Funday Times

Global Sports Festival
By Sachie Fernando and Anuradha Samarajiva
Young leaders around the world from more than thirty countries organized a Global Sports Festival ‘DREAMS & TEAMS’. Here in Sri Lanka, this took place on the 24th of June at the D.S. Senanayake Cricket Grounds at 2:30 p.m. It was conducted by the British Council with the help of the Girl Guides Association and the Boy Scouts Association.

Forty young leaders from Kandy and Colombo schools organized the whole event: preparing refreshments, inviting guests, organizing the games, preparing media releases, etc. Young leaders did the announcing in Sinhala and English throughout the event.

About 150 young children (7-9 years old) took part. They came from different backgrounds: outstation schools, city schools, Tamil and Muslim Schools. For the first time, kids from the Deaf and Blind School in Ratmalana and the Lankadara Orphanage participated. Sanjeevani Munasinghe from the British Council said this was a time for everyone to share and be inclusive. This programme was also intended to teach the young leaders tolerance and leadership qualities.

The chief guest was Ms. Indrani Kariywasam, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education. The guests of honour were Tony O’Brien, Director of the British Council, Anna Searle, Deputy Director British Council, and Mrs. Kanthi Fernando. The principals from Visakha Vidyalaya and D.S. Senanayake College were also present.

There were five teams who were rotated through three events so that the games become more fun and less competitive. The teams were: Eskimos, Red Indians, Aboriginals, Africans, and Pygmies. At the end of the day, the Eskimos won.

During the presentation ceremony, chief guest Ms. Indrani Kariywasam said: ‘I see a great improvement to last time. This sports festival gives a big opportunity for the leaders to learn how to take challenges and win them bravely’.

Everyone else agreed that the programme was well organized. This was the second of four planned events, co-sponsored by Keells, Lanka Milk Foods, and the British Council.

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