Twilight Athletics

This afternoon, after school, Sabina's school has organised Twilight Athletics at the local track. The track is impressive, as is the organisation. Children and teachers are seated in the grass area on the oval (inside the running track), while parents are watching from the stands (outside the running track).

The afternoon commences with an official opening ceremony which includes a parade of all the athletes. The athletes have been grouped into four teams: green, gold, red and blue. Sabina is in the Gold team.

Once the games are declared open, children are called up to the running track and to the long jump. Finally, I see that the Prep children are being prepared for a run.

Parents, of course, are supposed to stay in the stands, and be good spectators. But of course, "rules" per se never meant much to me, and the coach in me takes over. I run out to the group of prep children. Sabina is overjoyed to see me. But to me, this is not about mother and daughter joy. This is about strategy, tactics and running the race.

I squat down, hold her hand and say "now listen little girl. I want you to run like a leopard. Will you run like the leopard for me? Will you? Will YOU run like the LEOPARD?" Sabina nods with some uncertainty. The other children turn around and look at me with awe. "I am going to run like the leopard", says one girl. "Me too", says another. All of a sudden I am surrounded by 20 or so preps all wanting to run like the leopard. Wow. This is so cool.

I continue my little speel to Sabina about running like the leopard, until I feel she is sufficiently pumped. "I'll be at the finish line", I call out, and head to the other end of the track.

I see her line up, the starter's gun fires, and the girls are running. I can see Sabina stretching her legs and putting on some serious speed. But I also see her looking around. "Go Sabina! You go GIRL! Go Gold!", I cheer. "Go! Go! Go!". Eight girls bound across the finish line. It's clear to me that Sabina didn't come first. Maybe third? Maybe fourth? Then I see a man run up to her and hand her the red ribbon. Wow. Second. She did run like the leopard!

The games continue, and at the end Gold team comes second. Sabina is so proud, she thinks her team came first.