Making your school sports day memorable

By Heather Barker Vermeer Industry Reporter

Creating an inclusive Sports Day to remember for all the right reasons isn’t easy, but preparation and purchasing the right equipment makes it easier.

Make your event more accessible by considering sound and visuals—how big is your venue? What accommodations might families or learners with mobility challenges or physical disabilities need to get involved in the action? Add games to the roster that aren’t competitive, so more kids participate without nerves. Choose activities that can be played by house teams or classes, to foster a culture of support and camaraderie that will likely extend way beyond the sports fi eld.

Other game activities for your schedule

Challenge games create the classic team building environment, developing problem-solving skills, helping students manage risk, eff ectively communicate, work as a team, and help create a sense of belonging. Target games demand concentration, hand-eye coordination and accuracy, yet not necessarily athleticism. They can be opposed (where the opposition’s play aff ects the next move, think bowls or curling) or unopposed, such as darts or golf, where an individual’s play is not aff ected by opposition moves. Striking and fi elding games, such as rounders or cricket,

Image courtesy of JPro

Image courtesy of JPro

involve strategy, speed, strength, accuracy and require a team approach.

Net/wall games also involve strategy in att ack or defence of an area, with an aim of making it diffi cult for an opponent to score.

Tag games and invasion games prioritise reading the opposition. Aiming to invade an opponent’s territory or tag players, these games are typically fast paced and require good teamwork, building strong camaraderie among team players. While the goal of cooperative games is to reduce emphasis on competition and increase onus on social aspects of working together. Having an equipment inventory is a given, as is providing shaded areas for participants, offi cials and spectators on hot days, and water should always be on hand. And if you want to build the atmosphere, a PA system for music, as well as announcements, and a digital scoreboard or video screen can give your sports day a professional edge. Teaching staff and school leaders will oft en gain in popularity by gett ing stuck in. The teacher’s race, aft er all, is sports day’s blue-ribbon event. It’s the race everyone wants to see, and some staff will bust a gut (or possibly a hamstring) in their att empt to win.

Preparation and planning key for things to go smoothly

In 2022, Sports Distributed have planned for another big year, giving you our loyal customers the greatest support imaginable we will continue to:

Maintain our everyday low pricing on our vast range of over 2500 products. Build our stock levels to counter shipping uncertainty. Continue to encourage our customers to utilise our website for up to date information and the most effi cient way to order from us. There is also the added bonus of an 8% rebate on all online orders through our online loyalty programme SD Dollars. Continue to give back to our sporting communities through sponsorship and our online loyalty programme. Look out for our upcoming fl ier with massive discounts on off er, use the website to order and take advantage of the extra 8% rebate. Have a happy and prosperous 2022.

Image courtesy of Sports Distributors

Here are some helpful hot tips from suppliers geared to boost your school’s sports day preparedness… JPRO representative Andrew Sorrill vividly recalls making do with screeching horn speakers when he was in school, “the convenience of portable sound systems wasn’t user-friendly back then!”

Image courtesy of Edwards Sound Systems

“Portable batt ery-powered systems have become more powerful, easier to carry with a longer batt ery life (typically 6-12 hours at full volume) and built-in digital mixers. They can be carried with one hand and easily set up in under a minute. “In 2022, these systems provide high performance for speech, music, and a person can control the sound via an app. The technology of portable sound systems for sports days, team building or hui has improved so much that batt ery powered systems can be ‘daisy chained’ together to cover a larger area. Column array speakers generally carry sound over a greater distance than conventional point source or horn speakers, without the sound having to be too loud or annoying in the front. Convenient portable batt ery powered systems allow the user to use a sound system wherever they need it – indoors or outdoors.”

Research is key: “A welldesigned sound system needs to reproduce the original sound source accurately and with good coverage (and distance). Poor quality systems are not able to do this, oft en resulting in mental-and-ear-fatigue due to psychoacoustics. Upgrading a sound system should always be considered as an investment.”

Image courtesy of Edwards Sound Systems

Sports Distributors’ Gene Coates-Reid wants every school in NZ to have the ability to help students become the next All Black, Black Stick, Black Fern, or simply have the opportunity to be active, fi t, and healthy. “Cost is sometimes an inhibiting factor in this goal,” he says, “one way to help school budgets

Image courtesy of Sports Distributors purchase much more for the dollar is to place more emphasis on group games, so that the apparatus being used is not exclusively for individual use. Equipment for games like spike or swat ball allow groups of four to play on the one frame, and I’ve noticed them becoming increasingly popular. “While schools will also need individual sporting equipment to facilitate activities like badminton, tennis, etc., my foremost advice is to prioritise team activities and groupfocused games – one soccer ball can keep 22 kids busy for a period. Plus, on wet days, well-placed group-focussed equipment can keep lots of students busy and active even in small indoor spaces. “My small tip for schools upgrading sports equipment is to ensure that you do some due diligence. Especially when using a school budget and wanting quality products. Look to tried and trusted local suppliers, who have been supplying the NZ school market long-term.” Edwards Sound representative, Jonathan Neil suggests schools keep it simple when upgrading their sound system. He advises: “Don’t get something too complicated to use. You have a variety of users with varied levels of technical ability, and they don’t want to be intimidated just trying to switch it on. Look for something you can use for a variety of purposes, good quality and a bit rugged. A built-in trolley and wheels are handy. Ask around--what do other schools use and like? You could also ask what local prosound rental companies use for portable PA systems – they will generally use something that is a good investment and stands up to life on the road. It won’t usually be the cheapest ones. “Portable PAs are benefi cial because they can be locked away to prevent theft . Schools also fi nd a multitude of uses for them, as the systems tend to be feature-packed with Bluetooth receivers, audio mixers built in for extra microphones and music playback to connect, MP3 recorders, etc. I’ve seen schools using them for outdoor assemblies, jump jams, outdoor classrooms, staff training, or even the school production. “My top tip is to designate someone responsible for charging the built-in batt eries – PAs have batt eries built in, which may be damaged if stored without charging fi rst.”

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