introducing konan chugakko's sports day 2006

autumn in japan means one of three things: koyo (changing of the leaves), the nicest weather, or sports. this year the coveted national sports day takes place on my birthday, October 9th. my school's sports day, however, took place last week. there was tension in the air on the days leading up to the "big day" as teachers and students alike worried about the weather. would sports day have to be moved to thursday? what would that do to the classes? should we stop the action if it starts to rain? it really wasn't that dramatic, but i was really looking forward to it so such questions did run through my head.

as it turns out the weather was delightful. and the crazy events and competitions were equally delightful. in fact, one of my favorite students, kano, managed to get lapped twice by the leaders in the 1km race. he did his best and that is what counts. his class and i cheered him on in a makeshift rendition of "defense clap clap" inserting kano for defense. go hawks by the way.



throughout the day each class competes for the chance to win the coveted silver trophy. it gets quite competitive. the 7th graders started practicing weeks in advance for the all-boy and all-girl jump-roping competition. in my one attempt to jump with them i was the only one who missed the jump. thus, i was not invited to ever jump again.

the students did a great job though and i was impressed with how fast they really are--even when they have to hop around in potato sacks or have their legs tied to their teammates. everyone was in high spirits and sporting their class color via headband. for the first time i thought about how sad it will be when i finally do leave konan. i think it will be a lot harder than i have imagined. these students, though sometimes frustrating, have been a major highlight of my time in japan. i'm glad that i have more time to get to know them and teach here. on that note, congrats to 3-3, 2-3, and 1-5 classes for their outstanding showing!*

*the reality is: my students may never see this so there really is no point in my congratulating them, but...i didn't know how else to end this post.