Sports day2018-11-28   Author : Diya Mishra

Sport is of great importance to students all around the world. Alongside enjoyment, it develops the spirits of sportsmanship and leadership and brings delight. The annual RCF Experimental School’s sports day is celebrated on the 30th of September, for which the preparations are done much in advance. Students that excel in sports are given the opportunity to show their talents on the day, as they sacrifice their time off to train weeks before the event. Other students enthusiastically rehearse for house parades that promote great house spirits.

Sports Day officially began as the students marched with the national flag of China. Following this, students of the junior school performed and paraded fervently. Next were the house parades prepared by the senior school, which ended with the RDFZ teachers’ parade. Each house parade had its’ own highlights. Hengduan house had a basketball performance by their boys' team as they were the winners of last year’s basketball competition. Kunlun house gave a wondrous ‘Diabolo’ performance, whereas both Qilian and Taihang houses’ breath-taking dances prepared by the students were met with loud encouragement from the audience.

The sports event began with various activities taking place together, with long jump at one corner and 100 m race at the other. Some highlights of the day included the high jump competition, the 400m race, relays, and finally the teachers' race.  High jump has always been one of the most watched competitions on sports day, and this year has been no exception. Mike Li, a Senior 2 student from Hengduan house had the crowd go into rapture with his incredible high jump skills. When asked about any conflicts between his studies and his training, he replied, “There is not much conflict as I do sports in my spare time”.

Various inter-house races seemed to have been dominated by students of Kunlun house. The 400m race was won by Bob Bao, a senior 3 student from Kunlun house. Bob was interviewed, and when asked about his training for the event, he replied with, “For the preparation, I ran 5 kilometres every day for a month before the race and did some muscle training. Even though it was difficult to continue every day, it was essential. The most important thing was determination, and without it, it wouldn’t have been easy to win in the court”. Bob has shown great sportsmanship and determination to succeed during his time in RDFZ. However, this time, he seemed a little sentimental as it was his “last opportunity to compete and put an effort in it”. Bob had also participated and won in 400m relay with other teammates including Jerry Gong, Theophilus Liang, and Wilson Pei. Jerry was also interviewed and he revealed he had practiced with his teammates every day for two weeks, displaying his determination. In his interview, he said, “the essential skill for winning the relay is teamwork”.

Students from each house tried their best to bring honor to their house and worked very hard and remained determined until the very end. Some of which include Maggie Chen and Jamie Ren. Maggie practiced by running 400m every day during her free time. Thus, her studies did not suffer while she gained confidence in her sports. Maggie advises students willing to practice for races to begin with basic exercises and be confident in oneself. To this Jamie added, “Play sports if you think running is boring” as she plays badminton herself.

The sport’s day ended with a 4 x 100 relay race between the teachers. The students gathered around the running track enthusiastically anticipating the race. The race began with a pistol shot into the air. The students screamed from excitement and some ran along the sidelines to the finish line. As the day came to an end, the air was still filled with the zeal and enthusiasm that the students showed at the start of the day. The national holiday began.

After a week of rest, the academic year resumed. The first week back, at each house’s assembly, an award ceremony was carried out, held by the house leaders to show appreciation for all the participants and winners of Sports Day.