Ideas for Sports Days and Athletic Festivals in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 became a global issue.
I believe it directly affected the lives of many people.
And the same goes for children’s school life.
Holding events as usual has been quite difficult—many schools are in that situation.
So in this article, we’ve gathered ideas for sports days and athletic festivals tailored to the COVID era.
This is by no means a negative take! It’s full of the spirit of “Let’s have fun even in these circumstances!” Please read through to the end!
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- [Make Sports Day More Approachable!] Unique Event Names: Fun Competition Titles by Category
- [Challenge the Guinness World Records!] A list of easy-to-try Guinness records
- [Get Fired Up!] Classic Sports Day Events: Ideas for Popular Races and Games
- [For Kids] Exciting Class-vs-Class Games: Team Competition Activities
- [For Elementary School Students] A Collection of Games and Activities You Can Enjoy on Zoom
- From classics to fan favorites! A catalog of music and BGM to liven up your sports day
- [Sports Day] A roundup of popular Japanese songs perfect for mass performances [Athletic Festival]
- [Sports Day] Songs for footraces: tracks that make kids want to run [classics & J-pop]
Summary of Sports Day and Athletic Festival Ideas to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic (11–20)
Super Long Centipede Race
This is a new type of team sport that challenges the balance between distance and teamwork.
Teams of three take on the challenge, moving in coordination while connected by a 5-meter-long shackle.
Because the spacing between players is wide, they must avoid physical contact while keeping in sync.
The finish line is set 30 meters ahead, and what’s tested is not just simple speed but the ability to match breathing and stride among the three.
It’s a sport designed to teach the importance of cooperation and a sense of balance while avoiding physical contact, cleverly enhancing team unity with attention to infection control.
Ball carrying
I think many people have done the ball-carrying event.
It’s that competition where you place a ball on a board with two handles, one on each side, and carry it.
The event itself is a classic, but I’ve heard that since the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools have added a new rule.
The rule is that when a runner returns, they must sanitize with alcohol before handing the board to the next runner.
It’s a simple and easy infection control measure.
It also seems like a good rule to add to any event where a single piece of equipment is shared, not just ball-carrying.
Remote cheering
During the COVID-19 pandemic, sports days and athletic festivals were canceled because large numbers of people gather in one place.
In particular, students cheering for events tended to create the “3 Cs” (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings).
Remote cheering offers a solution.
With remote cheering, students who aren’t participating in events watch a live broadcast from their classrooms and cheer on their teammates.
Of course, precautions like refraining from shouting loudly are necessary, but this way everyone can take part safely.
Some schools even live-streamed their sports days on the internet for parents.
Opening schools as spectator venues
Speaking of sports days, it’s standard to have a section of the field reserved for parents, where they sit and watch, often filming their children with video cameras from nearby.
But during the COVID-19 pandemic, that setup tends to create crowding, and keeping distance requires more space on the field.
So how about opening part of the school building and letting parents watch from classroom windows or balconies? Viewing from a different spot feels fresh, and being higher up actually makes it easier to see.
Giant Valley
Giant Volleyball is a sport that uses an oversized volleyball, just like its name suggests.
The net is arranged in a cross shape, and four teams compete.
The rules are similar to regular volleyball, but there’s a unique twist: the team that lets the ball drop loses points.
You can also customize the setup by adding more nets to include additional teams or by using multiple balls.
There’s a company that rents out equipment specifically for Giant Volleyball, so be sure to check it out!
the eye of a typhoon
“Eye of the Typhoon” is a two-person event using a bamboo pole.
Two traffic cones are set up ahead of the start line, one in front of the other, and teams start from there.
The pair lift the pole by its ends and run toward the cones.
At the first cone, they stop without moving away from the cone on the right; the runner on the left uses the runner on the right as the axis and literally circles around like a typhoon, making one clockwise lap.
They then run to the second cone, where the runner on the right makes one counterclockwise lap around the cone.
Finally, the team that returns the pole to the start line the fastest wins.
Carrying a bamboo pole that’s nearly two meters long is heavy and tough, but it seems well-suited to the COVID era in the sense that it allows for solid social distancing!
Summary of Sports Day/Field Day Ideas to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic (21–30)
Shotgun Tug-of-War
This is a dynamic tug-of-war competition that incorporates a substitution system.
Each team starts with three players, and every time the rope crosses a substitution line at the center, the players are swapped out.
Up to three substitution lines can be set, requiring strategies that conserve energy while aiming for the right moment to win.
Compared to traditional tug-of-war, the allocation of explosive power and endurance becomes more important, and the flow of the match can change dramatically depending on the timing of substitutions.
While reducing contact opportunities, this format allows for dynamic developments, making it an idea that can both liven up a sports day and address infection-control measures.