Lucy Abroad: A genuine sports carnival

Last weekend, primary schools around the city held their annual sports carnivals, and was a sight to behold. Ever since school started back up after the summer holidays, the kids have been preparing for this day, and in the past few weeks, it was ramped up to an average of 2 hours a day. All subjects, including English, were liable to be dropped at short notice due to a practice session.

The first thing that caught my attention about the day was that it really was a carnival. We call our events Athletics Carnivals, but there's not any carnival atmosphere to it, just kids running around the oval, and occasionally jumping or throwing something. Not so in Japan. There was a central oval, with seating all around, and everything took place on that oval, one event at a time. Every time a group of kids ran on or off, it was orchestrated, made to look pretty, and done to music. It was also highly team oriented. Nobody got any credit for personal achievements, it was all about progressing the team. Lower grades (presumably not to be trusted with a relay baton) ran individual races, but in quick succession, as soon as the last runner was done from one race, the next lot were off. What colour team does the winner belong to? Ok, that's all we need to know. Older grades ran relays only, with no individual events at all. All the running was done with music playing in the background.

Apart from the races, each year level also played one game, and performed a dance.

The "Giant Pants" race (Yr 3/4)


A dress rehearsal for the Soran dance (Yr 5/6 at this school, sometimes only Yr 5)


Rehersal for a 6-legged race (Yr. 5)

My role for the day was to help set up between events. This involved running out and drawing new lines on the ground, erasing old lines, putting out equipment, and getting shouted at for misunderstanding instructions. It was interesting, as everyone was in a great hurry to have a minimum of wait time between events, and so there was frequently not enough time for me to understand instructions before being shooed onto the field to do my job. However, we got it all done, and I had plenty of time for taking photos and videos in between.

The highlight of the day was the final event, the kumi taisoo (group gymnastics), presented by the year sixes, and at some schools also the yr 5s. This built up in progressively more difficult activities, and culminated in a giant human pyramid (or multiple pyramids, depending on the size of the school). The kids were incredible. I really can't imagine a standard school group of 10-12-year-old Australian kids managing to achieve anything like the below photos demonstrate, and believe me, the photos are only a small sample of a long performance.