With the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner, our Active Schools Week this year was based on an Olympics theme.

 

Day 1 of ‘Ballyconnell 2021’ began, as all Olympics do, with an opening ceremony and a parade of the athletes. As the sun beamed down, our athletes paraded around the pitch, proudly sporting the colours of the nations they’d be representing over the course of the week. USA, Greece, Great Britain, China, Mexico, Kenya, Jamaica, Japan and Ireland were among the nations represented.

 

 

Once the athletes had paraded, our Active Schools Committee headed out to the front of the school to take part in the Active Schools Flag raising ceremony. This was an especially exciting moment for the school as this was the first time that the Active Schools Flag had been raised aloft outside Ballyconnell NS. We had been awarded the much-coveted flag just a few weeks beforehand and our Committee felt that the first day of our Active Schools Week was the ideal occasion to raise it for the first time.

 

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, all of the student body couldn’t be present for this momentous occasion. However, we live-streamed the flag-raising and the speeches into all classes via Zoom. Thank you to Miss Clare for her steady hand!

 

 

After our flag was raised, the Games commenced!

 

Our senior pupils took part in a table tennis competition. The children had spent the previous few weeks honing their skills so the standard in the competition was very high indeed.

 

The junior pupils, meanwhile, were put through their paces by BlueZone Fitness.

 

All in all, Day 1 of ‘Ballyconnell 2021’ was a major success. Check out some photos of the action below.