How is your retirement?

- Retirement is less painful, it’s good. It’s funny though I’m probably busier than I ever was when I was playing football because playing football was a pretty simple life. I went to practice and worked out, I went home and rested to do it again (the next day). But now I’m working in the business world and I do the radio show, TV show and write for newspapers. There is sort of time to do everything because I’m not going to practice all day long. So it’s very different but it’s very busy. 

Do you like your life after retirement?

- I do. I mean, I will miss playing football forever. I think if I had my way I would stay 30 years old and be a football player for the rest my life. But that’s not a reality, it’s never going to happen. So I’m okay with not playing anymore. It was the time for me to move on and I’m happy with what I’m doing now. But being able to come out to these kind of things gives me  enough football still to stay around it. 

If one of these kids came up to you and said ‘I want to be the next Angus Reid’, what advice would you have for them?

- Do as much as you can. I’m proud of myself on asking for as much help from everyone I could and then actually working on the advice given to me. A lot of people talk about how bad they want things but actually they are not working hard on it. 

When I made the decision at the young age this is what I wanted to do, I asked help from everybody and I was lucky that most people helped but actually I followed the advice as hard as I possibly could and I never stopped trying to get better. I worked on the fundamentals, techniques and I could never get the half of it. It became all my days and it’s hard for kids nowadays because video games are pretty good now. And I didn’t have to do the internet and time wasting things as much. 

But they’ve got to make decision this is what they want, find a few friends who want the same thing and make it what you do with your day. And really, really, really work hard to do it. You are not only getting good but you’ll be proud of who you are and that is so big with today’s youth to find something to be proud of. You can feel good about yourself and build your self confidence. Because even if football doesn’t last there will be someone who is not scared work for dreams, and to be who they really want to be. That’s a big, big deal. 

The advice he gave to kids was not only for kids who want to be a football player but for everyone who has their own dream and also for me. As you know (or you don’t know) I want to be a sports journalist. But I just say ‘I want to be a sports journalist.’ I hope I would be but I actually do nothing and sometimes I don’t read even one sports article for a day.

As Angus advised I should ask help and listen to advice and learn form it. 

I’m so honoured and happy to meet him and get this advice before finishing my intern work with Football BC. I’ll keep it in mind to achieve my goal. 

Thank you Angus!

Football BC needs a mascot!

Hi everyone! Did you miss me?

I was sick last week so I just had to take a break for couple of days. But I'm happy to be back with my new post.

 

After uploading my last post, I was under stress to come up with the next topic. At that time we were talking in the office about making a Football BC mascot so I decided to write about mascots for my new blog post.

 

If you were a sports fan growing up, you probably had your picture taken at the stadium with a mascot when you were young. Or you might have toy mascots or mascot posters at home. The role of mascots is to make the game more fun for fans by doing slapstick comedy during the game and interacting with fans.

 

The baseball team I support in Korea is 'Lotte Giants'. Their mascot is a sea gull. Aren't you curious what relationship a giant and a sea gull have? That's because the Lotte Giants' hometown is Busan city and Busan has beach so there are a lot of sea gulls in the city.

Besides the Lotte Giants, there are eight more baseball teams in the Korean baseball league and each team has their own mascot. There is a Lion, a Bear, a Dinosaur... and one team even has Twins.

The mascots of Lotte Giants

Twins mascots

 

As many of you know, every CFL team has their own mascot as well. Let's meet some of them.

 

- BC Lions

The BC Lions have a Lion mascot named Leo. When I first saw him, I was curious about his gender because he doesn't have mane. But I researched and figured out that Leo is from the North Shore mountain and mountain lions don't have manes even though they are male. I only knew African lions before so learning this was interesting.

 

- Edmonton Eskimos

The Edmonton Eskimos have two mascots, one is a football whose name is Punter and the other is a polar bear named Nanook. Punter looks little bit weird and it reminds me a M&M chocolate. I think Nanook is quite simple and normal as a mascot.

 

- Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Roughriders' mascot is Gainer, a gopher. Is a gopher rough enough? I think a gopher doesn't match with Roughriders because it is so small and cute. Of course don't tell that to Saskatchewan fans!

 

- Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The mascots of the Blue Bombers are Buzz and Boomer the birds. A bomber is a military aircraft used to drop bombs. So Blue Bombers mascot Buzz and Boomer are wearing a goggles like pilots. They look like comedy cartoon character. I think I saw characters similar to them on TV or in comic books.

