Today I discovered, once again, that I am a Drama Teacher and should have no aspirations or pretensions to teach any other subject. It was Sports Day at my school and, don't get me wrong in any way, Sports Day is a day that is much enjoyed by many and is a vital part of the balanced curriculum. However this year it helped remind me that I am much more comfortable in the creative surroundings and goings on of Drama studios than sports stadia.
It is a massive logistical undertaking getting the whole of the secondary school off the site, onto coaches, into and out of the University Sports Stadium and then back again, and that is even before you consider all the running, jumping, throwing and cheering that has to take place too.
For a third year in a row I was assigned to the high jump section of the proceedings which was either due to my experience, expertise or the simplicity of using copy and paste from last year's arrangements. And there is a lot to this high jump thing. Leapers are not permitted to lift off on two feet, they can't exit back under the bar if they clear it and they have to complete all of their five possible leaps in quick succession. As the competition progressed various athletes flew into, around, under, onto and even over the wobbly bar, that in all truth, had seen better days, assigned as I was to the B event. The organizers had learned an important lesson from the past: Never give any important sporty thing to a Drama teacher to do. There were several things that appeared to prevent a completely smooth running of the event that I found myself involved in. The bar seemed to be fraying at each end which made balancing the thing on its two perches was tricky. The were three crash mats that the jumpers aimed to land on, which might sound like good forward planning to prevent injuries but the mats were not fixed together which meant that they slipped somewhat and competitors often found themselves sinking into the gaps between the mats and struggling to get out gracefully. And then there were the bar lifters who sometimes got the height right when raising the bar and sometimes even got both sides up to the same height. On the occasions when they didn't the slanted bar provided either a tempting opportunity for jumpers to take the low level leap of faith while also giving one enthusiastic colleague plenty of tape measure action. In the end all the students seeking to raise their level of attainment left with their heads held high, and as they leapt over with differing degrees of success, their feet held higher. Knowing absolutely nothing about how to do the event I was not able to offer any advice about technique or routes to success.
Away from the competitive world of reality and sporting prowess students from my place returned to school and many of them headed straight into a Grease dance and singing rehearsal, welcoming make-believe with as open sets of arms as they had Sports Day. After a strong cup of coffee I, once again, felt in my element. Although I am not choreographing the show I do know exactly what I want it to look like and how to make sure each performer is really doing their stuff properly. While I couldn't explain how to do a Frosby Flop as compared to Fylingdales Flyer I certainly can come up with a range of strategies to get dancers to stop looking at their feet and help bring a bit of the spectacular to the show. In short it was a relief to be back doing something that I can do rather than rely on a bit of enthusiasm and hope. The PE teacher in charge of the high jump had asked teachers who were assisting her in her duties who had done high jump in the past. She looked relieved and visibly relaxed when I and two others put up our hands confidently. By the end of the event she seemed relieved that it was time to say farewell to an IT expert, a brace of Maths teachers, language teachers and a Drama man.
Sports Day comes but once a year and that is marvellous for many reasons.