Late afternoon earlier this year at the UWCSEA fields, the grade seven students anxiously awaited to hear their sports day results.For some people in grade seven Sports day wasn't fun but another burden to add stress to their already academic abundant lives. Sports Day had been memorable for every class full of positives and negatives. Some classes such as 7_2, Ms Guintos class were enthusiastic. Whereas other classes such as 7_7, Mr. Murray's class were worked up and jittery as they weren't as confident about their performance.
Earlier on that day Mr. Murray's class had brutally lost to 7_2 in a game of Basketball. The game had left 3 of the 6 members of 7_7’s team injured. By halftime 7_7 was stressed about the game and fretting for the final results as they were already down 20-4. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half two players from either teams were on the floor grappling like toddlers. A player from each team were forced to pull them apart and set them aside to the benches.
The player from 7_7 came out with a twisted ankle and a badly bruised tailbone and lower back where as the player from 7_2 escaped with merely a few scratches. 7_7 was distressed at they were down by 4 in the last few minutes and knew they had no chance of winning sports day. “I don't blame us for the loss as we knew the other team had more athletic ability than us” - Long Hin, 7_7 “It was all their fault, they pulled me down and caused me to get injured they should be the ones bearing the loss” Angus Tymms, 7_7. The weight off the stress eventually knocked them down as when 7_2 went to receive the gold trophy their world went blurry as they cried buckets of tears.
This isn't the only time at UWC where kids have been stressed due to Sports. Getting into Middle School the academics get more and more challenging as they start the GCSE syllabus. On top of that they are expected to play a sport, or sports and do over 6 months of mandatory community service. There is a stress to perform and always give your best even if you are feeling under the weather. The teams are competitive and push the kids to their limit.
- Anisha Sullivan
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ReplyDeleteYour topic is really interesting mostly because my class was one of the teams not doing so well... But your conclusion brought up a really good point. Students ARE being put through massive amounts of stress to perform and I do believe it is a problem. However, don't you think there is a certain amount of pressure that is needed for motivation and isn't being busy better than having nothing to do even if it is stressful sometimes?
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