On May 31, the time had finally come: After two years of the pandemic, during which the importance of school sports had been downplayed, school sports events were finally allowed to take place again. As a result, our elementary school students got to experience their very first Federal Youth Games at Steinmühle.

With the active support of the Sports Track (11e), all the students had a blast all morning long and got to compete and let off some steam. Here’s how our fourth graders described their morning in their own words:

“On May 31, we attended the National Youth Games. Marcel Kalb had his 11e advanced physical education class help us prepare for the National Youth Games. They were behind the cafeteria, near the log cabin. The 11e class helped us warm up and showed us everything. We participated in four events. They showed us everything and explained everything to us. For the long jump, the 11th graders first gave us tips, and then we got started. It was a lot of fun, and the 11th graders were goofing around a lot. The ball toss is a sport where you have to throw a ball into squares numbered 1–20. Class 11e organized the ball toss and helped us understand the rules. If you didn’t hit the marked squares, you didn’t get any points. The third station was the sprint. At this station, the fourth-grade class raced against the third-grade class. We had to jump over hurdles, run a slalom course, and our times were recorded. The final event was the cross-country run. The Flexies went first. Then the fourth graders started. One of them fell over. Five minutes later, the third-grade class began. There were obstacles in the race, too.”

 

“I liked the race because it was fun”

Since the Federal Youth Games are set to remain a regular part of the school curriculum next year as well, third-graders were asked for their opinions for the purposes of quality assurance and “event development.” When asked, “What did you like?” they responded as follows:

• “We liked the hurdle race and the fact that the 11e and our class cheered us on. They didn’t give up!”
• “I liked the hurdle race because I was good.”
• “I ended up liking the race because it was fun”
• “The best helper for me was Sahra. Because she helped me and said, ‘You’re the sweetest first-grader.’”
• “I liked the whole-school race because everyone was happy. I love the long jump and the hurdle race.”

 

“There might be more breaks to play”

The atmosphere was great, and the kids had fun. Nevertheless, there were also some critical comments from Class 3. In response to the question “What could be better next time?”, the following comments were made:

• “There could be more breaks to play, go to the bathroom, and drink!”
• “That the hurdles are lower for the younger kids.”
• “Next time, I’d better make sure there’s a place to eat there!”
• “The 11th-grade class could count better by jumping!”
• “Next time I want more games [between each discipline] because I liked them”

In summary, it can be said that the very first Federal Youth Games at the Bilingual Elementary School fully achieved their goal of helping elementary school students discover the joy of physical activity and “competing,” but there is still room for even more progress, especially looking toward the future—or, in Tim Cook’s words:“We are proud of what we have and what we are, but there is much more to come and we can take it even further!”

—

Additional information about the report: The statements written in italics are the students’ original words. In some cases, we have made only minor grammatical changes to these statements and otherwise left them as is—in the spirit of an open culture of learning from mistakes. By the way: No one needs to worry about the fourth-grader (“One of them fell over”). He just tripped…

Marcel Kalb