Saint Andre, the school we serve at, has just a touch of
Hogwarts in it. The school splits students into four different houses: Blue,
Red, Yellow and Green. Throughout the year the houses gain points for different
activities and assignments, such as essays, and spelling bees. But the ultimate
house competition is Sports Week.
The
week before last we experienced the rivalries between students and teachers as
the whole school participated in a variety of games and sports against each
other. Many of the games were ones familiar to us, basketball (definitely not
India’s sport, although they made a solid attempt-or at least the boys did),
volleyball, football/soccer, arm wrestling, pole vaulting, relay races.
And
then there were games like Kabaddi. A slightly violent and very entertaining
game where there are two teams of seven facing off. Each team stands on one
side of a rectangular court. To be honest, my understanding of this game is
still a little shaky, but I’ll do my best to explain what I know.
The
teams of seven line up on opposite ends of the rectangle. One team at a time
sends a member across the centerline and towards the opposing team. This is
called a raid, and the team member sent is called the raider. Once the raider who is sent crosses the
centerline he/she must begin chanting “Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi…” without any
break. Their goal is to run across the centerline, begin chanting this and then
tag a member of the other team all before having to take a breath and break the
constant chant of Kabaddi. Meanwhile the team on defense is trying to avoid
being tagged while simultaneously trying to trap the raider.
The
defensive team traps a raider by tackling them and keeping them on their side
of the court until the raider runs out of breath and has to stop chanting
Kabaddi. If the raider were to succeed and tag an opposing team member and
safely make it back to their side then there team would get a point. On the
other hand, if the raider fails and is captured/tackled, then they are out.
The
teams alternate sending raiders out and at some point it seemed as if more
members who had been tackled were able to rejoin their team. I’m unsure why or
how but it appeared as if the team sizes were in constant flux. (Scroll down to find a video of Kabaddi and get an idea of what it's really like!)
For
the better part of the week we spent everyday outside, watching team after team
compete in different sports. Teachers cheering and speculating about which
house was ahead and which one was far behind. After dozens of games, the
closing ceremony was held down on the football/soccer field. There was a
speech, a dance, another speech and eventually Father Michael announced the
winning house: the Blue House! (Which, unfortunately for me is not my house).
Kirsten, Michael and Hadi all belong to the Blue House, Sarah to the Yellow,
Jess to the Red and Me to the Green. Blue won overall, followed by Red, then
Yellow and then little old Green. Perhaps my extreme lack of any sports ability
somehow crept in and ruined their chances. But regardless of our loss, we still
all got some candy for our hard work.
Thank
goodness for candy, the ultimate bribe.
Now
that Sports Week is over, it’s back to classes for us. Exams are just around
the corner. It’s funny how quickly life has swapped roles for us, from students
to teachers.
Stay
tuned to hear more about our adventures!
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