Annual Sports Meet is one of the busiest periods in every school in the school calendar. This is one of the times that every school girl’s or boy’s spirits will be lifted about her or his House. And when the day comes the day is filled with rush hours. Seeing the prefects and house captains running from the ground to the pavilion, screaming the names of the girls or guys who are participating in different events, lining up the students who are participating for the squad, and helping the ones to get dressed and prepared for the drill display… God, it is such a magical time.
The Rush during Sports Meet…
The Annual Sports Meet is not something that happened within a night. Backstage preparation is the hardest part. You can see different types of students during the practices. The lazy ones… who are seeking the loopholes to skip practices… They are so good at coming up with excuses. The beauties… who scream bloody murder if they even get sun-kissed. These people have severe allergies to the outdoors. And if they are heading out the one thing that they will never forget is sun cream!
And the hyperactive ones… Well, they are not prefects either. But they are so good at bossing the juniors and pretending that the entire Sports Meet is their responsibility. And finally the real heroes… These are the students who do the real work. Mostly these are the prefects and the athletes also the students who are enriched with talents. And the winning of the house depends on them.
I could go on and on bringing back the sweet memories that we had during the Sports Meet. But it is also intriguing to find out about the history of the Sports Meet. In this article, I’m going to enlighten you about the Sports Meet of the Hillwood College Kandy.
How did Sports Meet begin…
As you all know Hillwood is a private school with a rich history https://aips.lk/hillwoodian-memoirs-and-milestones-part-01/. There are three houses and this system was established when Miss Bellerby was the principal. There are three houses Bellerby, Ireland Jones, and Naish. The colors of these houses are Red, Green and Blue respectively blended with gold color. The houses got their names after the main contributors of Hillwood College, Miss Bellerby the founder and the first principal of the School, and St. Ireland Jones and Miss Naish.
The first-ever Inter-house Athletics meet happened in 1951. And the school started having Sports Meets in 1957. Ever since it took place at the Police Grounds or the Bogambara stadium. But now, most of the time Sports Meet is held at Asgiriya International Cricket Stadium.
The Battle…
We all have the feeling that we do not have enough time on the day of the Sports Meet. Just like we are sitting for an exam the time we have on the Sports Meet is also very limited. So there are a couple of events held before the Sports Meet. Sometimes there are events on the rehearsal day.
It is a real battle going on in those pavilions and on the ground. The pavilions are separated for the three houses. And each house is busy decorating its areas with different types of banners and stuff. Ireland Jones goes with green color decorations that are combined with white and gold color. Bellerby house has its decorations in red while the Naish paints their area in blue.
The cheering can make you go deaf. One house wants to eco their house name than the other house’s name. And if the house has got students with powerful and loud voices… Bingo! They are lucky enough to grab some points. And the winning does not depend on the beauty but on the strength and the talent that particular participant has. That is one point where it proves that girls should not only care about enhancing their beauty but also have a strong and forward personality.
Striving for the Sports Meet Shield…
Each student of the house does the best to accomplish the mottos in their house. Naish goes with “To Strive, To Seek, and To Find and not to yield” where Bellerby follows “Knit together with love and Unity” while Ireland Jones or the Jonites “Strive to Achieve”.
It does not matter whether it’s pouring rain or burning sun the end of the Sports Meet is the moment that the house captains’ and the house prefects’ heartbeats become dangerously high. All the students eagerly wait until they announce who became the first. The sweat is pouring from the forehead not because it’s hot but because of the tension. And when the announcer announcers the 2nd place then you don’t want to hear who won the Sports Meet shield. The entire stadium will echo with cheering where the same floor witness tears of sadness. And you will see the winning house parading around the ground holding the house flag up high and ending the day by singing the house song while witnessing their strive to achieve the utmost for the highest.