 

- Calgary Stampeders

The mascot of Calgary Stampeders is Ralph, a dog. I guessed Calgary's mascot would be a horse because their symbol is a horse. However, surprisingly it was a DOG. Which connection they have between stampeders and a dog or their symbol? Well, I have no idea. But they also have a horse whose name is Quick Six. When Calgary scores a touchdown, the horse along with the rider celebrate by running on the sideline.

 

- Hamilton Tiger Cats

The Hamilton Tiger Cats' mascots are T.C. and Stripes the tiger. They look like a Cheetos(snack) tiger. Oh, that's my favorite snack. They make me hungry!

 

- Toronto Argonauts

The mascot of the Toronto Argonauts is Jason. He looks like a warrior. Maybe it expresses argonauts or people who are strong and brave.

 

- Ottawa Redblacks

Ottawa Redblacks have a lumberjack whose name is Big Joe as a team mascot. He is wearing red and black checked shirt and has an ax. Actually his name was Big Joe Mufferaw at first, but the Redbalcks removed Mufferaw because of criticism from the Francophone community.

 

- Montreal Alouettes

The Alouettes' mascots are Touché and Blitz the birds. They are grey birds and it is similar to the bird on the Alouettes' logo. Personally, I don't like black or gray birds because they are scary. So I'm not interested in these characters. Sorry about that.

 

Having a mascot is a good way to promote the team and attract new fans. For this reason, Football BC wants to come up with a mascot to represent Team BC and Football BC.

Here are my three suggestions for Team BC mascots.

 

1. Black bears

When I researched about BC animals, the first thing I saw was black bears. The black bear is a native to North America and there are a lot of black bears in BC as well so it can be a representative animal of BC. I think a mascot should represent or explain the team and hometown so black bears might be the one. Also bears are big and heavy so we can say Team BC is strong and tough like black bears.

 

2. Coyotes

When I think of coyotes I think of an animal that is wild and fast. I've never seen coyotes before I came to Canada but I saw one when I was driving near Coquitlam. I thought coyotes would look like foxes or wild dogs and that they would be cute. However when I saw the coyote, it was night and I could stare into his eyes. His eyes were sharp and scary. After that my idea of coyotes was changed. Anyways, I think a coyote would be a good mascot as well. We can see coyotes normally in BC. Also they look tough enough to be a football team mascot.

 

3. A human

Besides animals, a human can be a mascot as well like Rowdy of the Dallas Cowboys or Pat Patriot of the New England Patriots in NFL. If Team BC makes a mascot as a human character, how should it be look like? Well, he should be a big and muscular looks strong. And of course he wears the Team BC jersey. If I pick the face his face can be like Andrew Harris of the BC Lions. He looks strong and especially I like his beard. A mascot needs a distinct feature.

 

How do you think of my suggestions? If you have another opinion you can tell me anytime. I want to hear your ideas.

Do you know Mr. Equipment?

Hello, everyone! How are you?

I guess most of you paid attention to what was happening in Winnipeg last week.

For those of you who don't know the 2014 Red River Cup tournament in Winnipeg last week. BC won the gold medal last year and we sent two teams there this year. I was hoping to see them win gold again this year but unfortunately their result was not we hoped for. Even though our teams didn't have any medals I think the players had a great experience.

 

Besides the players, there are many staff who work hard during the competition such as coaches and trainers. Chief of all, football is a sport which needs a lot of equipment so the role of the equipment man is important especially for competition.

At Football BC, the person who is the go to guy to handle equipment is Dave Henderson.

Even before he left to Winnipeg Dave was busy preparing for the trip. When he came by the office to check the equipment I had a chance to talk with him. 

What is your role with Football BC?

- I'm an equipment man. I check all the equipment to make sure they work well because I have to make sure the kids on the field are safe and not going to get injured.

 

What is the most interesting part of your job?

- That's a good question. I like meeting and working with different kids. Because I coach at a high school and I've helped the BC Lions, I see football at so many different levels. It's fun and interesting to see it.

 

Do you have any challenges working with Football BC?

- No. It's wonderful organization. It's very well organized and cooperative when I need to do stuff. And I appreciate all the trips with Football BC. They were a lot of fun and a great experience.

What is the stinkiest equipment you have ever smelled?

