Scenes from the 2006 Seishin Sports Festival
This year's Sports Festival began just as it did in the rehearsal I talked about in that earlier post. The band played the medley of marches, and the mass of students, divided into 6 teams (A-dan (yellow), B-dan (green), C-dan (purple), D-dan (red), E-dan (white), and...wait for it...F-dan (blue)), marched in. They assumed formation, saluted the flag, listened to speeches, warmed up, and then ran screaming to get set up. Then the real fun began:
Under pink blossoms, green leaves, and a forbidding, gray sky, it all started off so simply...
...and quickly became complicated.
Sometimes things were a bit hard to swallow, if not just plain silly.
Sometimes students were walking all over each other...
...sometimes pulling together...
...sometimes holding each other up...
...or at an angle.
There's certainly no lack of teamwork...or enthusiasm.
There's plenty of enthusiasm in the faces of the kids...and here and there a teacher.
The parents are there en masse, and they look proud.
The deciding event turns out to be the dance competition. B-dan's dance, which was choreographed and led by former music club members (the ones that torpedoed the Australian tour for the sake of this event...no, I'm not bitter...) is really well done, but it only comes in second. Coincidentally, B-dan also comes in second overall for the entire Sports Festival.
A-dan wins the dance competition, and they also take first place overall.
My team, F-dan, comes in third in both the dance competition and overall. It's actually their best showing in years. Oh, well. Wait till next year!
Under pink blossoms, green leaves, and a forbidding, gray sky, it all started off so simply...
...and quickly became complicated.
Sometimes things were a bit hard to swallow, if not just plain silly.
Sometimes students were walking all over each other...
...sometimes pulling together...
...sometimes holding each other up...
...or at an angle.
There's certainly no lack of teamwork...or enthusiasm.
There's plenty of enthusiasm in the faces of the kids...and here and there a teacher.
The parents are there en masse, and they look proud.
The deciding event turns out to be the dance competition. B-dan's dance, which was choreographed and led by former music club members (the ones that torpedoed the Australian tour for the sake of this event...no, I'm not bitter...) is really well done, but it only comes in second. Coincidentally, B-dan also comes in second overall for the entire Sports Festival.
A-dan wins the dance competition, and they also take first place overall.
My team, F-dan, comes in third in both the dance competition and overall. It's actually their best showing in years. Oh, well. Wait till next year!
posted by The Moody Minstrel at
11:47 PM
7 Comments:
I want to be G-dan(meat).
By
DewKid, at 5:50 AM
Saba
Sports Days in Japanese schools are serious events that generally involve lots of preparation. They are often spectacular. I'm told my school's is particularly fancy (especially because of the dance competition...which our students take veryseriously...enough to torpedo a chance to perform at the Sydney Opera House...no, I'm not bitter...), so a lot of people come to watch including some that have no connection with the school. It's always lots of fun.
My own school's "field day" was a lame joke by comparison...
Dewkid
You already are meat, buster.
Wait a minute, is your comment meant to indicate that your G-dan team color would be pink? After all, raw meat is generally either red or pink, and we already have a red team.
I dunno...I think I'd be embarrassed running around wearing a pink headband...or a meat headband, for that matter...
By
The Moody Minstrel, at 1:06 AM
I enjoyed the pictures. It reminds me of my own Sports Day back when I was in junior high and high school. But girls only did dances and never practiced ”組体操 (kumi taiso)".
I think the pink flowers are "八重桜 (yae-zakura)" or doublle cherry blossoms. What is the most special about Seishin's Sports Day is it is held in a larger scale - Junior High and High School mixed teams.
By
Anonymous, at 7:38 PM
Wow. As they say in Hawaii "good fun!"
By
Pandabonium, at 11:55 PM
Have never attended any sports festival in Japan... no 'kikkake' as yet... looks like a loot of fun though...
By
Lrong Lim, at 11:09 AM
I always like school sport day.. an annual event in Singapore..
I rem I am always in the BLUE team
By
Robin CHAN, at 5:46 PM
Nice. Brings back school days. I always looked forward to the once-a-week games day and would pray for good weather. Sports Days were great fun and exciting. I was in the yellow team which came up tops every year during my time. (And I was the high- and long-jump champ for many years.)
Your "students walking over each other" is pretty challenging - requires good balance.
By
HappySurfer, at 4:29 PM
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