Have you ever attended a sports day at school? Sports day is one of the biggest school events. In Korea, it started about 120 years ago from Korean English School. It was also held by Koreans who live in Hawaii during the Japanese colonial era. There is a history of the differences between events in the sports day now and then. 

▲ The sports day in Korean English School in 1896

The First sports day was held by Korean English School in 1896. They played a Korean traditional game called Neolttwigi, which is similar to see-sawing and high jumping. After that, they help the sports day in 1897 and 1898. During the Japanese colonial era, Koreans held the sports day, too. Koreans who lived in Hawaii held the sports day to gather all of the Koreans and be liberated from the Japanese. In Hawaii, the Korean Sports Association still holds the sports day in March every year.

As the situations have changed, the sports day nowadays is different from the old one. In the old days, people held it to connect their minds and bodies and to build cooperation with one another. So, it was more emulous than now. However, nowadays, people hold it not to connect their heart and body, but to just play ad to have fun. So, now, they do a lot of creative and funny activities on sports days.

▲ The relay race of the students in sports day

What do people do on sports day? People in South Korea do a three legged race in which the left leg of on runner is strapped to the right leg of another runner and they run to the finish line. South Koreans also enjoy relay race. Lastly, they usually do dodge ball on sports day. Despite the fact that sports day has about 120 years of history, there are some people who still think that sports day is just a recent event. We should remember and keep out the history of the sports day.