Day 2: Sports Week

Welcome back to Stephens Sports Week! Some of us are clearly happier to be back than others… But no matter! Grumpy can be cropped out later—we have Stephens Sports Week, Day 2 to cover.

 As is becoming tradition for the first annual Stephens Sports Week, the day began with a Math Relay. There was some noticeable frustration out there on the sheets today, I think the students are feeling the pressure as we near the third and final day of Sports Week.

The next relay put me a bit on edge as it was the Needle And Thread Relay. One student ran with a thread to his or her partner who was holding a needle. The threaded needle then needed to make its way back to the starting line. The good news is that if anyone required stitches, well…

It's all fun and games... 

And for the next event, Scissor Relays!

Naturally, after the Needle And Thread Relay comes the Shirt Relay. Students have been practicing every morning for most of their lives for this single event. How fast can you button up your shirt and get back to the starting line (without forgetting buttons on the cuffs?)

Despite the occasional missed button or six, these kids were looking mighty good in those shirts. A little too good...

The little competitors had to race down to where my clothes were displayed as if at some (classy) yardsale. Then they had to put on their Alex Sir costumes as quickly as possible without any wardrobe malfunctions. This involved much struggle and much elephant trunking with my sleeves.

They made my button-ups look like Houdini's hand-me-downs

...with a pinch of escaped mental patient

Finally the Upper and Lower Kindergarten classes took the field. For Lower KG, a rousing game of Tato Aloo (Hot Potato) was played with an adorable "With Love" teddy bear. But don't let the cute facade trick you into thinking this wasn't the most hard-fought, grueling battle of the day. Stephens' youngest used every trick they had not to get stuck with the teddy bear--from pretending to be distracted by a bee to refusing to relinquish the teddy bear, they were clearly playing cruel mind games with the other players. Many of the players who got knocked out had a look of confusion on their faces, going over their play and wondering where they went wrong. Finally the circle was down to two. A clash of the two most clever and calculating Kindergartners was about to take place. Things were about to get very intense:

The crowd couldn't contain itself and stormed the field to take part in history.

And finally it was over. The last pass of had been passed off. The victor looked around in disbelief, dazed, distraught, and possibly unsure of where he was or what just happened. Now that you've won the greatest ever battle of Tato Aloo, what are you going to do??

That's ok, we can ask later

After that exhausting event, the Upper KG class competed in the Shapes On A String Relay

Hello welcome to Shapes on a String, may I take you order?

She took them to go and ended up with a well deserved silver medal

The next two events to cap off Day 2 were school-wide competitions. First was the Crab Walk Relay:

The next school wide competition, and the last of the day, was the coveted Dog and Bone Competition. This is a game every Stephens student plays throughout the year in their Physical Health class, so the stakes were high. Dog and Bone is very similar to the American game, Steal the Bacon. A candy is placed halfway between two teams. Each team member is assigned a number and when that number is called, the two opponents sharing that number must bid for the candy. If you grab the candy but are then tagged, the other team gets the point.

But more importantly, the winning player gets the candy

It helps to be in the Matrix when playing Dog and Bone

There are a lot of stand-offs in this game--a hand hovering above the candy and a hand hovering above a shoulder. The crowd loves the tension.

The best part about Sports Week for me is watching the students when they are not part of the event. Almost everyone screams and cheers for their team and sometimes simply for the general spirit of excitement and competition. Although it may seem trite, at Stephens School it really isn't about winning, it's about the love of the game and the love of each other.

But winning doesn't feel all that bad, either.