A roundup of Olympics-inspired events to liven up your sports day

Dance to the Olympic theme song

Paprika Dance: Preschool Sports Day

If you’re planning a sports day with an Olympic theme, one thing you should definitely include is an Olympic theme song.

Simply playing it at the venue will set the mood, but using it as the track for a dance performance is guaranteed to get everyone excited! Olympic theme songs include many classics, such as Yuzu’s “Eikou no Kakehashi” and Namie Amuro’s “Hero.” You could even let each team choose their favorite track as their assigned song.

Be sure to find a song you love!

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yamamoto

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Skateboard Tic-Tac Race

Tic-tac race on skateboards

Skateboarding was adopted as an event at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, and it drew attention thanks to the strong performances by Japanese athletes.

One of the tricks in skateboarding, called the “tic-tac,” involves moving forward while swinging the front wheels from side to side.

A tic-tac relay—where this move is performed in a baton-passing format—is enjoyed by skaters as a casual game and a way to relax.

If incorporated into school sports days or athletic festivals, it would look intriguingly odd and entertaining for spectators, while also providing a gateway for people to become familiar with skateboarding.

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kappamaki

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collective behavior

Inaba Nishi Elementary School 6th Graders: Sports Day Performance – Group Formation (2017)

The parade that kicks off the Olympics—the athletes from each country entering the venue in their uniforms—looks so cool, doesn’t it? It’s moving even though they’re just walking.

So why not bring that into a school sports day? There’s also the well-known group performance by students from Nippon Sport Science University.

The precise, synchronized movements performed by a large number of people have overwhelming impact.

If you showcase this at a sports day or athletic festival, you might just amaze everyone watching!

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Araki Jakkan

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Soccer Shootout

[Serious] Had a real volley shootout against a J-League legend and ended up doing way too many acrobatic moves lol

It’s a competition derived from the penalty kick, one of soccer’s rules, and you’ve probably often seen it in TV programs and similar formats.

The idea is simple: you kick the ball toward the goal, and the opposing keeper tries to stop it.

By arranging players who pass the ball to the shooter, or otherwise varying the people involved before the shot, you can introduce handicaps that reflect each team’s strengths.

Because it’s a series of sudden-death rounds, it creates tension and makes for an exciting event.

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kappamaki

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haka

At the sports festival, high school students performed a highly polished Haka [Rugby World Cup 2023 French].

The haka is a traditional dance of the Māori people of New Zealand.

It is performed before battle to display one’s strength and provoke the opponent.

It became globally well known after New Zealand’s national rugby team, commonly known as the All Blacks, performed it before matches.

Because of its sporting context and its message of self-encouragement, it could be a great fit for school sports days or athletic festivals.

It would be fun to perform it to fire up the athletes before competitions, and it would likely be exciting to present it as a kind of performance showdown, with teams facing off at opposite ends, glaring at each other and showing off their haka.

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kappamaki

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