Sports Meet – Round 3 – Tim and Kenna Claybaugh

Every year I always look forward to the annual college sports day (two-days) because it’s a fun time to spend with students outside of class, in an informal atmosphere and I also enjoy racing with the other students and teachers when I have a chance. Similar to last year, there are no teacher races, just a series of other competitions (that are not so competitive in my opinion) which my Chinese colleagues say better suit the teachers’ ages. Last year I attempted some of the teacher competitions, like “throw a ball over your head to see how far it goes” but it wasn’t a good fit for me, so this year I was able to compete with the students as a “foreign exchange student” for two days which I enjoyed. This year, I was able to compete in the long jump and 200-meter dash which I actually competed some in college, so I was still able to perform pretty well in both events. I felt a little guilty since I did win some prizes for placing in the top 3 on both events, which means I took the prize from a student who may have wanted it more, but it was still thankful for a chance to connect with some more students through sports, have fun exercising, and I could even donate the prizes (sports equipment) to my teammates to use for activities with students later in the year if they want to use them. Overall, it was another fun and interesting Sports Meet.

Note: Our school actually takes 2 days off from classes to host this event each year, which is required for all first-year students and required for some second-year students. Personally, I don’t consider it more important than classes, but it is a chance for the school to promote exercise and sports some, which I do appreciate.

Second note: The meet always starts with a formal ceremony, similar to the Olympics, but instead of each country walking across the track at the start, each department and major in our school as a student group to represent them in the opening ceremonies. I appreciated some of the student groups who try to dress similar to what professionals in their major may look like.