It had been a long time since our students had experienced the wind whipping against their faces as they had the time of their lives on the school ground. That’s why we opened up our campus for students of Std 8 and Std 9 for Gati, our sports festival for 2021.

To nurture team spirit and collective excitement, we also arranged for Gati to be parallelly held on Zoom for the rest of the classes. This was our gateway to “hybrid” events, where we could arrange for some students to be back to the campus they so dearly loved, while also including others albeit in a different mode. Our students relished the opportunity and participated with gusto.

Std 8 and Std 9 students gathered on the Dr.Kalmadi Shamarao High School – Secondary Section School ground for team / individual events. There were competitions for Basketball, Football, Slow cycling, and Mug & Ball.

The rest of the students from the lower grades got onto their respective Zoom calls and joined in the fun from the safety of their own homes. Std 5 and Std 6 students participated in activities like Book Balancing, Jumping Race over the book (1min), and Jumping jacks (1min). Paper Glass Pyramid formation, Dust bin throw (with paper balls), sit ups, and burpees.

There was a round of digital sports events for older students too. Along with on-ground competitions, students of Std 9 and Std 10 also engaged in fitness activities like wall sit with Sai Baba pose, Catch the paper strip with glass, and sit ups with skipping.

All in all, Gati made our students get excited about breaking a sweat. Yes, home workouts and ‘lockdown fitness’ had become the fad. But there is a different kind of exhilaration in good old collective sports. Gati reintroduced this feeling among the students.

More importantly, it laid the foundation for more such online-offline events. Soon, we are coming out with our next event, Platter of Fun. Stay tuned for more school fun!