Welcome!

Hello, everyone!

 

My name is George Sue and I’m an international student from Korea!

I’ve been in Vancouver for seven months and I’m really enjoying my stay here.

 

I’m really excited about working as a practicum student at Football BC from now to May.

 

Here’s a little about me,

 

I’m a person who is crazy about sports. You’ve probably heard that before but let me explain.

 

I live for sports. With a few new friends that I met in Vancouver, I created a soccer team one month ago and now I am managing them. Our team plays every Thursday and Saturday at Andy Livingstone Park. We’re actually getting ready for a big tournament coming up in May at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex and our team has a lot of big sponsors especially from Korean Education Agency. so it’s kind of a big deal.

 

 

Here’s something you might find interesting though. Even though I’m a big soccer fan and player, I actually played high school football in Korea. I wanted to become a professional athlete but I had to give up on my dream because of a serious spine injury.

But, as I mentioned, I am crazy about sports. So even though I had to give up on football, I couldn’t give up on sports. I majored in Sports Marketing in University and I’ve worked in the Korean baseball industry for two years.

 

So why did I decide to come to Vancouver?

 
 

My dream job is to be a sports marketer of a soccer team in England. To do that, I figured I would need English skills and work experience in a ‘foreign country.’ Therefore, I decided to come to Vancouver where sports are a big part of the culture.

 
 

I never thought I would get back into football. Football is not that popular in Korea and once I got my spine injury I thought I was finished with football. Getting this practicum opportunity with Football BC is very exciting and I’m lucky to be reminded of what I did and what I liked.

 


 

As I mentioned, football is not that popular in Korea so you won’t find a lot of people interested in it. But there are always some.

 

 

We have a national university tournament every year and 35 universities have their own teams. It may be slow, but football is starting to get noticed in Korea.

 

I see football in Korea as a ‘Blue Ocean Market’. Blue Ocean market means the opportunities are available because there are few or no competitors. So, there are lots of potential profits and super huge chance for growth.

 

I’ll give you an example.

 

Many of you reading this probably know who Hines Ward is. Hines Ward was really popular in Korea, almost like a super hero even though a lot of people don’t know too much about football. But, because he is a Korean-American and was an MVP of the Super Bowl, we could see him in the TV news every day even if we couldn’t watch him play on ESPN.

 

Patriotism was a huge marketing tool and, in many ways, Hines Ward was a starting point for encouraging interest in football in Korea.

 

I’m certain that football will be popular in Korea in time. Therefore, I want to experience as much about the North American football industry as possible and learn about their marketing strategies.

 

This blog will be all about my experiences learning about the sport from an amateur level. I am excited to share my findings and my stories with all of you.

 

I hope you can learn about football and enjoy surfing my blog!

If you have any comments or ideas, please email me anytime.

 

 

 

Also, if you are interested in my soccer team you can email me or contact with our team’s Facebook page at http://facebook.com/vancitybulls