Sports Festival in Hakuo

2023/09/04

I participated in the Sports Festival in Hakuo for the first time. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this year, it was held not on school territory but in a large gym in Sumida city. That day, I had a lot of different emotions, but the biggest of them all was, for sure, “excitement.”

After entering the gym, we had some time to put down our bags, and sit in the assigned seats. I used the time to talk with my friends, and share our excitement. Time flew by fast, and all of the junior high school students were gathered in the gym for the opening ceremony, and the warm up called “Hakuo Taiso”, that we all learned in PE class. Even though I did the warm up in PE class many times before, doing it in front of parents, teachers and 500 other students was different. I was nervous, and messed it up just a little. The first event was the “all first graders race.” The rules were simple: one person from each class (5 in total) would run, and then, pass the baton to the next person, until the last person, or anchor finished. Maybe it was because I was the third runner, and everything happened so fast, but surprisingly, I was not nervous at all. Unfortunately, that fact did not help a lot, and I messed up when passing the baton. My class came last, but we still had two more events: “ball-toss game,” and “8-person relay.” The ball-toss game is a game with a basket in the air in the center (and a person running in this case) that players have to fill with apple-sized balls. I was very delighted, excited, and surprised when our class was announced the winner as we put more than 70 balls in the basket. After that, we got to watch the upper class students’ performances. I especially liked “so-ran bushi” which is a traditional Japanese dance performed by third grade students. The dance was very synchronized, and all of the students seemed to be good dancers. I hope I will be that good in two years. After the break, it was time for the final event: the relay. I somehow got on the team, and even though I was the last runner out of 4. The only emotion I had was excitement. I (therefore my team) came out third which I can’t decide if it’s good or bad, but I am hoping to enhance my teamwork and running posture and do better next year.

Overall, I believe that it was a thrilling and exciting day that I got to experience with my friends, and will never forget.

L.I. (1st year student)

I woke up early that morning. I went to the station that I always use for going to school. I was a little nervous, but I went with my friend, so I brushed off the feeling.

We had the Sports Festival on June 8th at the Sumida Ward Gym. My class color was blue. There were yellow, red, green and white for the other classes.

First, we saw the cheering party. Cheering Party is important to lead a team to victory. I joined the cheering party when I was an elementary school student.

The 1st year students had several events. There was first year relay, ball-toss game, selection relay, and some of club team members had referees in the other grades events. I am in the soccer club, so I joined all of the events.

I think relay has been most protuberant because all of the students could join and the ranking kept changing. I was the last person to run in the relay, so I got nervous as my turn progressively drew nearer. When I got the baton, my class was in 4th place. I tried to convey myself to the finish line as quickly as possible. My view while running was another world. It didn’t look like anything was moving around. Before I knew it, I was sitting in front of the side marked 4th.

The ranking did not seem to have changed. I was sorrowful, but I’m delight with it because for the first time, I was able to feel solidarity with my class.

I learned that we need cooperation everywhere. So I want to take initiative and cooperate with my new class next year. And I want to get 1st for next year.

I.S. (1st year student)

I woke up around 7 o’clock. My house was pretty close to the auditorium in Kinshicho. I could get to the auditorium in 10 minutes. When I reached the outside of the auditorium, we lined up. We went up the staircase. The auditorium was very huge. At first, we did the Hakuo Taiso. Hakuo Taiso is the original way at Hakuo to gear-up our body for the up-coming activities. There were two cheering teams, the red and white. Both cheering teams danced in front of everyone. It was awesome. The third event was the relay. In the relay, I learned one thing, that is “never give up.” In my class many people tripped, but they never gave up and finished running. Although we couldn’t get first, it was a fantastic event. Sadly, our class was second, but it was very fun. Next year I want to take first place.

Y.K. (1st year student)