School Sports Day 2014

Today was the boys annual school sports day and for Little B it was his first ever sports day. Expectations were high for both boys as Joshua took home a gold and silver last year and Brandon's running has got really good this year and in training he has not been beaten at the sprint. Joshua was competing in the obstacle course and the long distance run (which e came 2nd in last year). Brandon was competing in the quoit and the sprint race. The weather was gorgous and the school has also arranged for the parents to have picnics with the kids after the event, so I decided to book the whole day off and make the most of it.

 

After the kids had all done their opening ceremony lap showing their respective class flags Joshua was up first in his obstacle race. In training he said he kept coming last as he couldn't get the jumping with the ball between his legs part. However on the day they changed this to simply kicking the ball and subsequently he stormed the race. The first leg they had to run with a bean bag on their head (which Joshua dropped), then they had to drop it in a loop and pass the loop over their body (Josh was very quick here and made up ground), then lastly they had to kick the ball and sprint to the finish line. Joshua's technique needed a bit to be desired, but he was ultra competitive and stormed home in first place for the gold medal. 

Joshua lines up ready for his obstacle course race.

Joshua makes up ground on the hoop having fallen a bit behind after dropping the bean bag.

Joshua on the podium with his gold medal, fellow FG Tiger Max came in 2nd and Sam was 3rd.

One happy boy with his first medal.

Next up was Brandon in the quoit event which is basically running with a hoop on your head. I could see this was going to go wrong from the start as he seemed to have the ring tilted right back on his head. As expected he dropped his quoit and then had too much ground to make up as he crossed the line second from last. Still I was proud of him and he thoroughly enjoyed his race even if he didn't get a medal. 

Brandon sets off in the quoit but has the ring too far back on his head.

He picks up speed at the end but cannot challenge the leaders.

Brandon posing with the eventual winners of the event (far right).

Next up was Brandon's sprint race. As I stood down field in anticipation of the start, I think I was probably more nervous about the race than he was. Brandon was a bit slow out of the blocks and little Jack to his left got off to a flyer. Brandon was very confident in his run and at about 3/4's of the way up the straight he was looking over his shoulders to make sure he was clear knowing that he was catching up with Jack. In the last meter or so he eased past Jack and crossed the finish line in 1st place. Unfortunately the teachers must have got mixed up or were not watching the end though as they gave him a solver medal. I double checked my camera and the video footage and he definately won the race. I decided not to say anything as it was all about fun and I didn't want to appear to be a disgruntled parent upsetting the apple cart. I knew Brandon had won and I would later show him the video just so that he knew he won the race as well.

Brandon a the start of his sprint race with Jack on his left.

Brandon gets off to a slow start and has ground to make up on Jack. But he is running comfortably with his arms down low.

With the finish line in sight Brandon starts to pull clear of Jack and takes the win.

Very proud that B got on the podium with one of his races, just a shame that he is not standing on the "1st" place box which he earnt with a hard fought race.

Joshua was in the final event of the day which was the long distance run, 1 complete lap around the track. Once again he had fellow FG Tiger Max in his group. This was the event he came 2nd in last year so the big question was could he go one better. He set off quick but lost ground to Jake who flew off like a rocket around the first corner. Joshua must have fallen about 5m back at the halfway stage and then slowly started to close the gap. Unfortunately there was not enough race left and he came home in 2nd pace in the end. Had this of been a two lap race he might have got a bit closer to the 1st place winner. Still very proud of his run and another consistant 2nd place.

 

 

Joshua lines up on the start line of the long distance race.

He runs well but leaves too much work to do at the end and cannot catch up with Jack. Great run for 2nd place though.

Joshua on the podium for the second time with his silver medal for the long distance race.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sports day and was so glad I took the day off work. Joshua repeated last years performance of a gold and silver and Brandon took a gold. So a good days work with 3 medals out of 4 races. I think its great that the school are giving gold, silver and bronze medals to teach the kids how to be winners and losers. I have never been a fan of the "everyone is a winner" approach and not awarding places. Everything in life is competitive and in my opinion it is important that kids learn this at a young age. How can our nation ever become the sporting powerhouse we once were when kids are not taught the value of winning and losing. Yes it has to be fun, but you should also reward the winners.