The Big Sports Day Mix-up

Jay wasn’t “sporty.” If there were a prize for the worst athlete in the school, Jay would find a way to fall over it.

Sports Day was coming, and he decided he was going to do the sack race. That way, he could just fall over once, then spend the rest of the day cheering from the sidelines. But Jay hadn’t read the form correctly: instead of one race, he had entered every single event.

At lunch, his best friendChloe came over, giggling.

“Jay! Tell me it’s a mistake, and you did not enter every race.”

Jay nearly choked on his apple. “WHAT?”

Laughing, Chloe held up the sheet, and there it was, Jay’s name, over and over and over again: the high jump, long jump, 100 metres, and thesack race.

“But that’s not my hand writing,” said Jay.

“Too late now,” Chloe replied. “Sports day is tomorrow.”

Jay’s palms felt clammy, and his face was hot. This was bad, very bad.

The first event was the sack race. Jay tried to go slow and steady. But he wobbled off course and bumped into Krystal. As she fell, her arms flew up and WHACK, she hit Jay right on his nose. Ouch!

Next came the obstacle course. Jay knocked down every obstacle and got stuck in the net. Chloe had to untangle him.

Then, it was the long jump. Jay took a deep breath, ran as fast as he could, hit the board and… WHOOSH! Jay flew up into the air and landed face-first in the sand pit. Stuck like a starfish.

The crowd laughed. Jay sighed. Only one event left, he thought, what else could go wrong?

The last race was the 100 metres. Jay lined up. BANG! The starting pistol fired, and the race began! Jay ran as fast as he could, with his legs pumping and his arms flapping like a tiny bird that was just learning how to fly.

But suddenly, uh oh, his loose shoelaces had other plans. He tripped, tumbled, flipped and rolled right across the finish line. When he finally stopped, he looked up, covered in dust and grass.

The crowd cheered.

“Did I win?” Jay exclaimed whilst brushing himself down.

“No,” said Chloe, who had come bounding over, “but you did make everyone laugh.”

At the end of Sports Day, Mr Brown, the headteacher, held up a trophy.

“And the winner of the Sports Day Spirit Award is… Jay. For making this Sports Day the most fun ever!”

Jay blinked. “Me?”

The crowd cheered, and Mr Brown couldn’t stop laughing.

Jay grinned as he proudly held up the trophy. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at sports after all.