Our inaugural ANI school-wide Olympics was held on Monday the 5th of July, taking place over the course of the entire day. There was something for everyone, as we had multiple events in both competitive and non-competitive categories. There were a few organisational hiccoughs and readjustments to plans as we settled into the swing of things (as is to be expected when executing anything for the first time with over 600 students). Myself and my team of dedicated journalists were zipping around from event to event, trying not to miss any of the action in order to bring you the inside scoop!

The name of the game was participation and giving it your best go. The focus was not on playing the competitive games to the letter, as not every participant was as familiar with the rules as others, but playing with integrity and inclusivity as a team and displaying a principled attitude with great sportsmanship.

The Weather Gods turned it out for us with an absolutely stellar day of sunshine and mild temperatures, although the field was frozen and shrouded in a low-hanging mist in the early hours of the school day! The crispness of the morning shortly burned off, just in time for the first event- Cross Country AIMS trials. This was followed by Athletics (discus and sprints), team sports, non-competitive games, and capture the flag. A day of active fun was had by all; many thanks to the efforts of both the staff and students in making this a day to be remembered.

As with any media, the students taking on the role of journalists have each captured their own take on the day's events, interviewing students and teachers alike throughout the course of the day. Here’s what they have to say about the proceedings.

-Sakima-Raine Cornwall (Head of Journalism/ Librarian)

Year 8 Netball - ILE 4-5 vs ILE 13-14

There was certainly a lovely display of sportsmanship from the players along with magnificent teamwork. There were a lot of laughs and cheers, but of course, there were quite a few downsides. During netball, people are bound to get hit with the ball, some get hit in the face, some get hit in the shoulder, sometimes the balls even hit the audience. As you may know, netball is a non-contact sport, but occasionally on accident, some contact may occur. Unfortunately this causes some players to get upset when the contact is not noticed by the ref. During netball, you are not allowed to move from where you’re standing when holding the ball. Again, often by accident, people occasionally take a few steps, once again upsetting the other players when it goes unnoticed. Because of the rainy and cold weather that’s been happening recently, the half of the court, which was the half in the shade, was wet and slippery. Meanwhile the half in the sun was dry, causing some people to slip when crossing the half. In the end, after a rather close game, ILE 4-5 ended up victorious. We interviewed two players from the losing team for their opinion.

Caitlyn Sivaganesan and Ruxin Chen, both said that the match was “pain” and that there was a lot of contact and movement that went unnoticed by the ref, and that made them rather upset.

Year 7 Netball - ILE 23-24 vs ILE 29-30

This court was entirely in the shade, not giving it that good of an opportunity to dry, quite a few people almost slipped, and quite a few people did. There were quite a few missed shots and it took a while for the game to get more interesting. The first point scored got a lot of cheers from the audience, who were all waiting for the game to get more interesting. Lots of people tried their hardest but the winner was ILE 23-24.

Year 7 Soccer - ILE 23-24 vs ILE 29-30

This game was definitely very loud, the uni barn was filled with the sound of cheers and yelling from both the players and the audience. There were many impressive blocks from the goalies and quite a few cool head hits/blocks. Quite a few times the players kicked too hard, and the ball would go in the wrong direction, such as the audience, or the frame of the goal, making quite a few of the audience leave, as they probably didn’t wish to get hit by a soccer ball. After a rather loud game, there was no winner and it was a tie with 1 all. Thomas Roberts, a goalie during the game, said that he was very nervous, but in the end was somewhat proud that they didn’t lose.

Year 7 Soccer - ILE 25-26 vs ILE 27-28

Compared to the last yr 7 soccer match, this game was much quieter, the players hardly talked. Unfortunately, no talking meant rather bad communication, as no one really seemed to look like they knew what they were doing. Another factor would probably be that there were less audience members cheering during the game. But once they got to the second half of the game, they began to talk, improving their performance. It appeared that some of the players weren’t trying as much as the others. Their kicks were rather calm compared to the last game. One time the ball slowly rolled into the goal, and no one moved to stop it, which was rather sad to watch. But even though there were less people trying, there were more points scored than the last game. With ILE 27-28 winning with a score of 4-2.

Year 7 Capture The Flag - ILE 23-24 vs ILE 29-30

There was quite a lot of hesitation during the game. At the start, they all ran over to the halfway line, but stopped before crossing over. It was rather sad to watch, but there were a lot of cheers and encouragement from the audience. The field has been rather muddy recently, because of this, there were a lot of people who slipped whilst running across the grass. But once the game progressed, there were a lot of very fast runners going for the flag. Many points were scored by ILE 23-24 which deemed them the winners.

- Alexandra Wong Rm 9

Imagine your baking cookies. Every time you attempt to make these gooey chocolate desserts they change. Maybe one time your cookies are too hard, maybe another time there wasn’t enough chocolate. Well your cookies may never be perfect, one thing always stays the same. The cookies you made most recently will always be better than the first batch you made. Yesterday A.N.I made their first batch of cookies. Well, to anyone on the outside, A.N.I’s cookies were just a regular batch but to anyone who cared to peer into the gooey golden interior, this was not the case.

The A.N.I olympics occurred on Monday the 5th of July. At the start of the day you could hear Mr Carlos exclaim how this was the first olympics. Well let me tell you; the first time is never the charm. After I wandered out onto the field; eager for a story to cover, I spy Raamis looking rather upset and arguing with Eric. Curiosity called me in to give them an interview

“What’s going on?” I ask

Raamis: These games are flawed! The Sub system isn’t controlled and one kid controls his whole ILE. It was my turn to go in but Eric pushed in front of me!

Me: Eric what’s your thoughts on this?

Eric: I thought it was my turn to go in!

Me: Raamis any ideas on how to solve this?

Raamis: There should be a halftime to properly organise subs.

Eric: Yes I agree.

Me: So what exactly made this issue arise in the first place?

Raamis: One student is controlling the whole game and it is not clear who the supervising teacher is.

After the interview something became clear to me. In the rush to have these olympics commence and in the excitement which was proposed to take place. Management was practically non-existent.

I think this is a clear sign that practice makes perfect. I guess the reason we couldn’t have a half time is due to having so many students in such a little amount of time I hope that when the next olympics rolls around A.N.I can learn from their mistakes and create a more enjoyable and fair environment. - Jozef Bycroft-Divet, Room 15