[Vol. 75] Rookie club of KNUE, PLAY

  Did you enjoy KNUE's festival, Daedongje, in May? If so, you might have watched the performances of a lot of school clubs singing songs, dancing, playing guitars, and cheerleading! Some of the students might have first seen the cheerleading club PLAY. This year, it was raised to the status of a regular club from a temporary club. But, most of you may not know exactly or deeply about this club. Let’s take a look at it with the help of the leader of this club, Jinhee Lee.

  The name of the club PLAY has a meaning, which is hoping for the club members to enjoy the club. It was first established as a mini group in 2015 only for majors of Elementary Education. But, to recruit students from other majors, it was established again as a temporary club. After a year of various activities including street performances, it proposed to be a regular club and submitted a portfolio to the Dongari Association. And, it was finally approved according to the result(s) of the representatives’ conference.

  Most people thought that it was a dance club or cheering party of KNUE, but this club is in the sports department, and not in the performance department. It is a sports cheerleading club where members do all kinds of cheerleading, including stunts, and action. This club is the only cheerleading club in Chungbuk so it is unique. And, the members of PLAY are trying to be as professional as they can. For example, some of them have certificates to be cheerleading coaches. As a result of their efforts, although it was a temporary club still, it was designated as one of the top 100 fine clubs in the nation. Also, it was selected as a delegate of Chungcheong for the nation’s 20-club mentoring team.

  Now, there is a total of 28 members in the club, and 16 members are freshmen. It has a few departments such as planning, advertising, and general affairs. Club members work systematically in their own department for the club. Some might worry they cannot do cheerleading because they are too short, too tall, too thin, too fat, or they are men. But, according to Lee, the leader of PLAY, there is no other qualification such as height, weight, or dance ability. Of course, gender cannot be a qualification so men can apply for this club. However, this club needs people with strong physiques to do stunt cheerleading more stably.

  When they prepare performances, they refer to some video clips from Youtube or apply basic actions, but they do not copy others’ performances. They create their own ones. And then, they gather together in the practice room and start practicing. Because their actions are quite hard to do, there are some trivial but fun episodes while practicing. For example, one member had to climb up while holding another’s shoulder, but held her hair by mistake. Some awkward situations also happen often when someone falls with her butt on another’s face. Including these examples, there are some hardships or difficulties as a member of PLAY. But, thanks to these, all the club members are familiar like family.

  It is a great thing that PLAY became a regular club so soon - in about in a year. And their performances are nice enough to convince people of their fast approval as a regular club. So, it’s worth paying attention to the rookie club of KNUE. They are and will be really ‘PLAY’ing in the club activities.