- Well, the funny stinkiest one was after we (BC Lions) won the Grey Cup in 2011 at BC Place. (The locker room) smelled like beer, sweat, champagne and cigars. So it was quite the odour. The next day when we were back there, it was even worse.

 

Tell us something we don't know about you

- I've had a government job for 27 years and I've been married for 20 years. I've adopted three kids and fostered another four. I fill my house with kids and somehow I'm still married.

 

Who is Larry Reda (Football BC president) to you?

- Larry Reda is my loving uncle. He is my mom's older brother. Mr. Reda has done a wonderful job here.

 

After our conversation, Dave finished checking the equipment and left the office. This was not the first time I met Dave. I can remember when I met him the very first time at the BC Tough camp. He looked busy but he had smile on his face doing his work. When I saw it I thought he enjoyed his job. And doing this interview, I could feel that he really likes his working with Football BC and Team BC. As I mentioned before, equipment is important in sports, particularly in football to prevent injuries. So the equipment must be well managed by a responsible person. In my point of view, I think Football BC is very lucky because they have an equipment guy who loves his job and helping kids!

I met Seahawks in Vancouver!

Hey everyone! What did you guys do last weekend?

Usually I wake up at around noon on weekends but I had to get up at 7am last Saturday because my supervisor asked me to work on that day even though it was my day off. I was so upset :<

But fortunately it wasn't office work. The work I had to do was to go to the Seattle Seahawks 12Tour! Seahawks are now touring in cities across the state of Washington and throughout the Pacific Northwest, celebrating the 2013 championship season and getting you 12’s ready for the upcoming season. So they came to West Vancouver last Saturday.

 

There were many event booths such as the gift roulette and the photo zone where the NFL Championship Trophy was on display. SFU football and GSL football were also there too. There were also mascots from the Seahawks, Lions and even Canucks walking around the field so people took pictures with them. Some of little girls learned cheerleading performances from Seagals the field. It was pretty cute.

 

There were also some interactive activities we could do ourselves so I gave it a try. As I mentioned on my first post, I'm not an athletic person (that's why I'm planning to be a sports reporter instead of sports player) but I like playing sports. In addition, I've worked for 7 weeks with Football BC and I have watched some football games so I wanted to figure out how it is hard to play football.

 

 

Before trying the activities, I played catch football (throwing the ball) for practice. I used to play catch baseball with my daddy but I've never thrown or caught a football. I thought it wouldn't that hard because I enjoyed baseball catch. However, it was totally different. A football has a very different shape compared with other balls so I had no idea how to grab or throw it. Also the ball was bigger and heavier than I thought. I also tried to check my jump ability. It was really easy to reach the highest point (because it was for kids).

After that, I tried the activities. The first activity was to throw the football into a hole. It looked like easy but when I threw the ball it went the other way. So I went closer and closer but kept missing. So finally I threw the ball into the hole right in front of it. I also tried to kick a field goal and it was terrible. As I mentioned the ball was heavy and hard to kick so I couldn't even make the ball get off the ground. Lastly I tried rushing. The activity let two people wear jackets connected by a line and try to outrun each other. I couldn't go further than my friend because it required speed and power. After doing these things I figured out being a football player is totally hard and isn't for me. I think I'll stick to being a sports reporter.

The 12 Tour wasn't the only thing happening that day. There was also a private camp for kids being run by Russell Wilson, the quarterback of the champion of the Seattle Seahawks. At the break time I saw many people who wanted to get Wilson's autograph. They also had the time to take pictures together and have a short Q&A time with Russell. There were a lot of parents around the field and I think they were more excited than the kids were to see Russell.

I don't really know much about football teams and I've never seen the NFL before so I had no idea how great or famous Russell is. But even though I don't know who Russell is but I can understand what an honour it is to meet a superstar quarterback. It would be like meeting the clean up hitter or ace pitcher of my favorite baseball team for me.

In Korea we also have sports camps which are held by famous players. Some of the players make sports foundations and camps that support and teach kids, and some of the players visit their old school and teach their juniors. I've only heard of these visits in the news so being at the Russell Wilson camp was the first time I got to actually see one of the athlete camps for kids. I might not be able to understand what a great experience it was but watching the kids I can see this was just a wonderful opportunity for them. They could learn a lot from him not only as a player but as a person who shares the same goals in life.

