7TH and 8th Grade Sports Meeting

April 27^th, a bright sunny day. A sea of purple, red, green and yellow shirts filled the track of the soccer filed in SHSID. The Sports meeting had finally arrived! Students didn’t have to sit in the classrooms throughout the whole morning; instead, they got to compete with strong competitors in sports events and have fun with their friends. This morning consisted of many kinds of races, water fights, a parade, or any other track and field activity.

As usual, the beginning of the sports meeting started with a parade. Each class prepared a one and a half minute performance which was introduced one by one by the lovely hosts as the classes marched towards the center of the track. The eighth graders did a wonderful job with sophisticated performances that required great skills. Class 8(5) performed an exciting show of martial arts. Jim and Declan demonstrated their kendo skills while Jasmine and Wendy showed off their amazing Taekwondo skills and kicked a wooden stick in half! That earned them the first place in the best performance and they definitely deserved the honor! Class 8(2), 8(3), 8(4) all did sports-related performances such as basketball, tennis and baseball respectively. Class 8(4) even came up with class cheers which landed them in second place for the best performances! Seventh graders had a rather more educational performance on Olympic cities. Most classes had posters and costumes based on particular cities like London or Paris.

Besides the exciting parade, there were a total of four sports events. Plenty of passionate students ran for one hundred meters, two hundred meters, four hundred meters, eight hundred meters, or one thousand meters. They gained glory for themselves and their own class by running as if their life depended on it—even faster than a cheetah. Classmates on the sidelines cheered crazily for their friends on the track. The one hundred meter race for both boys and girls of eighth grade were equally exciting. Eight boys and girls lined up at their respective lanes. Suddenly, a gunshot sounded and they shot out like bullets and pushed themselves to their limits. The results were literally a few milliseconds apart. Paul from 8(8) was first, Ray from 8(2) was the runner-up, and William Zou from 8(8) was third. The one thousand meter run, on the other hand, was very arduous for the boys. Not only were they tested on their stamina but tested on their ability to conserve their energy and manage their speed. Relay race emphasized on class effort. For the boys, 8(4) was first, 8(2) was second, and 8(1) was third. There were plenty of exciting races; however, the most captivating one was the teacher’s relay. There was Mr. Lasky’s team, Mr. S’s team and the Chinese homeroom teachers. The screams and whistling from the students that were cheering for their teachers were even louder than the girls at a Justin Bieber concert. Needless to say, no matter what kind of results came out of the competitions, good sportsmanship and participation are more worthy than lose or win.

The running competitions were only a part of the liveliness; in addition, we also have medicine ball, long jump and high jump competitions. The exhilarated students tried their best at throwing a heavy ball and jumping farther and higher than a kangaroo. For long jump, Angel from 8(8) was first, Masha Yang from 8(11) was the runner-up, and Akemi from 8(7) was in third place. Medicine ball is a lot like shot-put; it was a tough sport for both the boys and girls who participated. The boys threw a five kilogram ball while the girls threw a 2 kilogram ball.

The competitions and races were a big part of the sports meeting; however, it was not all that everyone did. Since it was so hot during the day, many students found a way to cool down! People brought water guns to school, or they poked holes on the top of the bottle and filled the water guns and water bottles with tap water in order to spray each other. Some daring kids even sprayed water at the teachers. Nobody could walk three meters without being ambushed by another person who would create a ‘downpour’ for you! Some enthusiastic girls sang a few songs through the microphone: “What makes you beautiful” by One Direction and “Friday” by Rebecca Black. People from the sidelines also started singing along with these inspiring girls.

Despite all the fun the students had that day, they learned a lesson from it too. Jim Courier once said: "Sportsmanship for me is when a guy walks off the court and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way." At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you won or lost or if you won four medals for you class. What matters is keeping a good attitude regardless of the result of the competition. The students had definitely learned this lesson through the sports meeting---------sportsmanship makes everybody a winner.

(Article: 8(4) Sarah Lin&Gu Zixing; Picture : Melody Zhu)