I have had sports day in my school days - hardly anything worth recalling.
Almost a ritual. In the seminary, it was a little more engaging and involved
activity. Though I headed an institution of higher education for over a
decade, and every year, we invariably had the Sports Day, in spite of
encouraging participation, it had never come to be a matter of charm and real
involvement. This, in spite of the college having a very good record of
promoting sports, especially, games; we had about 10 teams, most of them
counted among the top teams of a university having over 250 colleges. But still
I couldn't see sports being celebrated as a community fest.
Witnessing Rajagiri Annual Sports Day, and being part of that, was more than
having a day of sporting contests, but a celebration of school community with
the students (ranging from grade I to XII), teachers, support staff and school
management getting involved and celebrating togetherness in a spirit of healthy
competition. The moments of uncertainty, the last minute postponement on account unexpected constraints from various corners, several events (exams, expo and sports day) coming together, the unusual Qatar-friendliness of rains - all these were overcome with feisty team work to have this festival of fitness conducted befittingly.
With just about four weeks (2 weeks before the long FIFA break and less than
2 weeks after the reopening) of preparation, this was a stupendous show.
Perhaps, there had already been a tradition with the school. However,
after the lull of COVID 19, to achieve this level of success, required a
tremendous level of dedication and team work.
The Physical Education department under the leadership of the experienced
Mr. Shihab, coordinated the entire set of activities and provided the
framework, tasks identified and distributed among the entire staff of the
school. The preliminaries began at the class level, with almost every student
of every class having the opportunity to test one's metal in the field of track
and field events - especially with races and jumps, and if desired, even with
throws. From them, further filtering led to the finalists in each category to
represent each house at each level. This was indeed a very time-consuming task.
And foreseeing the limitations of the ceremonial event, all the field events
were held during the regular working hours, leaving only the final track events
for the great day.
The children of preparatory, middle school and high school were selected for
a power-packed display of physical fitness harmoniously blending with rhythm.
It was amaaaaaaazing Rajagiri on display. Some 200 plus tiny tots in
their house colours (red, blue, yellow, green), with pompons of matching hues held in their hands, stepped in with the music and rhythm, especially
around FIFA 2022 theme and music, mixing also some show of physical prowess of
somersaults and yogic postures! Magical formula being brought into use by
the primary level team of Ms Anita, Ms Zerin Ms Roshni and Ms Neelima with they themselves
joining the kiddoos in the last jaunt. Then came the exuberant display of rhythmic
movements of more than 300 children of grades IV to VI, filling the stadium
from all 3 sides, all dressed up in white, making elegant and enthusiastic
movements in tune with the music being played. Breath-taking - the efforts of
Ms Nissy and Eaira, ably assisted by Ms. Manisha & Ms Tina and didn't go in
vain, transforming the little kids to team performers in a matter of less than
a month! And then, 40 selected high school students of VIII & IX grades -
arriving in black and white, synchronizing movements with the help of portable
step, which they brought with them as a prop. Amazing grace! The credits go to
our dance team - Ms Sunitha and Ms Deepa. While in all these, girls
stole the show, the last item was a display of various formations with human
bodies as the building blocks. The seven formations indicated various
shapes, with pyramid standing out, and tribute to the greatest sports person of
last century, Pele, a sign of the school's responsiveness. Though no
connection could be made of this vibrant display with Arabic, the master minds
were the Arabic team of Mr Saheer, Mr Shaji and Mr Shabeer, with due guidance
and support from Ms Susan of Mathematics department. The sports day, took the
shape of arts day of fitness and flexibility! The music department
added to the inter-disciplinarity charm with the students being trained to sing
live the school anthem and the Qatar national anthem.
The march past, with the element of competition added to it, brought in
solemnity and an aura of discipline
The guest of the day, an athlete turned sports administrator of the state of
Qatar, Mr Hamad Al Shaiba arrived on the scene, solemnly escorted by the
Managing Director, followed by his inspection of the guard of honour, the
solemn prayer from the Holy Quran so powerfully rendered by Mr Shaji of Arabic
department, the very matter-of-fact and trim welcome address by the principal,
the very solemn hoisting of the school flag by the Governing Board member Dr
Jegan Chacko, oath led by the school captain . The Academic director
appealed to the Rajagiri family to be inspired by Rajagiri, and in turn to
'aspire' to be inspiration to people around with a fitness culture, growing
stronger, higher and faster in our actions for well-being. At the end of the
programmes, the students were gathered again under the various houses - this
time, with greater difficulty, as the closely contested competitions and the
imminent championships of various categories had gotten into their heads.