I wish Korea had more sports camps so that kids can experience and learn more, and I hope Korea grows many good players and Korean sports will develop.

Who knows maybe one day there will be a famous Korean football player and he will have a camp at West Vancouver. If it happens I will come here again!

Keep your head safe

Hello, everyone! Hayley again.

How was your Canada Day? This was my first Canada Day in Canada and my friends told me I should enjoy it, so I was really looking forward to it.

I was in downtown starting in the afternoon and I saw many people wearing red clothes with their faces painted with the maple leaf. I also watched the parade and found it very interesting because there were many cultures represented. They wore their traditional clothes and acted traditional performance. And there were Korean performers as well! It was so cool.

Of course, I saw fireworks too. That was the main purpose I was in downtown. The fireworks show ran longer than I expected and so nice. Some people sang 'Oh Canada' during the fireworks. We don't have Korean Day or anything similar so it was very unique experience for me. Thank you for giving me this great experience Canada!

This is a Korean traditional dance:)

 

Anyways, back to the football blog.

Have you ever heard of the NCCP?

It's the National Coaching Certification Program in Canada. If you want to be a coach, you have to be registered in this program to be certified. It's designed for all types of coaches.

 

In BC, as a football coach, you must also complete the 'Making Head Way in Football' online learning course at coach.ca

Summer camps are starting and Football BC wants to make sure coaches have taken it before the season starts. My supervisor also wanted me to try it so I can have an understanding of some of the things coaches are responsible for. The course was about concussions and head injuries and some of the topics included:

- What to do to prevent concussions

- How to recognize the signs and symptoms of a concussion

- What to do when you suspect an athlete has a concussion

- How to ensure athletes return to play safely

 

It has three sections; Prevent, Suspect & Act, and Return to Play. Each section has scenarios and you have to choose the best course of action to make in each situation as a coach. Most of the scenarios are one minuate videos so it's not too difficult or complicated. After choosing the answer you can read additional explanations. There are doctor's explanation videos as well so I could understand better and clearer.

 

The course was a little bit tough for me because English is not my first language but I think most of you that won't be an issue.

If you don't understand the scenario you can review it as many time as you want. I reviewed each scenario many times so it took a little bit longer for me to complete but I think it won't take a very long time in general to complete.

This course was related to situations in football specifically but through this course I gained a lot of useful knowledge about concussions in general. Even though I don't plan to be a coach I think the course will be helpful for daily life. Concussions can happen anytime. We might fall down walking on a street, riding a bicycle or we might roll down stairs. It can not only happen to us but also our family or friends as well. So if this kind of situation happens I can understand what I should do based on this course.

From this point of view, it can be helpful for parents whose kids are participating in football. Athletes have to bump into each other often in football so concussions are a reality. Concussions don't have obvious symptoms so if you don't treat it properly you can make it more serious or even dangerous. To prevent this situation, I want you to take it and get as much information about concussions as possible. Besides this program, there are many concussion education websites. Even if you don't plan to be a coach please check them and educate yourself to protect your kids and yourself from concussions!

If you want to see education links please visit our website

▶ Football BC Concussion Resources

 

SIGN IN, STAY SAFER

My very first football game:)

Hi there, it’s Hayley again.

I think you already know what I’m going to tell you about today.

Yes, right!

I finally got to watch my very first football game!

As you know, there was the first BC Lion’s home game last Friday. BC Lions gave some tickets to Football BC so I could go with my friends.

On the game day, I was in downtown a few hours before the game started and I saw some people walked around downtown wearing football jerseys.

Once I got to BC Place many people waited to get in and there were a lot of kids participating in events outside such as face painting. My dream is also to bring my kids to stadiums make them wear jerseys one day.

I’m not a big fan of football but I feel a thrill whenever I go to any stadium so I was so excited when I finally got into BC Place.

When I got into the stadium and saw the field I thought ‘Yes, I finally came to see football!’ The field was bigger than I expected and 10 yards were father than I imagined.

As you know, I had some expectations of football and football fans before going to the game. (If you don’t know about it, you can read my previous blogs ▶ Football season is about to start!)

So now I’d like to compare what I had thought and what I saw.

1.     Are the quarterbacks really handsome?

Well, to be honest, I couldn’t see their faces clearly because of their helmet. But every sports player wearing a jersey is sexy. Isn’t it? Haha… One thing that I expected quarterbacks to be is very big and tall. Because I heard quarterback is the most important position so I just thought they would be the tallest guys. But they weren’t.

