Annual Sports Day at Greenwood High
Yesterday was Ananya's annual sports day, the first formal function we attended at Greenwood high. She was really excited about it and we too were eager to see her perform. As doting parents are wont to, we had eyes only for her and her performances.
She got ready early in the morning and left in her school bus. We too hurriedly got ready and reached the main school at dot nine. There were few parents and we took our seats in the first row. Though we had vantage seats, the sun shone on us brightly roasting us in no time, but we stuck on.
We could see the children in their tents, eager and energetic, waiting to perform. After a few glitches with the sound system, the program started just about half an hour late.
They welcomed the chief guest, Mrs. M.K. Asha and with an opening speech, the children began their march past. There were kids from Nursery, LKG and UKG and the tiny tots marched on with their eyes seeking out their parents from the crowd. As soon as the kids saw their parents, their smiles would widen and they would wave out. The teachers had to make sure the kids kept moving having found their proud parents in the crowd.
Ananya saw us, and she smiled. She forgot her march past for sometime, but soon she was back in the line. There was a School Captain, who called out on her microphone, 'Junior School Attention', 'Junior School, Right Turn', 'Junior School, Forward March'. She must be all of 6 years, but her confidence was supreme.
This was followed by performances by the various classes. The UKG kids came first, followed by the Nursery School kids. Ananya was all set to dance and I saw that she had been practicing some of the dance steps at home. She along with her partner, Pranav, performed well. The teacher who had taught them the steps was at the front leading them on and performed the whole dance with them. The kids were adorable, and they had a lot of fun.
This was followed by the actual sports events, where these tiny tots actually had to run all sort of obstacle races. They started with the LKG kids, and the kids had three obstacles, a cap, a wrist band and a racket. They had to put on each of them in turns and finally reach the end point. Aditya Tambe, Ananya's friend from our building came first. We were ecstatic about it.
These were followed by many other races which were very entertaining and extremely enjoyable. The teachers had spent a lot of time and energy thinking about the games and the innocent kids, not corrupted by the pressure to perform and win, went about playing those games with utter enjoyment and at leisure. Some of the kids, talked and some of them waited up for their friends. Such was their spirit.
Ananya's race came up and her's was called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She had a Thermo col star in her hand, which she had to stick to the back of her team-mate standing half way through the track and then they had to run together till the finish. Ananya was ready when the teacher blew the whistle, she quickly put the star on her team-mates back and pulled her along to the victory line to stand first. We were so proud of her. Some of the other kids were bewildered and some of them just trotted along and everyone had fun.
At the presentation ceremony, Ananya didn't like her gold medal. She would rather have had a chocolate. Later she asked me why she could not have had the silver medal as she liked that one better. She had a lot of questions ranging from should I wear it to school now and what am I going to do with the medal, when should I wear it next, should I wear it when we do puja ? The kids were happy just playing around, the medals didn't mean much to them.
There were games organized for the parents too and these were fun games too. Most parents played them in the spirit and came back to their seats having enjoyed their chance to win a gift. There were a lot of snacks available, from sundaes, to popcorn to pizzas and chips.
At the end of the games, the Principal, Akash Ryall, made a speech and he emphasized that parents should not pressurize their kids about winning. They should teach them about participation and the true spirit of games. His speech was necessary as quite a few parents were seen calling out to their kids to run faster, shouting at them to win the race and finally their faces showed disappointment, when their kids failed to win medals.
We left for home that day, after a good day in the sun, tanned but happy in our heart at having witnessed a great show. It would have taken a lot of patience and perseverance by the teachers to teach these kids their dances and programs, but the kids lived up to their teachers hard work and parents cooperated with the school.
Great show Greenwood High, Primary centre, Koramangla.
She got ready early in the morning and left in her school bus. We too hurriedly got ready and reached the main school at dot nine. There were few parents and we took our seats in the first row. Though we had vantage seats, the sun shone on us brightly roasting us in no time, but we stuck on.
We could see the children in their tents, eager and energetic, waiting to perform. After a few glitches with the sound system, the program started just about half an hour late.
They welcomed the chief guest, Mrs. M.K. Asha and with an opening speech, the children began their march past. There were kids from Nursery, LKG and UKG and the tiny tots marched on with their eyes seeking out their parents from the crowd. As soon as the kids saw their parents, their smiles would widen and they would wave out. The teachers had to make sure the kids kept moving having found their proud parents in the crowd.
Ananya saw us, and she smiled. She forgot her march past for sometime, but soon she was back in the line. There was a School Captain, who called out on her microphone, 'Junior School Attention', 'Junior School, Right Turn', 'Junior School, Forward March'. She must be all of 6 years, but her confidence was supreme.
This was followed by performances by the various classes. The UKG kids came first, followed by the Nursery School kids. Ananya was all set to dance and I saw that she had been practicing some of the dance steps at home. She along with her partner, Pranav, performed well. The teacher who had taught them the steps was at the front leading them on and performed the whole dance with them. The kids were adorable, and they had a lot of fun.
This was followed by the actual sports events, where these tiny tots actually had to run all sort of obstacle races. They started with the LKG kids, and the kids had three obstacles, a cap, a wrist band and a racket. They had to put on each of them in turns and finally reach the end point. Aditya Tambe, Ananya's friend from our building came first. We were ecstatic about it.
These were followed by many other races which were very entertaining and extremely enjoyable. The teachers had spent a lot of time and energy thinking about the games and the innocent kids, not corrupted by the pressure to perform and win, went about playing those games with utter enjoyment and at leisure. Some of the kids, talked and some of them waited up for their friends. Such was their spirit.
Ananya's race came up and her's was called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She had a Thermo col star in her hand, which she had to stick to the back of her team-mate standing half way through the track and then they had to run together till the finish. Ananya was ready when the teacher blew the whistle, she quickly put the star on her team-mates back and pulled her along to the victory line to stand first. We were so proud of her. Some of the other kids were bewildered and some of them just trotted along and everyone had fun.
At the presentation ceremony, Ananya didn't like her gold medal. She would rather have had a chocolate. Later she asked me why she could not have had the silver medal as she liked that one better. She had a lot of questions ranging from should I wear it to school now and what am I going to do with the medal, when should I wear it next, should I wear it when we do puja ? The kids were happy just playing around, the medals didn't mean much to them.
There were games organized for the parents too and these were fun games too. Most parents played them in the spirit and came back to their seats having enjoyed their chance to win a gift. There were a lot of snacks available, from sundaes, to popcorn to pizzas and chips.
At the end of the games, the Principal, Akash Ryall, made a speech and he emphasized that parents should not pressurize their kids about winning. They should teach them about participation and the true spirit of games. His speech was necessary as quite a few parents were seen calling out to their kids to run faster, shouting at them to win the race and finally their faces showed disappointment, when their kids failed to win medals.
We left for home that day, after a good day in the sun, tanned but happy in our heart at having witnessed a great show. It would have taken a lot of patience and perseverance by the teachers to teach these kids their dances and programs, but the kids lived up to their teachers hard work and parents cooperated with the school.
Great show Greenwood High, Primary centre, Koramangla.
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