Sports Day

Ah, the good ol' days of Junior High. Can you remember? Being a j.h. teacher opens the floodgates to all of those precious and peculiar memories of adolescence and awkwardness. Being obsessed with makeup, hair, boys, boy bands, acne and all that. Usually all of this energy and worry is balled up in a classroom and it can get suffocating at times. But thankfully, tis the season of Sports Day. :) Sports Day is a single day full of track and field events. It's held at the school and it's an all-day affair. The actual event takes only one day, but the preparation for said day is unbelievable. Students prepare for weeks in advance practicing, exercising, organizing. It's truly a big event. I think some schools in America have something similar, though I don't know that it's as big of a deal as this is. My school in Japan recently hosted the annual event a few days ago. We practiced a BUNCH. In fact, the school year started about a month and a half ago...and so did sports day practices! Typically, in one week the students would practice about three times every day; in the morning before school, during one (or SIX depending on the day) of the class periods that was cancelled to accommodate practice, whenever they had P.E. class, and also after school. They worked SO HARD!! They practiced a lot of things during that time-dancing, acrobatics, stretching, aerobics, running, and special events. They even practiced marching...in complete unison...in perfect lines...for hours. To me, it's an excellent example of the Japanese way of life. Be the same as everyone else. Diligence is highly regarded here. The students and teachers work really hard to make the day a success. It's always scheduled for a weekend so nearly all the students' parents can come to watch. But that also means that all the teachers at school should come to school on Saturday and Sunday. I honestly wasn't looking forward to that part beforehand...but it was so incredibly fun! I kept forgetting it was the weekend-everyone was way to busy enjoying the day to worry too much about giving up their days off. I won't deny that sometimes when we practiced marching and nothing but for hours on end, I thought the end result couldn't possibly be worth it. But it was. It was SO fun. And it was a great opportunity to mix with the kids. Usually, classroom etiquette and professionalism serve as necessary but formidable blockades between students and teachers. Also, junior high is a rough time in life! There's so much to obsess over and worry about. But this day was a great way to build a cooperative spirit between everyone at school and to give the students a chance to be silly kids. I was wrong, like so many previous instances during my stay in Japan. Sports Day was great and I can't wait to start marching practice again next year. :)