With those announcements made, it was celebration all around, the winners
getting themselves carried away by their enthusiasm. The winners were being
honoured at the victory stand from the start of the programme, and it came to
an end with the final championships in various categories, and the house championships
- second runner up, first runner up and the Champions were being awarded the
ever-rolling trophies. The Atlas team, which stood last in the overall,
in spite of their splendid performance on this particular day, had the
consolation of having won the prestigious march-past trophy. After the
Section Head, Mr. Ben Antony, in his typical flamboyant manner, proposed the
vote of thanks, the hoisted flag was solemnly brought down by the Principal,
received by the house masters, folded and given to the house captain, who
handed it over to the Principal, who, in turn entrusted it to Mr Shihab, the
HoD of Physical Education for safe-keep of the solemn tradition.
An unusual addition to the function was the honouring of our FIFA warriors -
10 of them from the school staff had contributed to make the great
international event, hosted by our host nation, a grand success. They had all
arrived in the volunteer outfit provided by FIFA.
The informal parent-teacher meet added charm to the event. When the
women's relay showed the emphatic influence of the Physical Education
department (with Aswathy express) in getting the teacher team emerging winners,
the men's event proved the parents having an edge. Both were adequately
compensated with the second position in these events, the added attraction
being the principal leading the teacher quartet to a glorious second position
in the men's event.
The management was generous to the core: the choice of the venue itself
being symbolic of the same - The Aspire Academy with training facilities for
almost all sports. It was a fabulous venue. I have never seen
anything comparable anywhere; where almost all sporting events could be held
indoors. Fully air-conditioned with all modern provisions for digital
display, light and sound, and even a tilting 200 m track to adjust the distance
in the long races. It had strict security arrangements, very good access
facilities, parking lot, and toilet facilities. The saving grace is that you
could come on the previous day, and occupy the space with the required
arrangements for the next day. Of course, it didn't come free of cost, and had
to be paid the fixed rates for the usage of every hour. Besides, the
presence of all key governing body members, they also presented food pack &
fruit juice for all the participants (though, in this case, I would, that as a
school, we make our choices more conscious. What the school officially
supplies to the students as refreshments, while taking the aspects of taste
buds also into account, should be healthy, and definitely not junk). The
management team also provided the entire staff with a splendid T shirt with
school emblem, and a special outfit for the P.E. team. The entire staff
team arrived wearing the same.
The IT team - both admin and faculty wings working together put up a good
show of digital displays, timely management of the results and scores, apt
musical background for the programme with Mr Suneet of music department at the
system. It was splendid. Another admirable team worked behind the scene in silence, to bring out the certificates in time, an onerous task with new results being announced every five minutes.
The day was carried along with the continuous commentary by the regal
English team of Mr Regal and Ms Suchitra, who tried to rope all available
adjectives to describe the performances and displays which could otherwise be
said to beg description. There was compensating fillers in the national
language, by the effervescent Mr. Praveen of Hindi department. Their voice had
gone coarse at the end of that 6 hour long non-stop marathon endeavour!
As soon as the solemn official conclusion took place, the admin team under Ms Annie John, which
had been working behind the scene all the while, swung into action with the
systematic arrangements for guiding the children back to the awaiting
transport.
The great bonhomie generated by the programme was symbolic in the last
picture taken on the scene. I hope Rajagiri quest for 'excellence' will
reach newer heights in the next year, with the great achievements of 2022-23
becoming its benchmark.
My 'namaskar' to the Principal and the entire team!
P.S. Looking at the event, more as a celebration of fitness, I celebrated it
befittingly, I think, with having covered the 13 kms from my residence to the
venue on a bicycle, both for the preparatory day, and on the day of the event.
The ride back, past 9 pm, the chill in the air notwithstanding, was warm
thanks to the inner warmth generated from the mega-event. At least for now
('just for today'), I could claim fitness - both for me, and for my bike!
