By Adelide Kamanthe (2010 MPP/ED, Kenya)

It was a Saturday morning devoid of the usual quiet and calm that is characteristic of the typical Saturday morning at the KDI School. The school was abuzz with the jovial chatter of students as they made their way to the KDI School main gate where the buses were waiting. The date? May 15^th. The destination? The Yangpyeong Hanwha Resort in Gyeonggi. The event? The KDI School annual sports day. This once in a year event is one of the most highlighted and anticipated extracurricular activities on the KDI school calendar for students, faculty and staff alike as it brings them all together in a relaxed albeit competitive setting. This year’s event attracted a large number of about 170 participants including students, staff and professors. Participating faculty members were Dean Sang-Moon Hahm, Associate Dean Park Hun Joo, Cho Dongchul, Shin Jaeun, Lee Yong S., Park Jin, Kim Joon-Kyung, Kim Dong-Young, Lee Seung-Joo, Cho Yoon Cheong, Choi Tae-Hee, Jung Kwon and Cho Man. Mother Nature also seemed to smile upon us on this day and the weather was pleasant. At around 9am the entire team was ready to leave and all roads led to the Yangpyeong Hanwha Resort.

A good two hours later, we arrived at the resort where the teams grouped up. There were four teams: the blue team composed of MPP students: the green team composed of MPP and MPP evening students: the yellow team composed of MPP/ED students: and the red team composed of MAM, MBA, MFDI and staff members. The Dean’s opening speech officially marked the start of the days planned events. After a quick warm up session, the games began. The red team started strong by winning the dodge ball game. Next on the agenda was jump rope and once more the red team proved strong by winning at this game too. The red team seemed unbeatable and no other team seemed able to catch up. The mood was now upbeat with all the other teams feeling the pressure and need to break the red team’s winning streak.

During the lunch break, it was interesting to see how the team spirit had rapidly built up as those in red t-shirts had lunch huddled together, the yellows stuck close together, so did the greens and the blues.

After lunch, the next event on the agenda was the anticipated soccer match. In the semi finals, the yellow and green teams were eliminated leaving the blue and red teams to battle it out between themselves and they did. Emotions were high, and cheering team members used song and dance to give their teammates moral support. In the end however the blue team finally emerged victorious much to the relief of everyone else I dare say; successfully putting a stop the reds’ victorious streak.

The next event was the relay race, and after teams strategized on their candidates, the race began with the red team proving strong right from the onset and indeed clinching first place in this race too. The yellow team put up a strong competition and managed to come in second. The green team was third and the blue team came in at fourth place.

The last event of the day, the tug of war indeed proved to be just that: a tug of war as each team seemed determined to win the last event of the day. After the green and blue teams were eliminated, the true challenge remained for the yellow and red teams. The yellow team seemed desperate for at least one win of the day and this desperation was evident in the tough fight they put up against the red team. In the end, the yellow team emerged victorious.

After this, the award giving ceremony was next and raffle prizes were given to the lucky participants. The teams’ scores were in and the blue team came in fourth, the green team was third, the yellow team was second and the red team swept the title as the champions of this year’s sports day. The closing speech by Assistant Dean, Park Hun Joo marked the end of the day’s activities. It was indeed a day of fun and friendships.