Both Junior and Senior sports days attract a huge audience of parents. All four School Houses compete with one another in a fierce but friendly manner for the coveted Sports Shield and March Past Shield. Everyone from teacher to student works hard to make this meet a grand success. Students eagerly participate in varied events like Athletics, Long jump, High jump, Discus Throw, Drill and Parade. The Kiddies’ Sports meet is a star event during the year where the tiny tots exhibit their skills, cheered on by parents, grandparents, and well-wishers.

The 35th Annual Inter House Athletics Meet was held on 4th February 20l7. However, the athletic fever began to pervade the campus well before the actual day, with athletes practicing hard every day since the day school reopened, The majority of the track and field events were held on the 25th, 27th and 28th of January. Four new meet records were set this year. In the ‘A’ Division for boys, Sahil Reddy of Narmada beat his own record for the 100 m Hurdles event with a timing of 15.45 sec. Kavin Rajagopal of Sutlej set two meet records. He bettered his own record in the High Jump event clearing a height of 1.90 m. and in the Triple Jump event he beat Sambasivan’s record of 12.00 m set in 1995 by jumping a distance of 12.44 m, Taraa Gurunath of Godavari set a meet record of l.36 m for high jump in the ‘C’ Division for girls.

The actual meet on the 4th, began with the Chief Guest Mr. Hemant Kumar Sinha, IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, being welcomed. This was followed by the march past of the athletes led by Raghav Mecheri, the Head Boy and Simran Avinash Somalinga, the Head Girl, and by Yohann Kurien Joseph and Virina Lakshmi Sanapa, the Games Captains. They were followed by the four houses lead by the champion house of the previous year 2016, led by their House Captains and the School Band. The senior contingents were followed by their junior counterparts, led in turn by their Games Captains and Junior House Captains. The school ground was decked in the house colours of yellow, blue, red and green. The eye-catching decorations at the house tents were much appreciated.

Once the four houses congregated at the center of the field, the school flag was hoisted, the games torch was lit, and the Chief Guest declared the meet open.

Following this, the House Captains took an oath of sportsmanship in a solemn ceremony. ‘Fabrication’ was the name of the drill this year and was performed by nearly 400 children of classes 6 to 9. The drill was a delightful amalgam of dance and exercise. Well-choreographed dance steps merged seamlessly into a regular exercise routine. It was a lovely sight which left the audience smiling and swaying. The athletic events began with the 100m dash for boys and girls of all the divisions, the 200m race for the A division and the 400m race for the B division. The athletes gave of their best in these races, showing true skill, grit and determination. These were succeeded by the 10 X 50m Shuttle Relay for Classes 2 & 3 and the widely anticipated Mixed Relay, both of which drew much cheering from the crowd. There was also a race for the Parents which followed a baton relay between the Sishya athletes and the Sishya Alumni which was won by the present students despite the gallant efforts of the champions of yesteryear.

At the end of all the events, Sutlej house emerged as the winners followed by Codavari, Narmada and Cauvery. Sutlej won the Marching Shield for Senior boys and Godavari house won the marching shield for Senior girls. The Junior Marching Cup was won by Narmada. The shield for the most disciplined house was won by Narmada.

As the meet came to an end amidst the strains of “Abide With Me’, all participants were left with a sense of pride at their efforts over the past few weeks, and all those present already began to look forward to the next year’s edition. As always. the Inter House Athletics Meet proved to be a memorable event.