16
| on the mountain winter 2013-2014
WHY WE
PLAY
From the
Headmaster’s
Desk
The 2013-14 school year got off to a ter-
rific start in September and it seems hard
to believe that our students are now sitting
for their first trimester exams. At SKS
our academic and athletic calendars are
synchronized — a convenient and logical
rhythm that structures our school year
into seasons. Before this exam week, the
fall sports season had ended a week or so
back, with several teams performing well
in post-season play. I really enjoy watching
the kids play in contests against rival prep
schools, but confess that I enjoy watch-
ing them practice even more. While
the games are colorful and exciting,
and bring such a spirit of pride and joy to
the students both on the field and in the
stands, they are understandably focused on
winning. When I see the teams practicing,
or watch the non-competitive afternoon
activities like dance going through their
exercise routines, rather than sense the
urgency of competition, what I see is the
simple joy of movement, of activity, of
play. At those times the kids are lost in the
flow of the moment, engaged in the pure
indulgence of practice, inculcating good
habits of body and mind that they will
draw on, on game day and on every day —
in every endeavor throughout their lives.
“
Why we play” is a topic of ongoing
discussion at our school, one of the
many essential questions that give rise
to the energetic faculty debate that
forms our institutional planning and
decision making. The United States is
one of few countries in which youth
sports are centered in the schools rather
than independent sports clubs. In
most European countries, for example,
the students are released from school
obligations in early afternoon.
Participation in sports is voluntary
Order of
the Day
The weekday
schedule
from a
1920–1921
prospectus
6:50
Rising bell rings and every boy
is required to start the day with a cold
shower bath
7:15
Setting-up exercises in the open
7:30
Breakfast
8:20-12:30
Devotional exercises and classes,
with a short recess
12:30-4:15
The afternoon(the bright warm
part of the day) is left free for
exercise and sports. Every boy
is required to take systematic
exercise out of doors for at least
one and a half hours.
By Paul Domingue
