"What's your plan for this inter-house sports competition? You know the Independence house has taken the last position for the past three years consecutively" my friend Gabriel asked me.
Gabriel and I were classmates in SS3 but he belonged to the Honesty house which was considered favourites to win the inter-house sports but he was my friend and didn't want my House to take the last position under my leadership as House captain.
"I have already started training my boys. Last week we had our first session and I have been able to identify the best four candidates for each category". I replied.
"In addition, I have also told the female House captain to intensify training with the girls and to adopt this approach I am using".
"That's impressive, I always knew you were good with this leadership thing", Gabriel said "but don't expect to win Honesty house", he added jokingly.
"Honesty house should be grateful if they win any category" I replied his joke and we both laughed.
The inter-house sports competition kept coming closer and it was obvious that Independence house were underdogs, we were disadvantaged because we had very few athletes especially in the senior category where we had no real athlete. Other houses had a good number of their members as part of the school team except Independence house that had only one person.
Our only hope of getting medals was dependent on the junior races where we were privileged to have two excellent athletes.
I decided to maximise this by focusing my energy on the junior boys. Sonny and Samuel were my two sprinters. Sonny was two years older than his colleagues and the tallest of them all so he was naturally ahead of them. Samuel on the other hand belonged to the same age bracket and of average height.
Samuel always wanted to challenge Sonny because he knew that whoever was faster would be the anchor racer for the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races. I enjoyed the healthy competition because it gave me hope in my Junior boys since I had lost hope in my classmates the senior boys and had little hope in the intermediate category.
When the competition finally began, there were qualification rounds before the final round. Sonny and Samuel ran in different qualifying rounds for the 100M race and both took first in their respective rounds to qualify for the finals.
When it was time for the 200M qualifiers, they were grouped differently again and both took first in there respective rounds again.
My joy knew no bounds because in the other categories, Independence house was underwhelming and my only hope of escaping the last position rested on the junior boys.
On the day of the finals, they bagan with the 100M race which they would run together. Sonny was leading initially before Samuel began to close the gap but just before he could catch up, Sonny passed the finish line.
I was happy because both the 1st and 2nd position came to my house. While congratulating my boys I discovered that Samuel was still eager to prove to Sonny that he was faster. "You won by the skin of your teeth. You won't be as lucky as this in the 200M race", Samuel boasted. Sonny just laughed, very confident in his ability.
When it was time for the 200M junior boys, Sonny took the race personal. He finished first with a wide margin that ensured Samuel could not challenge him again, even though he took second. The margin was so wide that the games mistress had to come into the matter.
"I saw you running like Usain Bolt, what's your name?" She asked.
"Sonny" he answered. I was feeling proud without knowing that soon there would be a twist in the plot.
"How old are you?" She asked.
"Fourteen years old ma" he replied.
"That's too old for the junior race, you are competing with people aged 10 to 12 years, I will move you up to the intermediate" she said.
I figured I have to step in to avoid loosing my assured first position in the junior category. "Ma, he is in JSS2 just like the other kids he is competing against" I interjected.
"Yes, but he is the same age as those in the Intermediate, that's where he actually belongs", she said with a note of finality.
When the intermediate races began, Sonny impressed but not as much as he did in the junior races. He took the second position in all the races and first position in the high jump.
His removal from the junior races did not affect the independence house so much because Samuel took over and began to take the first position in his absence. Samuel was now the undisputed anchor racer for the 4×100M relay race of which Independence house took first.
At the end of the day, Independence house took the fourth position out of the six houses, which was the best position throughout my three years stay in the school and it was all thanks to Samuel and Sonny.
I was slightly pained we didn't clinch the bronze medal because we missed out by 2 points but I was happy to have ended my tenure as house captain better than my predecessors.
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I know how competitive interhouse sport used to be because I was once a house captain and it's not always easy.
You did a great job moving from 6th to 4th and if it was your final year in secondary school, I bet you would have led them to victory in the coming year.
I may have but it would be tough because Honesty house members usually seem to be handpicked for athletics. They were naturally ahead of other houses.
One thing I believe in is leaving a place better than how we met it and that's exactly what you did. Good thing you had amazing athletes who made the ride smoother.
It was the experience of a lifetime. I still smile whenever I remember it.
I could only imagine.
You recount your challenge well. We as readers can see that you came in as an underdog house in the competition. Coming in last is rather embarrassing if it happens all the time. You describe your strategy for improving, and apparently that strategy worked.
The story details your steps to improvement. However, there is little tension. It would increase the reader's engagement if you described how you felt as one of the races progressed. For example, in this section:
You might have described how you watched these boys run their races. You might have described how it felt as they took the lead in their races. Perhaps you could have described how close someone else came to beating them, or how they were exhausted at the end and maybe fell to the ground, or were panting. The whole idea would be to put readers in the moment so they could share exactly how it felt for you to see these boys win. This could have been the dramatic 'crisis' moment of the story--the climax from which the ultimate resolution flowed.
Thank you for sharing this experience with us, @graat. It's a good story.
Thanks so much for this feedback @theinkwell the corrections are well noted.