KU Cheer Instruction

Today started like any other day, I had classes, an inordinately long break in between my first and second class, and with that came plenty of time to learn Korean through Korean movies. I learned how to say different versions of "yes" and "sorry." I still have no idea how to order in a restaurant though. One step at a time.

After class there was KU cheering instruction which my KUBA group. We all met at the Tiger Dome, the basketball/concert arena. We all meet outside with our groups and see other KU students meeting. The majority look like Freshmen because they all have fresh KU jackets, some without majors on them. *Aside KU students all wear Korea University varsity jackets with their major written on the back under the overarching "Korea" written across the shoulders. On the arm is a patch with their year and on the other arm is something written in Hangul, Chinese, or a patch for an organization.* Kids who did have majors however, flocked under banners suspended from enormous flagpoles. Each banner was for a specific major. This was kind of their pledge process for Greek life; get to kids in your pledge class (major) and have a good time bonding under the supervision of some upperclassmen. The sheer volume of just Freshman outmatched GW's school spirit for even televised games.

We then went into the Tigerdome. It is laid around a large rectangle: like MSG or GW's smith center without seats on one of the short sides of the basketball court. Instead of the seats there is a full permanent stage. The floor was covered in green padding and there were collapsible bleachers, so the place could seat even more for a basketball game. We were given an KU plastic bag and a book of cheers as we entered the dome. The cheers were all written in Hangul, but there was no musical score with them, so I had no idea what to expect.

The stage then lights up with a full light show. There's a rock and roll band with  guitar, bass, a drumer, female backup singer and a frontman (we'll get to him later). They are then joined by 3 guys who I can only describe as Korean versions of the Latino radio announcers we have in America. Fast speaking, lots of sound effects, jokes, laughing, and since we could see them in person, costumes. They were dressed as a bee, a pig and a bear. They were minor players, but did introductions. But yeah, the band started rocking out   and we learned cheers. The upperclassmen taught us all the right dances that go with each song. Most involved putting hands on each others' shoulders and doing swaying, often accompanied with bowing. Lots of them involved clapping, many involved a low-to-high hand shake motion. Each section, which was determined by major/international student status, had their own spin on dances, primarily adding head banging to the hands on shoulders section. My favorite cheer was the one when people legitimately start fighting each other in the stands. It's a lot of fun, and you get to mess around with friends. We then learn what the plastic bag is for: inflating. You blow it up and shake it. The bag has a tiger's face on it and it's really cool to see an entire arena shaking tiger heads and cheering. GW administrators, if you haven't already been taking notes on this article, you've messed up.

Then the KU flag team hits the arena. Standard flag drill routine, lots of cool tiger flags swinging around. Then they held their flags up, and I noticed they had trumpet looking tips, like horns used to herald in people back in the day when you got heralded in instead of sending a text that said, "Yo, I'm outside." Then the cheerleaders came in. And here they are:

The cheerleaders are the one in modernized traditional clothing. 2 girls, 6 dudes in tights, and one guy in a robe. This was not at all what I expected to say the least. The people in the western clothes are the ones in the band. Most, if not all KU cheers need a full rock band, which is cool to begin with. But come on, how cool could this cheerleading crew be? Extremely, extremely cool. The girls' job was essentially that of US cheerleaders, flirt with the fans and lead lighthearted cheers while wearing short skirts. When they took the lead, that's pretty much what they did. The guys however, are a whole different story. They just went crazy. Lots of very choreographed dances with the whole group, but the frontmen did their own thing that led the dance, they got to do some cool looking freestyle stuff, which usually ended in a huge flex towards the sky. It was pretty badass. Inordinately badass when the PYROTECHNICS were going off in the arena. Come on GW Smith Center. That's just poor practice right there.

The cheers themselves were also fantastic. They had one cheer to the tune of "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol. They also had the Macarena redone to be about Korean rice wine. Yup, they encourage their student section to party. The best one after the fight song had to be the one to the tune of "Volare." The song from Step Brothers. It involves people singing "Oh" where the words should be. It's pretty cool to have an entire arena dressed in crimson and linking arms cheering that, and I'm not even playing sports on a field. Imagine looking up and seeing that.  That must be significantly more powerful than a bunch of kids at a basketball game stumbling over the words to the GW fight song. It makes me wish I had more time to see KU sports, but I'll have to hope there's an exhibition match for something worth watching.

When were done learning the cheers, which went on for 3 hours, the rock band got center stage. The front man is the guy in the above picture dressed like Buddy Holly in the glasses and cardigan. I must say, his rendition of Rock You Like a Hurricane was unreal. As was his rendition of Bad Girl by Donna Summer. It was a weird repertoire, but it was very well done.

Here's a link to a KU cheerleading video which has the "Volare" song, the KU fight song, and the KU cheerleaders going nuts and doing tiger roars at the sky just to make sure that God knows that KU runs this show. Every day I spend here in Korea makes me wish I had 10 more to spend, and I hope to be spending a lot of those days watching the Anam Tigers beat the Yonsei into the dirt.