Whatever happened to Field Day?

Do you remember Field Day? I went to Catholic school and, though a huge sports fan, am ridiculously uncoordinated. So the best part of field day for me was that I did not have to wear my uniform. But it seemed like most other kids really enjoyed the games, races and monkey bars.

Know what else I remember? We had winners and losers.  Not only did we have winners and losers, but everyone was OK with being both... even the parents! Not everyone got a ribbon. Parents didn’t scream for their kids, they screamed at ALL the kids. As in, “Get over here!” and “Bobby, stop pulling Susie’s hair!”  It’s important to note in this scenario it was neither Bobby’s nor Susie’s parent doing the yelling, and that was OK too. That was their job. There were no refs. There were no coaches. There were no fights in the stands… hell, there were no stands.

Field Day was where we learned to win graciously, lose gracefully, give it our all, roll in the dirt, and be content with the effort if not the result. I think the world needs more Field Days.