An empty cup of water was probably the deciding factor in the ISP end of year Sports Day. More of that later! At the ISP each term ends with a Sports Day in which the three houses Red (Tudor), yellow (Stuart) and Blue (Windsor) complete is a range of sporting events some more serious than others. However it is often the more frivolous contents, which provide the key to the overall result. Windsor had been the victors in the three previous contests this year. But, Mr. Rob, in charge of the Blue house, was surprisingly lacking in confidence. He had even suggested calling off the contest. Only he knows whether this was last minute nerves or the pressure of expectation was too much for him.

Mr. Rob Roberts and his winning Windsor team

On the contrary, Miss Shiela i/c Yellow House and Mr. Simon i/c Red house, were confident and looking forward to the day. Miss Shiela came in early and spent some considerable time beautifying herself in preparation for the contest. Mr. Simon had built up his aggression by breaking the sound barrier down the Sukhumvit road on his new Honda Phantom motorbike.

It was not a promising start for Windsor, when Red lead by winning the baseball. Having fallen behind it was up to the athletes of Blue house to make up the lost ground. Thanks to outstanding performances by Mai Fai, Yumiko, Jullada and Rachan the gap was cut to a single point. The whole contest may have been affected by the water race. Jack Cox sprinted away for the Red house team but did not return with any water. This briefly reminded me of the famous phrase from the 23rd Psalm “my cup runneth over.” That empty cup cost the victory.

After lunch there was the staff penalty challenge in which Mr. Graham had to face six penalties from each house.

The big surprise here was the success of Kim-not known for her footballing talents when she sliced the ball past a stunned Principal.

By the end of the penalty challenge, Stuart House (Yellow) seemed too for adrift to be serous contenders. How wrong we were. Miss Shiela went off to apply more make-up and they bounced back to win the basketball and the football. The basketball was won largely thanks to the Shooting skill of Tantaporn Lambert, two victories were not quite enough and the whole result hung on the final football match between Red and Blue. Blue could afford to draw- Red needed a win.

Blue took the lead early on and then tried to hurry on desperately. In the second half jack Cox redeemed his earlier mistake with a tremendous goal. The last minutes were full of tension as Red tried as hard as they could to break the blue defense. Eric Chu, jack Cox and Mr. Simon all had good opportunities, but the 1-1 result meant another victory for Blue House.

The overall result was yellow house 58 points, Red 60.5 points and blue 62.5 points. Miss Shiela applied more make-up. Mr. Simon mounted his motorbike, while Mr. Rob hugged every member of his team. The aura of invincibility as if he had won the lottery and his mother-in-law had died on the same day.