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Julia Ogden: on school sports day
MY son loves to run. From the moment he took his first tentative steps at the age of one, he was off...
MY son loves to run. From the moment he took his first tentative steps at the age of one, he was off...As a toddler I would spend many hours (and I mean hours) chasing him up and down the lounge as he would laugh and scream, "run mummy, run".
And over the years his enthusiasm has not waned – my husband and I have been amazed at just how fast he can run and we actually have to sprint to catch up with his six-year-old legs.
Last week it was Samuel's school sports day, and my husband and I took the day off to watch him in action.
It soon became apparent, however, that our son does not have a competitive bone in his body.
For some children (and their parents), winning was everything – some would cheat claiming they had come first or second when in fact they had come sixth or seventh, others would throw a temper tantrum if they didn't do as well as they had hoped for, and one little boy deliberately tried to trip someone up in his bid to cross the finishing line.
But Samuel spent his time either mucking around chatting to his friends and acting the fool, or standing there biting his nails and looking very apprehensive about the whole thing.
I was volunteered by Samuel's teacher to be a judge, handing out stickers to each child who came third in the various races.
It was actually quite a tough job, especially as sometimes I was so busy looking at Samuel, I missed who had come over the finishing line. Fortunately I had some very good helpers.
Overall, there were eight different events and our son came last in the first six.
By this time, my husband was becoming more and more concerned.
"He seems to be the only child who doesn't realise he is supposed to try to win," he said.
"I can't believe it, because I know if he was doing any of these races at home he would definitely try to win and would be brilliant at them."
I felt differently, however, telling my husband there was plenty of time for our son to be competitive, and it was obvious to me he was nervous being watched and surrounded by all these screaming parents.
But then it came to the running race.
His teacher blew the whistle and Samuel was off . . . even though he spent most of the time looking behind him to see who was catching him up (hardly anyone), he won the race by a mile (not literally).
It appeared that this success prompted some kind of winning streak and he then went on to win the welly throwing competition . . . breaking a new school record for his age group.
So we all came home happy. My husband at seeing his son have at least two amazing successes, me watching Samuel enjoying himself with his friends, and my son for having a fun day and winning two events which saw him crowned star of the day.
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Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
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Wind direction: North west
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