"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."
-- Michael Jordan
Sport is an important and inseparable part of our lives. Every
human likes at least some or the other sport. However, we are often misled so
as to what it actually is and so tend to divert from it eventually. Even those
who keep with it, only seldom realise its true nature. Telling people about it
– moreover the children who are the foundation of future – and making them more
aware is therefore very important.
Thus, we planned to
organise the sports events for our juniors during the annual sports week.
Ms. Vijayalaxmi informed Mr. Nair, the person in charge for the entire event,
that we were willing to help them by organizing and managing the sub-events. We
received a class wise list of various sports events from him and
then we all
sat together and divided the work amongst ourselves. Here is how we divided it:
|
Group
|
Students
in charge
|
|
Group
1 – Pre-primary/Primary
|
Himanshu
& Shafqat
|
|
Group
2 – Grade 1 – 2
|
Rucha,
Shradha & Asmita
|
|
Group
3 – Grade 3 – 5
|
Kaustubh
& Danish
|
|
Group
4 – Grade 6 – 7
|
Jaidev
& Tanmay
|
I was the student in charge for all the events of pre-primary and
primary school for all the three days i.e. 15, 16 and 17 January. The total time of this CAS activity was
estimated to be 5 hours –1.5 hours every day – but as it turned out, I worked
for more than 3 hours today itself.
 |
| Children gathered for sports events. |
Today was the first day. All the toddlers came to the basketball
court, along with their teachers. The events for groups 1-3 were scheduled on
basketball court because the athletics track and football ground were reserved
for high school events. It was amazing to see those tiny faces squinting now
and then due to the radiant sun, and yet smiling with unparalleled delirium. At
the same time, I could also anticipate a time of endless commotion caused by
their restless disposition and indomitable tongues. Nevertheless, I was prepared for all that was
to come. My previous experience (with my little buds) had taught me how to control
these super-energetic little buddies.
I quickly asked Ms. Ancina (primary school coordinator and my
activity supervisor) for a brief of today’s events and then helped her settle
the kids in proper queues.
Our first major task was to, well; mark the entire area with chalk
tracks. Since it was a basketball court there were no markings on it for
athletic events. So I along with
Shafqat, Rucha, Shradha and Asmita carefully drew lines all over the place,
with an adequate precision, as soon as possible. I felt as if I were one of the
Nazca people, drawing long lines on ground for some divine purpose!
Well, after the marking was done, we started with the events,
first was the frog race. The very name
of it, reminded me of the days I used to participate in such events. Back in
those days, I used to hate frog race because of its silly rule: jump like a
frog all the way till the end. Not that I liked it now, but it was fun to see
the kids do it. I now realise why the spectators laughed at us while we
struggled to imitate the funny frog hops.
Since the distance for different races had to be varied we needed
to constantly shift the victory ribbon.
After the frog race, there were wild animal race and the
one-legged race. It was great experience to organise them. The wild animal race
was really good. The kids had to run to a tub with wild and domestic animal
toys in it. They needed to identify, select and carry 3 wild animals to the
finish line to win the race. It was fun
to watch them recollect the differences between the two and differentiate
consequently. Each time the tubs had to be refilled with equal toys of domestic
and wild animals. That was tedious but extremely insightful. I mean, after all
these years of our schooling things like these have become so obvious to us,
that we hardly realise that there ever was a need to learn them! It is trifles to me today. But it was hard to
convince myself that just like these kids, there was once a time when I too struggled
to differentiate between them. Albeit, things haven’t changed much it seems. It
was difficult to differentiate animals once; it is difficult to differentiate
numbers now! No wonder differentiation is difficult!
Meanwhile, as I conversed with some of the kids I came to know
that they had extensive amounts of competitive ego, envy and antipathies. I was
aggrieved to know that. Parents and the society around a child knowingly or
unknowingly put such things in a child’s brain, which eventually make him egoistic
and uncooperative. In addition, the ever increasing affinity for victory makes
him unkind and leads to inevitable disappointments. I believe that for the
development of a healthy society kids at such young ages should be taught to
live in harmony with each other and understand the interdependence of all
beings. Thankfully, people are getting aware about this and so I could only see
that attitude in some kids. Nevertheless it is still a major problem,
especially in those born with a silver spoon.
Such children often carry the same attitude to their adolescence where
they encounter many problems because of it.
This is also the misconception about sports I referred to
initially. Most of us today see sports as a game where one wins and losses; an
activity which is synonymous with competition. Some may criticize the above
statement to say that ‘it is not about competition, but about participating.’
But that is even worse, who plays a game for no reason, just for the sake of
participating? And if one does, then why should one? The definition of sports
in the beginning of the paragraph, is what has become of sports over the time,
not what it was originally.
A glance at the dictionary backs the notion that sport in its
‘OLD-FASHIONED’ sense was an activity of recreation, enjoyment and
entertainment for oneself. Today, contrary to that, it has become a ruthless
struggle between two competing teams (or individuals) who are made to play for
the entertainment of people who pay to watch them collide. In other words, a
sport today has become a commercial entity which functions to make money out of
victory and defeat. Unfortunately,
although things are not the same at school level, children tend to carry the
same attitude as they are influenced,
if not involved. A little natural amount of competition is inevitable and is
fine, but the commercialisation of sports has pumped unnecessary competition in
to our minds. In effect it has spoiled actual fun of sports.
I think sport is something you do to relax yourselves after hours
of sedentary work; something which gives exercise to your body and refreshes
your mind. Playing and engaging in physical activity is important, there is no
need of competition or very strict rules there! Just play to enjoy and you’ll
feel the real beauty of sports. This is the philosophy I advocate and intend to
propagate. I told those kids how their
competitors are but their friends and they should play for enjoying. On saying that they gave up their grudges
easily and that’s what was so sweet about these young beings!
Earlier today, I did not expect there would be so much to do. By
the end of the day however, my perspiration was evidence of the efforts I had
put in. I was very happy and so was everyone else.
Today’s events were extremely delightful. Especially the Jalebi
race! Jalebi is a famous Indian sweet dish made with fermented flour mixture,
fried into thin coils and dipped in sugar syrup. Thus given its creditability
the conventional bun race was turned into jalebi race. The rules were the same,
eat the Jalebi without touching your hands. It was really fun watching the
little minds struggling to disobey their conventional eating manners which
inculcated upon them as ‘good habits’. Many of them couldn’t resist using their
hands and did not mind if they were disqualified. Jalebi’s were more important
of course! I and all the other spectators couldn't help laughing looking at them! The other events like ‘the
five senses’, were also equally interesting. I enjoyed a lot. 
