Since the first of September, every recess on Mondays and Tuesdays have been ripe with excitement, adrenaline and anxiety. The second year of the house leagues are back, now bigger and better, with the addition of Badminton to the existing Throwball, Football and Basketball. Each house participates in all four sports, forming multiple teams for each event that compete over a span of seven months. A significant change this year is the addition of Student Referees. Since the house games are student led, the addition of student referees have further increased the leadership of students.
The house league is a league where each house sends junior and senior teams for each of the four sports, with a separation of girls and boys for Basketball and Football. Basketball consists of a playing five, and substitutes, with each of the quarters being played for seven minutes. Similarly, football, also consists of a playing 5 with substitutes, and has 2 halves of 14 minutes each. Throwball, however, has one senior team of seven and one junior team of seven, each playing a best of three sets, to eleven points. The new addition, Badminton, features a doubles format, with one junior team and one senior team. Points for each event are counted toward the final housecup, and with a plethora of events, the houseleagues have proved to be indispensable in order to win the house cup.
The house leagues are a crucial component of the school. It unites sixth graders with twelfth graders, all cheering for the same cause: a house victory. House captains said that “the house leagues are a great way for house members to interact with one another”. The house leagues are essential to promote house spirit, and a great way to support other house members.
We decided to speak to our Sports Heads Keya and Rishab to gather some more insight as to runnings of these wonderful events.
Why did you decide to add Badminton?
“The addition of Badminton was because many students asked for it last year. The house games currently focus on team sports of large numbers, and this allowed for a new concept of smaller teams to participate and overall just to add another sport” – Keya
Rishab adds that “after getting more than 55 emails regarding the addition of badminton, we thought it was time to add it.”
Why did you choose to add Student Referees?
“The main reason behind the addition of student referees was because external referees were disallowed. A few sessions of problem solving later, the concept of student referees arose. Though they thought it would be a complete failure due to biasness.”
How did you manage the Issue of Bias?
“A fair system was created, which ensured no bias and the games would be played fairly. Our schedule ensured that there were no clashes between the house of the referees and the houses playing. – Keya
“In each game there were 2 referees to ensure that the referees didn’t influence the games for their own house” – Rishab
It seems that our sports heads rose to the occasion, designing a balanced system within their limited constraints. We owe it to them that we have the fun yet hectic, chaotic yet purposeful and structured yet enjoyable system that we have today.