Sports day (Finland)

Sportsday at Vesanto 

2.9.2016 

It was a foggy Friday morning, a day when rain would have ruined it all. 

Restlessness was piling up among the students because two first lessons were held by the schedule. 

Students from junior high school had their lunch time at 10.00, and students from high school came to eat at 10.15. 

The excitement was getting thicker while time passed. The first game would start at 10.30. 

With the power of barley porridge and plums, the students were able to gambol to the sportsfied. We can thank the school's cafeteria about that, again. 

During the first three games the sportsfield was separated into two battlefields. Other arena was for the boys and the other for the girls from junior high. While the first match was on, our third year students of high school were trusted to play the music and act as hosts. 

And as expected we couldn't avoid any unpredictable situations either. During the second match one teacher was informed that there was going to be a funeral at the church on the other side of the street and we should stop the music until the funeral procession was over. Even thought this flattened the atmosphere a bit, games kept going. 

Despite of everything the sun decided to shine and brighten up our day for whole 8 minutes from 10.50 to 10.58. After this luxury the draught came back even colder than before. Still some clothes were thrown away as the games were so intensive. Around 12 o'clock one student dashed against a teacher, as a result his hat flew to the ground. After this hassle the game continued. 

When clock ticked towards 11.30, it was time for the high schoolers to step in. Now there was only one arena and three normal games where students had matches based on their class years. 

Meanwhile the audience got the meet the visiting star who warmed up their hearts. 

This lamb knew many tricks and was really joyful to meet all her new friends during the games. 

For those who didn't participate had the chance to try other games, like molkky -game (which is somewhat similar to skittles) and petanque.

The girls from class 7 were playing molkky-game.

Vesanto entrepreneurs greeted participants with doughnuts and juice. Crowd started to build up inside the shelter 

as they were announced about the serving. This delicious surprise was welcomed with open arms.

Then it was time for the ALLSTAR -game, where high school and junior high had their battle against each other. Teams were formed from the best players that were decided according to the earlier games. During this match the yard went silence as the church bell rang around 12.30 for some time. Everyone stopped their actions and started to listen the bell, this was to honor the deceased. 

As this was behind, we were able to bring back the music. 

Last game was from 12.55 to 13.05, between third year students (high school) and teachers. It was a short battle but it felt like ages, but then the third years won the game. 

Finally it was time for the shuttle run race where everyone had the chance to participate. 

The distribution of prizes was the ending factor of the sportsday around 13.20. The winning teams were called to the podium. Someone took a picture of these happy students who had won free soda. All the winners got to choose a flavor of their liking (from three different options), and left the podium with smiles on their faces. 

Winners were girls from class 9, boys from class 8, first years and third years. 

Despite of everything everyone played well, even though music was missing due to circumstances. The doughnuts, juice and soda were cheering everyone up after the hard sportsday. 

School ended at 13.30 

More materials about Reiska in the links below: 

Reiska MM 2015 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytw0LPfPwro 

Official rules - http://www.mmreiska.fi/fi/In+English.html 

Written by: Satu Hentunen & Anu Miettinen