The Anyang Halla Victory Big Bears, Cheering them on

The Victory Big Bears are Anyang Halla's cheering team. In the past the organization has brought in large groups of people for special games, like the play-offs, but this particular team seems to be designed to participate more freely during the season. After Saturday night's defeat of the Icebucks, the team leader Mee-sun Kim spoke with Eurohockey about her experience with hockey and how the team integrates into the organization.

*Note these answers are not verbatim and have been translated from Korean

Eurohockey: Tell us about yourself
Mee-sun Kim: I'm Mee-Sun Kim the leader of the Anyang Halla Red bull Victory Bears. I'm currently working for Mando in manufacturing engineering. I am a novice employee and haven't completed my first year yet. But, in my mind I'm a rookie who wants to make everyone believe that Mando Steering wheels are the best in the world! Additionally I'm the new publicity leader of Asia's best team Anyang Halla.

EH:When did you join the group?
MSK: I joined as soon as I could at the beginning of this year.

EH: Were you an ice hockey fan before joining the group?
MSK: You want an honest answer? No, I wasn't. In Canada, USA, Slovakia hockey is more popular than soccer, but it is still not well known in Korea. Because it is not well known it is not popular. Hockey is great enough to get everyone excited though. The first time I watched hockey was last December. I remember the first time I saw it, I fell in love with the power and wild enthusiasm.

EH: How was your group formed?
MSK: This year the 50th anniversary of the Halla group is very meaningful. To welcome this very meaingful year, Anyang Halla created the group. Last December the Victory Big Bears were formed primarily by people openly recruited from the Halla Group.

EH: How many people in your group?
MSK: There are 15 leaders but around 150 people total.

EH: Are all group members Mando employees?
MSK: Yes, our first group formed last year were all Halla group employees. If we want to get more members for our next group we'll have to do some enlistment. Haha

EH: How did you pick the group name?
MSK: The leaders decided to have the members vote on it. There were many candidates like "Spicy Bear", "Mighty Bear", "Blue Dia" (like diamond), "One body bear", but "Victory Big Bears" got the most votes and won. Don't you think Victory Big Bears is the best choice? The name has feeling. Cold fierceness. The bear has meaning to both our players and supporters.

EH: How do you choose your cheers? Do you practice them?
MSK: Putting together cheers and and motions are very difficult. Because we don't have anyone who is a cheer specialist. So we just use cheers from university, baseball games, popular songs, movies, TV show. Does our group practice together to learn them? The last time the group practiced together was for the 50 year anniversary celebration for Halla Group. There were around 6500 spectators. We were nervous but, we did a kind of training camp together that was very interesting and good.

The Victory Big Bears performing at the Halla event, photo courtesy Victory Big Bears

EH: Does your group try to go to every game?
MSK: We can't go to every game because of our work. During weekdays we have to work late. Usually the leaders will try to go when they can with 10-20 people. During the playoffs we'll go to every game. I'm really looking forward to March!

EH: Which game this year did you like best?
MSK: Other people remember their first love, first kiss, or being accepted to school, I remember my first game after becoming leader of the group the most. We played against High1. The last goal was scored by Won-jung Kim! From then I was a Won-jung Fan! Whenever he has the puck, I cheer the most.

Thank you for the interview!

EH: Thank you for your time


From Left to right:

Han Choon-soo, Park Hae-ri, Kim Mee-sun, Kim Gwang-Seob, Wang Sun-sik, Yoon Jung-min, Yang Min-hee, Yeo Sang-won, Park Ji-hoon, Gwak Mee-jung

 

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