27 Mar 2023

Finally Coming Your Way, Sports Day!

After a three-year hiatus, Sha Tin College’s annual Sports Day is finally back! Celebrated with resounding success and jubilation throughout, students performed remarkably and cheered for their respective houses with extraordinary passion. With an array of sporting events and the long-awaited cheerleading event, Sports Day marks another step towards post-Covid normalcy.

This year’s Sports Day was held at the Sha Tin Sports Ground with cloudy skies, but it certainly did not affect students’ morale. Students Donald Lee and Samuel Au Yeung from 10X1 described Sports Day as “like a breath of fresh air” and a “really supportive environment”. As students start to pile onto the stands and buzz excitedly around, just as Ms. Ahuja (English Department) said, “look around us, it’s amazing!” The energy from students was at an all-time high, with the appearance of Sports Day finally happening.

There were many highly anticipated events; one of them being Cheerleading. After weeks of meticulous preparation and rehearsals, each house presented its cheer with exuberance and house spirit, showcasing remarkable dances and engagement. With some unique performances that had fun acrobatics, Ken Sootoka (12G1) remarked that all the cheers were “very good.” As a Dragon Student Leader, Ivy Pieters (12D2) states that “cheer went amazing”, and that it turned out great. Great job to all house leaders for their outstanding efforts!

Subsequently, many students expressed their excitement for the 400-meter relay and the 100-meter race. With a humorous quote saying that “all the buff people are doing the 400-meter race,” Aiden Wong (9D2) expresses his enthusiasm for the event. Similarly, Changbin Han (9D2) comments that he can “cheer [for his] peers.” To Mr. Lee (I&S Department), the 100-meter race was the “most exciting event”, but was also very happy to “celebrate all the other events that are happening.”

The kiosk right next to the stands also gathered a lot of attention and interest from students. Serving as a small snack break for competing students and the hungry audience, the kiosk was indeed very popular, with long lines of people waiting to purchase a variety of different foods. Max Mak (13D1) stated that the “fish balls and kiosk” was what he was looking forward to the most, as “they taste good.” “The best thing was the ice cream,” Daniel Koo and Lillian Lu from 11D2 commented.

All that being said, Sports Day was a good opportunity for students to showcase their athletic abilities. Hayden Leung (11P2), who set a new school record for Y11 long jump boys with a jump of 6 meters, stated that he was “very proud of this achievement, and [that he was] going to go for the Y12 record next year.” Surprised at this achievement, he mentioned that “it really helped [him] with confidence throughout the other events,” and went on to win the 100-meter race and relay. Likewise, Caleb Lau (11P1), who won multiple Y11 events: the 100m and 800m races, high jump, and relay, expressed his surprise. “It was surprising as I [have] never trained for track and field, plus I was injured that day.” However, “it felt pretty good because I beat my own personal record.” Jay Chan (9D1), who won the Y9 400m race, described the moment as “very fun and intense, and it felt good to win for Dragon.” Huge congratulations to all winners!

And with that, the first Sports Day in three years has come to an end. However, it is the beginning of a breakthrough from the pandemic: “it feels like everything is returning to normal,” says Ms. Larkin. Having thoroughly enjoyed Sports Day, she remarked that “we’re a really strong community and it’s nice to be together [again].”

 

Written by: Hannah Wong and Samantha Law
Edited by: Nicole Wong