GOOD SPORTS!!

Sports Day went really well and it DIDN'T rain! They are somewhat different to my school sports days. Children don't compete with each other in running races or high jump etc; the idea now is that children work as individual teams working there way around a course of events. This comprises of things like balancing a hoop on your head whilst weaving through cones or throwing bean bags into a hoop. The number of times this is done in an allotted time is recorded and these "scores" are added up and the team with the highest total wins. Each team comprised of 4 -6 members and the teacher carefully picked the teams so that each had a mixture of sporty and non-sporty children. The "helpers" had to each pick an event that they would oversee; explaining the rules and recording the scores. The Hockey Event didn't seem to have been chosen by anyone so I picked that;

I could see there were hockey sticks, balls and cones spaced out and assumed each child had to dribble the ball round the cones; it seemed to me that it would be quite an orderly event as the children took it in turns to "dribble" the course. WRONG!!! What it actually meant was that each child stood by a cone and the ball was dribbled or hit to the next member and the last person hit it onto a hoop; the end total in the hoop being the score. Admittedly the hockey sticks were plastic and the balls were tennis balls but can you imagine the carnage that would be involved as some of the boisterous team members would naturally try to hit the ball as far as they could!!!! I was a kid once and know the temptation! Plus the course was on a slope so the ball could end up anywhere!!!

It was obvious that some strict rules would have to be adhered to as every stray ball would mean me doing a lot of chasing around. As each team came to my Event we had a quick"huddle" and I secretly explained the tactics;

1. Don't hit the ball too hard as this will waste time and result in a low score



2. Don't try to belt the ball from base 1 to base 5 thinking it will get to the hoop quicker; the ball must touch each team members hockey stick in turn or it doesn't count



3. The better behaved the team is the quicker I'll release balls; this will result in a higher score being possible



4. If I feel a team has acted in a sporting fashion I will award 2 extra points

The strategy worked; all the kids worked as team, each making sure they were careful. One of the teams included a boy in a wheelchair and the other team members were really considerate and made sure he was able to hit the ball. Due to the really high winds blowing the balls and the fact we were on a slope I still had quite a lot of chasing about to do.......but that couldn't be helped.

I do understand now though WHY this event hadn't been chosen by anyone else as it was certainly the most strenuous for the HELPER! I think before next year I may have to do some training myself!

Tomorrow I'm going to Colchester as Leanne and the kids are taking me to the zoo (I've not been for years!)...I've made sure I've plenty of batteries charged for my camera so as long as they let me OUT of the zoo again..LOL..I shall be boring you all silly with animal slideshows by Monday!