by Emily Du (Class of 2020)

Our school has a unique physical education curriculum. We get to explore team sports, regular P.E., taiji quan (tai chi), and yoga. The student council has also been promoting lunch recess sports, twice weekly. We play pickle ball, badminton, bocce ball, and our newest game is street hockey! On December 2, 2016, the freshmen class hosted the Sports Day event, which included three activities: Soccer, volleyball, and basketball.

Most of the plans were formulated, and some were made last minute. We have planned down to every single detail from team arrangement to scorekeeping. Yet once the event began, we found some people missing despite how many times we had announced to be there on time. Along with the elapses of time, people were getting impatient, expecting our opening. But we ourselves were frustrated over the absent people. Without their presence, we could not begin the event, and we did not know what to do.

The problem was then recognized, and rather than complaining and getting distracted by our situation, we huddled for a solution. I was surprised that although we were in such a disadvantaged situation that we did not expect, we confronted it really well by appointing half of our class to look after the teams, while the others were searching for the missing students. WE came together spontaneously and solved the problem calmly on our own. I saw the spirit of teamwork and its efficiency from this event—not only the hosts but also the players. The players cooperated very well and performed professional shows on sports. In the end, it turned out to be successful. It was indeed because of our lack of time that people wanted to linger longer when the activities ended.

Things we have not foreseen came into our way, not only this time but all times as well in the past. It has always been the strength of our team spirit that supported us to learn from failures, smile through tears, and has kept us believing that things fall apart for better things to come together; it is also the strength of our spirit that defeats whatever adversities that come our ways. It is the values of affairs and our attitude toward affairs that matters.

We were grateful for the lessons learned. And there’s still a long way to go. More practice will be necessary. We will always be grateful for what was, what is, and what will ever be, like the young and old have before us.