A RIVETING SPORTS FESTIVAL
While the
Annual day program can rightly be called the flagship event of the school
during the scholastic year, the Sports Festival comes a close second by way of
impact, participation and preparation.
The Sports Festival at St. Joseph’s High School, Wadala, this year, had
all the ingredients of an invigorating, exhilarating and engaging activity.
Months of planned activity, weeks of strategizing and days of absorbing
practices contributed much to the organized build-up to the Sports Festival on
Thursday, 1st November, 2012.
An
enthusiastic gathering of parents, well wishers, past pupils and students
waited with anticipation for the grand opening of the festival. The school
leaders, who formed the troupe for the guard of honour, escorted the guests and
the dignitaries to the dais for the solemn inaugural ceremony. The chief guest, Fr. Roger Jones, Rector of
Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala, together with the management team and the head
teachers, were accorded a grand welcome to the function. After the prayer, led
by our Principal, Fr. Bernard Fernandes, and the singing of the national
anthem, the school flag was hoisted by the chief guest Fr. Roger Jones to a
round of smart salutes.
In marched
the dapperly students of the four houses, to the beats of drums and the
clanging of cymbals. They arrested our
attention with a near flawless display of disciplined marching and flowing
rhythm. The school captain, Master Neel Mehta, pledged a solemn oath on behalf
of the participants, and the school vice-captain, Master Sandesh Ramraje recited
the sportsperson’s prayer. The chosen
athletes from the Primary and the Secondary sections – there was one also from
the Kg. – looked majestic as they carried the torch round the stadium, and in
unison lit the sports flame to the thunderous applause of the gathering. The chief guest, Fr. Roger Jones, addressing
the students, asked them to be passionate in their goals and dreams in building
a safe, secure and clean environment. 
It was now
time for the razzmatazz – the class floats, the drills, lezim and yoga. The
Benjamins of the Kg. section ushered in the theme of Biodiversity (the Fauna)
through their attractive float, and this was carried forward by the students of
Std. I through their presentation, ‘Biodiversity: the Flora’. The eye-catching
floats of Stds. II, III and IV brought out effectively the concerns of
pedestrian and road safety. Pivotal to
the presentation of floats by the students of Stds. V to IX was the theme on
Energy. Healing, Modern health care, easing women’s burden, farmers’
productivity, conventional and non-conventional resources, were the topics that
were touched upon at the colourful, creative and well-orchestrated exhibits.
Std. X trooped in last – and there were huge representations from both the
divisions – to present their float on the theme of Co-operatives. Interspersed between the Primary and the
Secondary floats were the mass drill, the yoga display and the lezim
performance by our students. 
A string of
track events for the Kg. and Primary, inter-house matches in basketball,
handball and football, the amazing tug-of-war, and a match between the staff
and the students in football (easily won by the staff) followed the short break
after the opening ceremony. A spirit of healthy competition prevailed at the
different events, and it was a pleasing sight to have the students (and the
parents) engaged in the cheering, the fun and the excitement at the games. The
proud winners of the different events and games stood atop the victory stand
and received their awards at the hands of the guests at the glittering Prize
distribution ceremony. The Principal
proposed the vote of thanks, and the day and the festival drew to a close with
the extinguishing of the flame and the lowering of the school flag. Truly, a glory day for Sports!
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