Preparations began early in the morning
Marking the track is a big job - old school style!First order of the day was the official sports day march. The students paraded around the track in class groups before coming together for the national anthem and principal's speech.
The opening parade
Nominated class leaders take charge of the flagsIn the lead up to Sports Day, each class designed and painted a flag.
President Obama is extremely popular amongst Japanese students
A more traditional approach!
Too cute!The first half of the day was track events - 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m and assorted relay races. Every race is run to some kind of upbeat carnival music - think Benny Hill, as another Aussie teacher told me!
I loved the traditional white tape finish!Next up was the skipping demonstration - a test of stamina and teamwork. One of the classes managed a record 9 rotations!
Amazing!
O-oh! Someone forgot to jumpFor lunch, all the teachers ordered a special Sports Day lunchbox.
Can you guess what I ate?After lunch was another march - but this time the students were parading in their club groups, dressed in their uniforms.
At this school, the clubs are: baseball, basketball, volleyball, soft tennis, track & field, kendo, tea ceremony, guitar & mandolin and koto (traditional Japanese stringed instrument).
The baseball club paradesAfter that, the fun games (!) began. The girls participated in three-legged races - except that they were in teams of 5 and 6, so I guess that's seven-legged.
I don't have any photos because that was my event to assist in - but at least a third of the girls copped some nasty gravel injuries on their knees and elbows.
The boys played a traditional battle game. They're divided into two teams - red and white - and within each team, trios of boys hoist another on their shoulders. The aim is for the red team to capture the hat of the white team, and vise-versa. It gets pretty tough by the looks on their faces.
The red team prepares to fight
And so do the white team
And so, after a parents tug-of-war, and a relay versing students of each local town against each other, came the end of Sports Day for another year. *Sigh*
With much relief,
Monica
I don't have any photos because that was my event to assist in - but at least a third of the girls copped some nasty gravel injuries on their knees and elbows.
The boys played a traditional battle game. They're divided into two teams - red and white - and within each team, trios of boys hoist another on their shoulders. The aim is for the red team to capture the hat of the white team, and vise-versa. It gets pretty tough by the looks on their faces.
The red team prepares to fight
And so do the white teamAnd so, after a parents tug-of-war, and a relay versing students of each local town against each other, came the end of Sports Day for another year. *Sigh*
With much relief,
Monica
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