BIS Mumbai
BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE # 3207
A RIVETING SPORTS FESTIVAL
WADALA-MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 03, 2012 : While the Annual day program can rightly be called the flagship event of the school during the scholastic year, the Sports Festival 
comes a close second by way of impact, participation and preparation. The Sports Festival at St. Joseph’s High School, Wadala, this year, had all the ingredients of an invigorating, exhilarating and engaging activity. Months of planned activity, weeks of strategizing and days of absorbing practices contributed much to the organized build-up to the Sports Festival on Thursday, November 01, 2012.
An enthusiastic gathering of parents, well wishers, past pupils and students waited with anticipation for the grand opening of the festival. The school leaders, who formed the troupe for the guard of honour, escorted the guests and the dignitaries to the dais for the solemn inaugural ceremony. The chief guest, Fr. Roger Jones, Rector of Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala, together with the management team and the head teachers, were accorded a grand welcome to the function. After the prayer, led by our Principal, Fr. Bernard Fernandes, and the singing of the national anthem, the school flag was hoisted by the chief guest Fr. Roger Jones to a round of smart salutes.
In marched the dapperly students of the four houses, to the beats of drums and the clanging of cymbals. They arrested our attention with a near flawless display of disciplined 
marching and flowing rhythm. The school captain, Master Neel Mehta, pledged a solemn oath on behalf of the participants, and the school vice-captain, Master Sandesh Ramraje recited the sportsperson’s prayer. The chosen athletes from the Primary and the Secondary sections – there was one also from the Kg. – looked majestic as they carried the torch round the stadium, and in unison lit the sports flame to the thunderous applause of the gathering. The chief guest, Fr. Roger Jones, addressing the students, asked them to be passionate in their goals and dreams in building a safe, secure and clean environment.
It was now time for the razzmatazz – the class floats, the drills, lezim and yoga. The Benjamins of the Kg. section ushered in the theme of Biodiversity (the Fauna) through their attractive float, and this was carried forward by the students of Std. I through their presentation, ‘Biodiversity: the Flora’. The eye-catching floats of Stds. II, III and IV brought out effectively the concerns of pedestrian and road safety. Pivotal to the presentation of floats by the students of Stds. V to IX was the theme on Energy. Healing, Modern health care, easing women’s burden, farmers’ productivity, conventional and non-conventional resources, were the topics that were touched upon at the colourful, creative and well-orchestrated exhibits. Std. X trooped in last – and there were huge representations from both the divisions – to present their float on the theme of Co-operatives. Interspersed between the Primary and the Secondary floats were the mass drill, the yoga 
display and the lezim performance by our students.
A string of track events for the Kg. and Primary, inter-house matches in basketball, handball and football, the amazing tug-of-war, and a match between the staff and the students in football (easily won by the staff) followed the short break after the opening ceremony. A spirit of healthy competition prevailed at the different events, and it was a pleasing sight to have the students (and the parents) engaged in the cheering, the fun and the excitement at the games. The proud winners of the different events and games stood atop the victory stand and received their awards at the hands of the guests at the glittering Prize distribution ceremony.
The Principal proposed the vote of thanks, the day and the festival drew to a close with the extinguishing of the flame and the lowering of the school flag. Truly, a glory day for Sports!
BOSCO BIS INFORMATION SERVICE (BIS) MUMBAI
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