Sports Day; June 29, 2013

The annual Sports Day at the School may have shrunk a lot from the Meets of the 60s and 70s but the 2013 edition held on the school campus on June 29 had a charm of its own.
For one it was well organised and had the students closely involved.

It was 4 p.m. when I dropped by - parents and junior students sat on the edge of the ground and each House had its own cheer group. In fact. there was a prize for the best cheer group House!

It was prize giving time on stage. Rotarian Ragupathy was the guest and alumnae Asha Marina was beside him, representing the alumni besides the wife of  late P T Master Pannerselvam. The master's portrait was displayed on the stage and a trophy in his name was also given.

Each House team - Agnes, Augustine, Joseph and Teresa was seated on the ground; the rain the previous night had helped to settle the dust here.
All the chalk markings created for the races had merged with the dust.

The cheers for each prize winner was resounding indeed.

St. Jospeh's House walked away with the trophy for the overall winner and the group in red let loose their joy. But it had been a tough fight as the photo here showed the points table.
St Teresa's came second and St. Agnes third.

The March Past trophy was bagged by St. Augustine, the greens. St Joseph's was placed second and the blues, St Teresa's came third.

Once the prizes were given, the teams stood up to sing the School Anthem - I quickly recorded it and will post it soon here - and then, the National Anthem.

It was a nice evening; the Rain God let the Sun God rule. And as a gift, the schoolprincipal announced a holiday on Monday!

On the sidelines I meet young boys who had won more than one medal. There is talent here. Perhaps a need for more time and support for the sportsminded kids and better coaching too. That will allow St Anthony's team to take a place in city schools sports area.

Also, there is a need to have better trophies. A few are being recycled. The call is to the alumni to gift the school large rolling trophies/shields that can be used over a decade.

Enjoy a series of photos taken at the Sports Day - https://picasaweb.google.com/108229909377795883653/SchoolSportsJune2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink