By Jung Hwan (Eric) Shin, Year 11 and Simone Napolitano, Year 12
Year 9 to 11 Sports Day
On Monday October 5th, all students from years 9 to 11 had a Sports Day at the Sous-Moulin sports center. A lot of people were worried about the weather because the week-end had been terribly rainy. The weather didn’t look too good the morning of the event either, so a rumor spread, saying that Sports Day would be canceled. Up to two hours before the start of Sports Day, it was raining. Almost miraculously, the rain stopped just one hour before the planned start.
My first impression was that the event was very well organized, and that we were very fortunate to have Sous-Moulin at hand. In the middle there were two football fields, on the left of which there was a handball field. Towards the right of this, there was a basketball field and two volleyball fields. In addition to this, there was a small place next to the handball field, which was the ideal spot for a tug of war! Finally, there was a track located around the football pitches. There were 3 groups allocated to each sport and a rotation was organization so that there would be fair matches. The result was, that every mentor group could play each sport twice with different opponents.
My mentor group started with football. The bad weather over the weekend had made the grass field slippery and muddy so everyone’s clothes and shoes were soaked and full of mud. The situation was the same when we did handball. Unfortunately, some people didn’t come to Sports Day at all! Actually, after being marked for attendance, there happened to be a number of people who decided that the mud wasn’t for them. Apparently, they were too ‘cool’ for sports day. Meanwhile, after every sport had found its winner, the finals for running took place. Unfortunately, it suddenly started to rain and everyone started to feel anxious to leave. At the end, the medals for track, and for the winning mentor group were handed out.
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience because students could play sports with their friends and forget all of their worries from school. It was the first and last sports day for me (next year will be a sports evening), but I loved it! And I hope that others found it just as enjoyable as I did.
(Jung Hwan (Eric) Shin)
Year 12 Sports Afternoon
Most people, including myself, showed up last Monday thinking “I really hate Mondays – why can’t the week just go Friday, Saturday Sunday?” only to remember in the last seconds that itwas Sports Day, the most anticipated high school event of the year, where Monday is actually fun. On this day, students are emancipated from academic stress, and are allowed to relish the intense fun produced by this experience. During lunch, the school’s scenery is full of people preparing for battle, rounding up their classmates to strategize, aiming towards the divine achievement of first place (or maybe that’s just me).
As you know, the day consists of a rotation between different sports: football, basketball, badminton, and volleyball for year 12, while years 9-11 also hold a relay. The activities took place both in the Centre sportive de Sous-Moulin, (classes 9-11) while grade 12 stayed in school, which was exposed to splendid weather until the very end, where there was a slight drizzle forcing the administration to close off the basketball and football field, and crying students had to be forced off court.
A student was also asked how this Ecolint Tradition affected him, and he answered: “Even though we lost everything today, I really enjoyed Sports Day. It helped me forget all my work for a bit, and just have fun, bond with friends … and it was a pleasure to attend” after which we gave him the agreed 10 CHF.
To conclude, we can see how Sports Day has really integrated to become part of LGB culture. It is universally loved by the student body, not to mention the teachers, and we hope it will remain tradition for decades to come. Furthermore we are thoroughly trying to implement sports day everyday.
(Simone Napolitano)