2.    Are the players tough just like hockey players?

I thought they would fight after every whistle but they didn’t fight at all. They were tough enough when they played but after every whistle they didn’t bump into each other. I also thought players would be seriously injured often but they weren’t. Even though they got knocked down they got up right away. Of course it looked painful but they played game continuously. One of my friends who went with me to the game told me she expected ‘real’ fighting like hockey but she was disappointed because there were no actual fights.

3.     Is scoring hard in football?

I think the answer is yes. It’s difficult to go from one end of the field to the other and avoid being blocked. However, the score goes up rapidly because teams can get big score one time. (Touchdown scores 6 and field goal scores 3 points) So when we see the result of the game we might think it’s easy to get score because their scores are over 20 or something like that. But actually scoring was hard. (It can be easy for the strong teams like Lions though)

4.     Do fans drink beer a lot in the stadium?

I couldn’t figure it out well because I set with my friends and they didn’t drink. (Usually they drink a lot but they didn’t at that time…) But when I went to buy beer during break time, there were long waiting lines at the concessions to buy beer. Also there were booths to sell only beer so I guess they drink a lot. I should drink more next time!

5.     Are fans tough on the players?

Fans weren’t tough on the players at all. I thought they would jeer at the players or say bad words, but they didn’t. Even if the opposing team scored they just kept calm. It was quite polite and I was surprised a little bit about it. As I mentioned before in Korea if the performance of players is not good fans get upset, jeer and say bad words. It’s one of ways to cheer but sometimes it’s too much. So fans here were unusual for me. But it’s probably because Lions kept winning the whole game.

One of the biggest shows was the performance of cheerleaders. They performed every break. (My friend shouted it was too short but just for him) Their performance was totally different than cheerleaders in Korea. In Korea, cheerleaders perform like K-pop stars. They just mimic K-pop dance and fans can sing or dance together. However, the cheerleaders I saw on Friday were ‘real’ cheerleaders. By that, I mean they were like the cheerleaders that I saw on American dramas. Both are pretty and attractive but I think Korean cheerleaders are better. Just in terms of the performance! Because we can enjoy together singing and dancing but in here we just can clapping or shouting watching them. 

For cheering the players, fans usually whistled and shouted as I had thought. Some of them used drums or horns. In Korea we usually use sticks to make sound but in here they just clapped.

It was interesting that fans didn’t make a noise when home team was on offense. They shouted when it was the away team’s turn on offense. I heard that’s to disturb the offense from making plans. It was pretty cute.

Every time a player scored a touchdown, there were small fireworks and staff threw small footballs to fans going around the stadium.

My brother and his friends got that balls!

The day before the game, my supervisor explained some of the rules to me. I couldn’t understand all of them at the time but when I started actually watching the game it became clearer. (But I still have no idea about penalties)

To be honest, when I saw the football on TV without any knowledge about it I didn’t understand why people enjoy it. But when I saw it at the stadium and understood the rules, it was more interesting than I expected. Especially when TJ Lee intercepted the ball and touchdown, it was awesome! I want to choose my favorite football player and maybe he’s going to be one…:)

However, the game didn’t flow smoothly. It was stopped often. After every down there was a pause and when the players changed places it also paused. In baseball there are many pauses as well but it was different. I thought it was unusual and a little bit complicated.

Also players weren’t in a designated place like a dugout but they were just standing close to field so it didn’t seem like a real game. It seemed like a practice or training.

But overall, everything was interesting because everything was new for me.

I was lucky enough to bring my classmates who had less football background than me (means they don’t have football background at all!). So during the game I explained to them what was going on with my little knowledge. Even though they didn’t understand everything they told me it was fun to watch in person and I agree with them.

BC Lions beat the Calgary Stampeders by 37-13 that day. Because Lions won the game, I could enjoy it more. Watching football was a very unique and interesting experience for me. I couldn’t understand all of the game but I think my perspective of sports widened. I really appreciate the BC Lions for giving me this great opportunity:) and if I have a chance I will go see it again before I go back to Korea!

But I will definitely be watching online when Football BC’s under 16 teams are compete at the 2014 Red River Cup. I hope we win the gold medal again this year!

Red River Cup goes from July 5 to 12 and you can get more information here.

▶ 2014 U16 Team BC and the Red River Cup