Did you have to do it?
What was your best event
-at primary school?
-at high school?
My junior school had a sports day, but it was all sack-race, egg-and-spoon race and space-hopper marathons. In the first year, you were assigned a team at random (red, blue,yellow or green) and stayed in that team for ever. I was yellow. The team that always came last. My best event was the egg and spoon race, so I always ended up doing that, even though my favourite was the space-hoppers.
At high school, it was proper athletics, pitting the ten classes in each year against each other. Each student had to do one event. I did javelin. I wasn't too bad -usually top 3, but the competition wasn't overly high quality.
Do they do sports days here?
I hated sports days because I wasn't sporty in the least. They don't have them at our elementary school here, probably because of the logistics of everyone having to be a winner.
I have no memory of sports days in Junior school but I bet we had them. I hated sprots anyway - the only thing I ever did well was the discus at secondary school - not exactly a glamour sport lol
TBH I have more memories of sports days as a Primary teacher - lots of games with the emphasis on fun - and no individual winners or losers.
Lizzi, I wasn't remotely sporty then either. Did you have to join in or could you just avoid it altogether?
We had sports day in both primary and high school.
It was also mainly sack races etc with some soccer in primary school.
In high school my best event was the 4 x 100 meters relay. I always went 3rd to make up for the 2nd person who was always the slowest.
I liked the javelin too.
I was totally useless at the high jump but could put in a good effort on the long jump for a height challenged person. lol
My class at secondary school must have been what Hitler had in mind for his 'master race' as we walked Sports Day every single year.
After five years of this, the other classes were not unhappy it was over. I don't think it ever happened before that or since, according to Friends Reunited at least.
I tended to run distances like 800 or 1500 metres and usually got in the top 3.
Primary school top events were Horse and Jockey (couple of 1sts) and the Put and Take Relay (1st).
Oh happy days! I remember the sports days in Infants school. I was useless at everything - the three-legged race especially, because there was nobody else in my class that was anywhere near as tall as me and we would just fall over all the time.
As we moved in to Junior school, we would do psuedo athletics, running around a chalk-marked track at the local playing fields which was all bumpy and anybody who was lucky enough to get all the way around without falling over was the winner. There usually wasn't a 2nd or 3rd in those races!
In Junior High it all started getting more serious. I was on the basketball, football, rugby, athletics and swim teams and each of the three years we would all complete in our class groups - there were 6 classes, split in to 2 groups. It was a little like Pilgrim's deal - our group had pretty much every member of every school team in it, it was very weird. We won everything. I even played cricket for my group those years! I still hold the javelin record for a first year in my junior high school (11 yo). I think it was something like 25 metres and it was a total fluke.
Moving in to high school, it got even more interesting. There were 12 classes I think, split up in to 4 houses. Every year we had house competitions in basketball, football, athletics, cricket and netball. Forest house won the house cup every year I was at high school. I represented my London borough (Waltham Forest) in the London Youth Games for basketball and triple jump. I represented the borough in the national schools champioinship for triple jump and won the south east regional finals.
I loved sports at school, and have just remembered that what I've always been interested in doing is teaching PE to kids (I forgot that on the other thread). I think I would still love to do that, but probably on a voluntary basis. Hmm, interesting!
_________________
Laurence
One World, One Life, One Love
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by Laurence on 2003-06-20 1118 ]</font>
I was talking about this to my brother when I was back home. We had four houses randomly assigned in Primary School, but I can't remember all the names. Reds were the Rockets and Green were Mallard, the other two were some other old trains.
All the houses were pretty even with sports days, all winning seven or eight championships in school history - the exception being blue who had only won two. My event was the egg and spoon race which I won one year by a long mile (probably because I hoped to eat the egg).
My secondary school was like Laurence's - twelve classes per year split into four houses (Raby, Brancepeth, Durham, Lambton). For some reason Durham got a lot the sporty kids who were on the books at some top football teams or something.
I ran cross country in winter and usually finished in the first four (I also represented the school). I also ran the 800 metres and 1500 metres in the summer and consistently finished third, I would lead the whole way until the final 100m and I just didn't have the legs to sprint. But it wasn't always the same two people who finished ahead of me despite the two races having almost the same people.
I was also a pretty fast 400m runner, but since the 400m and 800m were close to each other I never ran both, though I did do the 4x400m relay and my team was desperate enough to recruit me for the 4x100m one year (I repeat, I was not a sprinter).
My field events were the long jump and high jump, but I was only there to make up the numbers because I pretty much sucked.
But I definitely really loved Sports Day, in fact (now I remember) I was pleasently surprised and proud to be nominated team captain for Sports Day in my fourth year (fifth years didn't compete), we were first all the way through to the end but unfortunately the relay's let us down and we had to settle for second - no trophy for me :sad:
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Beng on 2003-06-20 12:07 ]</font>
Was an absolute crap runner. I didn't find the point of just running for the sake of it, when I had a ball to chase after it was a different matter. Being built like a brick outhouse lent a great weight to me being loose head prop in the school rugby program. Once I got to fifth form at school we had no sixth formers who played rugby so the team was totally made up of 16 year olds and we played against 18 year olds.We constantly got a pummelling.
We managed to win two games out of 12 that year, one however was against King College Macclesfield who thought it an abomination that these weaselly kids came and twatted them.
The other game we won was against William Hulme Grammar School in Manchester which was no surprise cos they were always garbage. Their cricket team is toss too, but then again thats where Mike Atherton played.
I never got into the footy team because I really was desperately awful.
At primary school, all I remember competing in was throwing the cricket ball and rounders. High school I played squash, badminton, basketball & cross country for the school, although I don't recall having an actual Sports Day there at all.
Lucy's just had Field Day at her school this week, where....guess what? Everyone's a winner! roll I've not managed to get out of her what they had to do for it but I'm trying!!!
I loved sports day at primary school mainly because I was good at the events. Another Deb and I were brilliant at the three legged race and I never dropped my egg as I shot up the track! Grammar school sports day was a different kettle of fish as I was generally pants at track and field events however I did enjoy the javelin, high jump and 100m hurdles. grin
Debs x smile
Which school did you go to, Manc?
On 2003-06-20 15:21, debsowerby wrote:
Lucy's just had Field Day at her school this week, where....guess what? Everyone's a winner! :roll: I've not managed to get out of her what they had to do for it but I'm trying!!!
Same with my Lucy. She competed in four events and won four ribbons.
I asked "What did you really win?"
"Ribbons!" came the excited reply. :roll:
It took a good half hour to find out that she had one gold and the other three were just for competing.
I remember a bad experience when practising for the hurdles, this was our first time and some bright spark had turned them round so they didnt fall as we hit them. I still remember the badly bruised shins roll I was never very co-ordinated so athletics wasnt my thing, the only thing I was really good at was being goalie for the hockey team.
Like Laurence I eventually rose to some minor celebrity as a triple jumper(setting the stage for J.Edwards, right! winning the English Schools and representing in a Junior international where we beat GDR at Crystal Palace (Ist time ever in 78' )It was a year before the merge with East Germany but so what! At Comprehensive (a recent convert from grammer) school we had Yellow (York) Green (Warwick),
Blue (Exeter),red (Lancaster). I remeber long jumping 19ft uphill into a pole vault pit anyone remember steel polevault poles?
At junior I remember beeing massaged by the french teacer as I had a pulled muscle and still mangeing a win in the HJ at 4'8".Totally un-erotic since I was 11!I was carried injured fom the field on the shoulders of my classmates! Ah Halcyon days indeed! roll wink