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Growing up my entire life, I was always into sports. At age 5, I started playing soccer. At age 7, baseball. Age 12, wrestling. Then, I ran cross country and track and field in middle and high school.

When I entered university, I even joined my university’s ice hockey club. And through all of that, of course I played various pick-up sports with friends at the park. Being into playing sports also unsurprisingly meant I enjoyed watching professional sports too.

I have attended live sports in person countless times, including baseball (Go Dodgers), soccer, basketball (Go Lakers), and ice hockey (Go Sharks). I have even had the privilege of attending the Women’s World Cup Final in 2015 in Canada. I am ALWAYS down to attend a live sporting event, even if it’s not one of my preferred sports. The exciting atmosphere is intoxicating and enjoyable no matter what.

I have attended many live sports events in the US, so I have a general idea of what to expect and how the sports culture normally proceeds. So, when I first came to Korea with my dad, when he suggested we attend a local baseball game, I was immediately in. What ensued at the baseball game was unlike anything I could have ever expected. It was my first moment of culture shock.

We had decided to attend a game between the local home team, the Doosan Bears, vs. the away team, the KT Wiz. When we got to the stadium, at first, everything proceeded as expected. There was a lively atmosphere and everyone was obviously excited. We bought our tickets at the gate, entered the stadium, and found our seats like normal.

Now, for those of you that don’t watch baseball or have never attended a game, you may not know. But baseball is a generally slow and relaxed sport. There isn’t a lot of action. So, in the US, most people are just sitting relaxed and only start cheering when something exciting happens or there is a moment of tension.

When the KT Wiz came up to bat, everything proceeded as expected, from my point of view on the home team side. The top half of the inning came and went with not much action or excitement. Just your standard cheering and clapping.

Then, in the bottom half of the inning, a scene unlike anything I have ever seen unfolded. All the fans of the home team stood up and throughout the entirety of the bottom half of the inning, proceeded to cheer, chant, and dance to choreographed songs.

Every single player had their own personalized song that the fans sang while the player batted. There were even additional songs for different events that occurred, such as for a hit, a steal, a home run, and much more. And this continued every time the team came up to bat. For all 9 innings!

The game we attended ended up being a really great game too. It ended with an exciting walk-off hit by Oh Jae-il of the home team, the Doosan Bears. This led to a cool rarer experience after the game too.

Walk-offs are always bound to be exciting and make fans super excited. So even while we were walking out of the stadium and through the tunnels, the fans continued chanting and singing the song of the player that hit the walk-off. The commotion of the fans and sound of the singing echoing off the walls is a moment that I am likely to never forget.

Korean sports culture is just a different beast of its own with so many unique elements compared to the US.

Cheerleaders

Cheerleaders. Korean sports also have cheerleaders at sports events. Though in quite a different form from the US. In the US, we generally only have cheerleaders at football and basketball games.

Whereas in Korea, they are seemingly at all sports. The other MAJOR difference is the organization.

One of the cheerleaders is really the cheer-LEADER. Remember all those songs and chants I mentioned earlier? This person is the one who directs and leads all of those. He has a mic and speaker as he chooses and picks what the crowd will do next. He is there to be the hype man and keep the energy up.

The rest of the squad is more similar to US cheerleaders. They are women that dance and work with the hype man to keep the crowd excited. They differ a bit from the US though in that they don’t have pom-poms or do US-style cheerleading routines. They usually just dance to popular Korean or English pop songs during intermissions or between innings.

Something that I uniquely got to experience compared to most tourists to Korea, due to attending Korea University, was the Korea-Yonsei sports games, also known as KoYeonJeon (or YeonKoJeon if you are a Yonsei student). These games are an annual sports competition between the two rival schools that takes place across one weekend and 5 sports (Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Rugby, and Soccer).

I am definitely planning to write a whole separate article about these, but just know for now that these games get WILD. At these games, the cheerleaders wear a cheering outfit that is uniquely Korean. They are very colorful and vibrant with lots of frills. In these cheer squads, they are also a mix of both women AND men, so it definitely gives a totally different vibe and image compared to other cheerleading squads.

They serve very similarly to the cheer squads at professional sports in that they are there to get the crowd excited and hyped up, although their dances, movements, and gestures are a bit different.

Chanting and Singing

Next up is the memorized chants and dances. I already touched on this earlier, but the fans at sports games already know the chants and dances they are going to do. Whether that be through attending a game in the past or through looking it up online. There are plenty of sources to learn and the fans come prepared.

In the case of the KoYeonJeon games I mentioned earlier, there was even a school event called the Cheering Orientation. At this event, they played all the songs and chants that we would do, so you could learn them and be prepared, though it was also just a fun event to get the students together and instill some school pride.

I have heard some foreigners in the past with a somewhat critical point of view of this style of cheering, saying it lacks spontaneity and feels soulless, but I quite disagree. The cheering style is more similar to a concert, where the fans are singing along with the songs. No one would say they aren’t cheering or true fans.

And this style of cheering still leaves room for some spontaneity, when it comes to actually cheering when an exciting or good moment happens. And it also creates very cool, powerful moments when the whole stadium chants something all at once, leading to an absolutely booming presence and atmosphere.

National Pride

Customers at chicken restaurants watching the Korean National Team play in the World Cup on 2 different days

Now, I am sure other countries are similar, but this was definitely quite new for me. But the national pride that comes from sports games feels extra powerful here.

When the national soccer or baseball team plays, especially in a tournament like the World Cup or Olympics, it almost feels like the country comes to a stop to watch. Virtually every T.V. and screen is filled with the game or coverage. Bar? Has the game. Restaurant? Has the game. People’s phones? Has the game. Some random screen in a random alley? Believe it or not-also has the game. There are also fan zones with giant screens to watch the major events, located in various areas around the city and country.

In the US, people’s fandom is more fractured as they will tend to gravitate only towards the sports they like and won’t watch the others, whereas in Korea everybody is ready to cheer on the national team no matter what. If there is a Korean team, the people will come out to support.

This also shows itself in non-national league games, but games that feature a Korean, such as the MLB or the Premier League. In the US, people are often fans of players from all different nationalities. Partly due to the fact that we are so diverse and many people still have connection to their native homeland. But in Korea, often times the Korean player is THE main draw and sometimes even the catalyst to even watch the games in the first place.

On Korean broadcast stations, there will even be a small graphic with the player’s name, stats, and a small picture in the top corner to let you know the player is involved and how they have done. Korea is a very proud country and they are always excited to cheer for their own, especially if they have managed to crack into a top-tier league in their sport.

Merch

The last thing that I will describe is the merch. Oh my god, the merch. There is SOOO much merch here for everything, both official and unofficial.

There is individualized merch for each player. Each team. The mascots. There is just so much more variety and just so much more in general compared to the US. If there is a player you like, there are countless different items you can buy. There are of course jerseys, but there are hats, keychains, banners, phone cases…you name it! If there is something you want, it feels almost sure you can find something with your favorite player’s name or face on it. There is even stuff I would never even think of!

It’s absolutely endless. I feel like the only thing we have similar to that in the US is baseball cards, but even Korea puts us to shame in that department. There are so many different fan cards, photo cards, trading cards. There are different versions of everything.

It’s absolutely insane. I feel like fandom in Korea means having an empty wallet. There is just so much you could buy if you really wanted to.

Conclusion

Korea takes being a fan to the next level. They go absolutely crazy and all-in for their cheering. It makes being a fan super fun. I definitely love going to baseball or soccer games here. And it is definitely something I would highly recommend any to do, especially if you already love sports. The atmosphere and vibes are absolutely intoxicating.