In addition to Sports Festival at YJHS, I was asked to attend Sports Festival at TJHS. I originally thought I could get out of it because the Board of Education wasn't going to give me taxi tickets for it, and it's a damn expensive trip. However, the English teacher at TJHS called my supervisor and convinced her to get me taxi tickets, so I no longer had an excuse not to go. So, today was my second Sports Festival.
This Sports Festival was quite a bit different because it combined the junior high, elementary, and pre-school. Even with three schools together, it was a smaller event than the YJHS Sports Festival. In all honesty, it made a lot more sense for me to go to this one because the school is small enough that I will eventually know all my students by name. I think it actually mattered to the staff at this school whether I was there or not. In the end, I had a somewhat active role in the Sports Festival and enjoyed it a lot.
The morning started with the obligatory marching and formalities. There was also a warm up routine which I rather enjoyed. This time, I was asked to join in, like all of the teachers did. After that began the events. This Sports Festival had a lot fewer foot races, which I appreciated. The speeds the kids can run are impressive, but eventually you get tired of watching a bunch of people run. This time around, it was mostly games; there were games I had seen before, and a few I hadn't.
For one race, a student sat on a tire and three other students pulled him down the track, around a pole and back again. A particularly adorable event was one where each elementary student was paired with a junior high school student. Each elementary student wore a string tail and the goal was to steal as many tails as possible. The junior high student held the elementary student's hand and helped them evade the others or pointed them toward a potential victim. There was a funny relay where students had to hop a ways in a sack, step over some very short hurdles, climb through a few hula hoops, ride a very small tricycle, and play rock-paper-scissors with a man in a samurai costume. If they won the rock-paper-scissors, they could take a short cut to the end, but if not, they had to jump rope to the next person in the relay.
For the toddlers in the crowd, there was a sort of race where they ran to two ladies who were holding a stick with packages of candy dangling from it. They all got to pull off a package of candy, and that was the end of the race. I guess maybe the goal was to get the children to all run in one direction. I don't know. It was fairly cute, though. After that, the elementary students had a relay race where a parent pushed them in a wheelbarrow. There was a pairs race where two students leap-frogged their way to a gym mat, did a somersault at the same time, and then ran a set of hurdles while holding hands. The hurdles were staggered so that only one of them was jumping at a time. I'm not sure if that made it easier or harder. Then the pre-schoolers did a dance routine with sticks and drums. They had pretty good rhythm for being so young. What cracked me up was the flag team; one of the little boys spent the better part of the routine just tangled up in his flag. He didn't seem to be trying to get out, either. This was followed by a relay race where the students ran with a basketball (decorated to look like a fried egg) in a pan. When they reached a large die on the ground, they rolled the die to determine how many cones they had to run past before they could turn around and run back to pass on the egg.
The next event for the junior high students was called "Watashi no mono yo", or roughly translated, "It's mine!". All of the students fought over a number of large balls. I was rather pleased to see that the girls got to participate in this event; it seems like they're usually relegated to the less aggressive events. They probably only got to participate because there were so few JHS students to begin with, but I still appreciated it. And the girls got into it as much as the boys did.
Then the elementary students had a paired race with their parents. The two teams approached from two different sides. Each parent-student pair had to jump rope as a team until they met the opposing side. Then they would play rock-paper-scissors. The winner got to keep moving forward, and the loser had to run back to their side while the next pair from their team took over. The goal was to make it to the other team's starting line. This is actually a lot like a game that we play in the classroom, except that students have to identify flashcards as they move forward (as opposed to jumping rope). The next event for the smaller students was also a paired race with their parents. They had to push a ball down the field, around a cone, and back to the starting area. Then there was an event that paired a junior high student with an elementary student. They had to race back to back with a kickball between them. It became quite challenging when a tall JHS student was paired with a short elementary student. One of my seventh graders may have had a slight advantage in that he was about the same size as the elementary students. After that, there was a pole climbing race for the elementary students.
The thing that probably impressed me the most was when the elementary students did a taiko drumming display. Some of the kids really knew what they were doing. They had the rhythms down and even added a bit of showmanship to the performance. Taiko drums have a really powerful sound; I'd like to see a professional performance sometime.
Somewhere in the mix, I participated in two events with the junior high PTA. One was called "Hole in One". I was rather anxious about joining in because no one would explain the rules to me. However, I was third in line, so I got to watch how it was done before I had to go. One at a time, each member of the team put a basket on their back, ran down to a cone, bounced a kickball on the ground and tried to catch it in their basket. I managed to do it after only two attempts, to my great surprise. It was a lot of fun, and our team took second. I also joined in the tug o' war, and our team took first! Also, before lunch, everyone joined in a circle dance. It was simple enough that I could follow along without being taught beforehand. I think the song was specific to Sports Festival at this particular school, but everyone seemed to know it.
The cheerleading competition was on a less grand scale than at YJHS, but I enjoyed watching the junior high students working together with the elementary school students. They even used some costumes. The red team wore black uniforms with red bands of cloth tied on their backs. The white team was funnier; they wore nurse and doctor uniforms. I'm pretty sure one of the students in a nurse dress was male. After that came the UFO race. For this one, the students got in a circle and linked themselves at the ankles using large rubber bands. They sort of hopped down the field and back as a group. Next there was a race like one that I saw at YJHS; two elementary students ran a short obstacle course while carrying a pole between them.
There was a competition between the PTA and the junior high students as to which team could skip rope the most times as a group. There were enough people on each team that they had to stand in two columns, which complicated things. The junior high students managed to get up to 14, while the PTA only got to 2. It was pretty funny. The day finished with traditional relay races for the elementary students and the junior high students.
Although I didn't participate in many events, I was very tired at the end of the day. I had arrived at 8:00 and everything ended around 2:30. I can't imagine how tired the students must have been. Then again, they're young and full of energy. I think they may have tomorrow off from school, as well. Unfortunately, I have to go in to work tomorrow, making this a six day week. Oh, well. I had a lot more fun than I expected, and despite my initial doubts, I enjoyed participating. This Sports Festival was much more interesting than the one at my other junior high. I think it was because there were fewer foot races and because I know these students better. In any case, if I'm still at TJHS next fall, I think I'd like to go to their Sports Festival again.
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