THE RISE OF JUNIOR CHAMPIONS! JUNIOR CHAMPIONS!

By Charly Lam

No matter the grade, intramurals always manages to unite everyone towards a goal – the pursuit of camaraderie and victory!SingaporeSchoolManila’s Primary Intrams was held lastMay31st,toJune2nd,2023.

The sports-filled day started off with Preschoolers in 3 teams: Red, White, and Blue. First up was the ‘Colour Game’, consisting of players passing markers into a box with a pipe, relay-style Next was ‘Game Face’,whichhad3boxeswithfacesdrawninside,andtheyhadtoplace aballinside,runtowardstheboxaround10mfromthestartingline,and thengob andupperPrimary levels enjoyed the games, divided into 4 teams: Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. The fun started with a classicgameof Patintero,followedby‘RobtheNest’ Players collected items from hoops and attempted to rob the other team’s “nest” through intricate strategising. Alongside this, kids energetically ran to steal cloth cutout tails from the opposingteamforthe‘Tailgame’.

This was followed by football and then moved on to ‘Move the Cherry’ and ‘Chinese Hat’. ‘Move the Cherry’ consisted of transferring 6 balls whilst standing in a hoop, and ‘Chinese Hat’ required them to transfer balls by balancing them precariously on football markers atop their heads. After this came the well-known game of Tug Of War and an obstaclecourse!

Lastly, it ended with ‘Circles Away’, wherein they attempted to be the first to collect all the cut-outs scattered around the play area. They also played ‘Waddle like a Penguin’; they placed a ball between their legs and waddled towardsthefinishline.

Soon,TugofWarwasnext–whichthewinningteam’sleader for the Lower Primary, Teacher Jowey of the Yellow Team mentioned to be what her students enjoyed the most! She explainedthatthekidsfoundthisthemostfunactivitydueto the game’s need for team strategising, helping them prove they’re strong as a cohesive unit After this ended, the lower PrimaryplayedaroundoffootballlikethePreschoolers.

Shortlyafterthis,thegames‘HulaHooprunningwithabaton’,‘Sushiballs’, and Dodgeball, which Teacher Belle of the Blue Team, the winning team’s leader for Upper Primary, noted as the activity her students found mostenjoyable.Duetothekids’intenseplanningandattentiontodetail,theyemergedvictoriousfromthegame, extremelyhappy.

Alongsidethesegames,theactivitiesof‘Passthe hula hoop’ and the ‘Maze game’ were also carried out. With regard to the first game, they worked together to transfer hoops from one end ofthecourttoanothertoactasabridgeinorder to reach the next player The next one involved boxes, balls and sticks, with them pairing up, positioning the ball between two sticks and workingtogethertodepositthemintotheboxon theotherside

‘Passthehulahoop’hadthekidsutilisingspeed,astheyhadtotransferallhoopsonasticktothepersonholding it on the other side. The last activity involved creating a maze with tape – if the ball rolled outside of it, the participantwouldbeeliminated Ifnot,theycouldplacetheballinacontainerattheendandthenpassittothe nextperson;theiraimwastogetthemostballsin

TheUpperPrimarystudentsadditionallyplayedCatch and Throw,‘Tic-Tac-ToewithaGoal’aswellastworelayraces –‘RaceofChange’and‘BallonTop’.ForTic-Tac-Toe,aball would be shot, and the player would place a marker in a hoop to replicate the original game. The races involved them running back and forth to transfer markers, and jumpingoverhoopstotransfermarkersperplayer.

With this, Teacher Belle mentioned that, besides winning, students had the takeaway that strategised teamwork can do wonders when combined effectively. Teacher Jowey added that her students realised they could do anything, as long as they put their heart into it.

Thougheveryteamstrivedtoreignvictorious,manygoon to remember this year’s intramurals for the precious memories. Together, students faced each game with determination and enthusiasm, savouring each thrilling momentregardlessofwhatthefinaloutcomemaybe.