Winning at Sports Day (for the first time ever!)

Last year, was Bunny’s first sports day without tears and I wrote about how UN-sporty our family are. This year, Bunny’s sports day was a completely different kettle of fish. She is now in a new school and we were pretty sure she was thriving in her new school, as her bad behaviour has dropped dramatically and she is a much kinder and happier child. We were keen to see how her new school conducted sports day, but were bearing in mind that Bunny has always hated sport and never even placed in sports day before.

This year, watching Bunny take part, was like watching a completely different child. Her new school were a lot more competitive about sports day and actually awarded placings and points for how well the children do. I think children need to learn about healthy competition, but her last school didn’t even announce who won each race, it was just shrugged off.

First up was a straightforward running race. I think it was about 200 metres (at a guess). Bunny ran past us faster than we’ve ever seen her run before. She run through the ribbon at the exact same time as her friend. Her friend was awarded first place, but Bunny was over the moon with second place and we were standing there in shock. Not only had she run and placed, but she looked like she enjoyed it!

Next up was the sack race. We weren’t convinced she’d do very well in this one, as in the past she has started off fast, but then fell over or dropped the sack and ended up last. This year… she hopped past us at a determined pace and not only WON the sack race, but won by a long clearance too! We were standing at the sidelines feeling extremely proud. Bunny was doing her ‘I’m not going to smile’ face, which she does when she is proud of herself but doesn’t want to let it show.

In the sit and throw (yes it’s as exciting as it sounds), Bunny threw her ball the furthest and scored another win.

In the relay (wasn’t really a relay as they were running as individuals and not as teams), Bunny also came second.

So the child who, for the past 8 years, has hated sport with a venomous passion, ENJOYED sports day and came away with first place in two of her races and second places in her other two races. Her sports team/house also won.

But Bunny wasn’t finished there. Oh no. A week later, the school did a “marathon” (not really a marathon, but several laps around the school field). Bunny came home from school with a medal for being the person in her class who ran the most laps! She ran 15 laps.

I don’t know if it is the new school, the years of gymnastics training or simply her age and attitude to life, but this year, Bunny is really coming into her own. She is loving sport, she is developing a competitive streak and she enjoys taking part. She is feeling proud of her achievements and making us very proud of her too. Adding her sporting wins to her gymnastics competition wins, she really is like a different child and I love seeing her so happy and so motivated.