The back doors to Head O’ Meadow Elementary School opened Friday morning, May 29, and a rainbow of teams poured out onto the field, where the fun of Spirit Day awaited Yellow, Green, Red, and Blue Teams from grades kindergarten through four. After gathering for brief remarks by the “Spirit of Spirit Day” (parent volunteer Doug Ballard), Coach Steve Dreger gave the signal and teams spread out to pit their skills against each other in activities from a soccer dribble to a sack race to a water balloon toss and more. The challenge that teams accepted from Coach Dreger, as they put forth their best efforts, was one in keeping with the theme of the day.

Ribbons would be awarded, Coach told them, but not for first, second, or third place. These ribbons were based on how much sportsmanship a person showed. Sportsmanship ribbons for helping others during the event and acts of kindness toward each other would be worthy of ribbons, and then tallied up at the end of the morning, with one overall best sportsman (or woman) being announced.

The morning’s events kicked off with a “Spirit Tug” between fourth grade teams, each trying to topple the other team by tugging on the long rope stretched taut between them. It was one, two, three, Go! and only moments before a number of members on a team found themselves defeated. The Spirit Tug proved to be a popular event throughout the morning, with plenty of enthusiasm as teams moved through the circuit of activities.

The obstacle race required pairs of kids to scramble through a tube, leap small hurdles, balance a ball on a racket, and bounce to the finish line on an oversized ball, before racing back to the start. At the beach scramble, teams of two worked to convey a pile of beach items from the start to beneath the umbrellas at the end, where they laid out the beach towel, relaxed (briefly) in the beach chair, and glanced through a book; then it was all stuffed into the beach bag and hurried back to the starting line.

A sunny day required lots of hydration, and parent volunteers were prepared with gallons of cold water and a few spray bottles to keep participants cool and comfortable.

Eliciting plenty of giggles was the water balloon toss, where pairs of students gently heaved the unwieldy balloons back and forth until only one was left standing, not quite as drenched as the others.

A Spirit Day would not be complete without a sack race, and from the smallest to the tallest, HOM students stepped into burlap bags and gamely leaped their ways from point A to point B. It was a race not without its struggles and spills, all completed in good humor.

The soccer dribble, foot race, and wet sponge race kept teams on the go, as well, with plenty of spirit apparent at this 2015 HOM Spirit Day.

More photos from the event are available in The Newtown Bee's online photo gallery.