We recently attended our Daughters first ever school sports day. I’d been looking forward to this ever since I saw it appear on the school calendar.  I loved sports day when I was a kid. I can still remember which house I was in, which with my memory is pretty good going I can tell you!  iBear had been put in the yellow team and there would be battling it out against the reds, greens and blues. The sports day was for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 so they were plenty of parents gathering on the school field.

Prior to the event I had been chatting to iBear about whether she was looking forward to it.  She said she was but asked me if I would be upset if she didn’t win anything. I sat her down and told her there was two things she had to focus on:  Enjoying herself and trying her best.  If she did those I would be very happy. As per usual, trying to get any specific school details out of her were next to impossible so we had no idea what to expect….

The events

When we arrived at the school field, everything was set up ready for the day.  It looked exactly like I remembered when I was young.  Benches for balancing on. Beanbags for throwing, Relay batons, the works.  I could feel my eyes getting misty.  As the teams came out we managed to spot iBear and she gave us a frantic wave and a huge grin.  It became apparent that the three different school years would rotate around the events and a total score would be tallied up to find which house won the day.   I had heard all of the urban myths about kids not being encouraged to compete with each other these days which I don’t agree with.  No danger here, the trophy took pride of place at the end of the field. The yellow team were current champions. No pressure!

Event number 1 – the sack race

Oh my stars she was first up!  The nerves were going a little but she seemed to be relishing it.  She started great, rounding the corner before bouncing back to her team mates.  Then, disaster! A fall! No tears thankfully she dusted herself down and carried on, beaming away. All of the kids were chanting for their team mates and the parents were shouting plenty words of encouragement. A brilliant start.

Event number 2 – throwing beanbags

Nothing much to report here, the heading kind of says it all.  There were some good throws but iBear didn’t manage to score a point for her team this round.  No worries, she was still smiling.  We moved on.

Event number 3 – the obstacle course

A personal favourite.  There was a bench to run over, a net to crawl under and finally a hoop to stand in before bringing it over the head and a sprint back to the starting line.  iBear loved it! She was grinning and laughing the whole way through and somehow managed to head to the wrong hoop towards the end. This gave the crowd a good giggle.  There was a couple of falls from the benches across the teams but thankfully no tears.

Event number 4 – the hurdles, over and under

For this one the kids had to hurdle over a bar,  run under another, hurdle over and run under again.  The cutest thing happened here.  iBear was facing off against her husband (bless them) and as she went under the first bar she knocked it off.  As her husband followed just behind her he deliberately knocked his bar over too.  It looked like a lovely show of support.  I can’t wait for the wedding!

Event number 5 – the relay race

The kids showed fantastic teamwork here and also brilliant support for one another. Some excellent baton changes too.

Event number 6 – balancing the ball on a tennis racket

The wind played havoc with this event. That was until a few kids, including iBear once she’d realised, managed to trap the ball in the join of the racket, thereby virtually ensuring it wouldn’t fall off.  Tinkers.

Event number 7 – Penalty kicks

Minus a goalkeeper.  Each team had a certain number of attempts to score a goal.  Again there was some brilliant efforts from some of the kids.  iBear didn’t manage to score unfortunately.  Hitting one just wide and one just not hard enough.  She displayed a lot of confidence though.

Event number 8 – Shot put

Now I’m not entirely sure if this event was measuring the furthest throw shot put style or furthest as the ball rolled. But they all seemed to enjoy it.

The result

I was frankly amazed at how many events the kids participated in and also how many of them kept their spirits up throughout.  You could see how much they all enjoyed it.  The results for all the events across all three years were gathered together and…..

…..it was a win for team yellow!! They retained the title.  I have to say it was brilliant to see the other teams applauding and cheering.  They obviously didn’t really care that much about the end result,  iBear certainly didn’t.  She had certainly enjoyed herself and without doubt tried her best.

The parent races

To finish off the afternoon the headteacher invited first the Mams and then the Dads to take part in a race. Again this was a throwback to my younger days.  I distinctly remember watching my Dad race although I can’t recall if he ever won.

The Mams were first up and it appeared there was some confusion about the nature of the race.  It turned out they had to run to a certain point, turn and run back.  Half of the Mams kept going making for much laughter amongst the crowd.  My wife decided against competing although I have a feeling she may go for it next year.

And so to the dads race. When the headteacher asked if anyone fancied it I stepped up straight away, I was always going to.  Not because I had any designs on winning, I was probably one of the oldest there. I just knew iBear would love seeing it and I also wanted to relive my youth.  Something I’m always doing!

There ended up being four of us lining up.  Bang! we were off. I was competing well ( I reckon I was winning) right up until the half way point when a shooting pain went through my thigh.  I’d only gone and pulled the muscle…. Trying to save embarrassment I carried on but ended up limping over the finishing line feeling rather sheepish.  It was all good fun though.

OneDadsView

I had an brilliant afternoon.  Watching all the the kids competing with smiles on their faces and being supportive of one another was fantastic to see.  I was so proud of my Daughter. She gave every event a really good go and never once looked dejected.

Credit to the school for instilling the sporting values into the kids from such an early age.  Long may it continue.

Now, where did I put that ice pack.