History continues with more students engaging in more sports

ESSA competes in the semi-final of Women’s Soccer Club League. Photo provided by ESSA.

In the 1990s, many universities stopped the special admissions of elite athletes due to the high expense it caused to the school. This resulted in the disappearance of universities’ teams and leagues, including Ewha’s. However, students still play sports and represent Ewha through amateur sport clubs.
The College of Health Science’s football club, ESSA, has participated in the K-league Cup Women’s University Football Competition for the two consecutive years and this year, aims to win the championship.
“University amatuer clubs like ESSA tend to be underestimated in terms of skills,” said the captain of ESSA, Heo Ji-yeon (Human Movement Studies, 3). “But we hope to show how strong an amateur team can be.”
Students also enjoy various sports in class nowadays. This semester, Ewha is providing 58 one-credit courses in 15 different sports without any restrictions over majors and all of them reached full capacity this semester.
“Sports may take a less active role at Ewha today than they did in the past. But, in order to enhance students’ health, we try to open as many elective sports courses,” professor Yi Kyung-ock (Human Movement Studies) said.
At the same time, students found their way to enjoy sports such as shooting, archery, snowboarding and alpine through establishing and participating in sports clubs on campus. Since the clubs are at an amateur level, most of them are non-exclusive.
Some of the amateur clubs have existed for more than 30 years, such as the Ewha Yacht Club and Ewha Skin Scuba, while others are newly born with students’ increasing interest in certain sports. Such unique clubs include exotic sports such as shooting.
“From a survey, I found students who wanted to learn shooting,” said Lee Ji-won (Political Science & International Relations, 1) who started the shooting club Ssom. “So I created a club that allows them to enjoy shooting which has been regarded as a difficult sport to learn.”

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지