FREMONT: High temperature, high spirits and high energy was the highlight of the 4th Annual Sports Day held on July 26 at TakFudenna Stadium in Fremont. The events started at 10:30 am, ending at 5 pm.
FIA, Fremont Hindu Temple and NurtureKids Learning center teamed up to organize another successful kickoff event to the Festival of India and Parade, 2014. This event marks the beginning of the celebration that leads to the 22nd Festival of India and Parade on August 16th and 17th, in Fremont.
The event started with Abhay Dewan, Tanushka Dewan, Rishiv Chugh, Lovish Mujral, Shefali Sastri, and Moxit singing the American National Anthem followed by Shalu Dewan, and Dharminder Dewan founders of NurtureKids, singing the Indian National Anthem along with parents and children from the audience.
“This event is for the children and by the children”, said Dharminder Dewan, “and it is exciting to see the dedication of the youth volunteers who helped in a big way in the planning and managing of this event”. The age of children
participating in the event ranged from 3 years to 70 years, as everyone wanted to “run a race” and “win a medal”.
The races started with 100m for different categories, from the 3 years old to the Seniors, with everyone cheering up their children, spouses or parents. The 100 m was followed by a cookie eating contest with children eating healthy crackers and oatmeal cookies, keeping the sugar to the minimum. 1,2,3,4,5… was the count as the jump rope competition rolled throughout the day and the children hopped in the Sack race and balanced the “marble potato” on the spoon as they raced to the finish line in the Spoon race.
There were 200m and 400m races that put the stamina of all participants to test, with each one of them finishing the race, irrespective of coming in the top three positions or not.
“We need to keep our youth involved, engaged and fit and continue to keep them connected with our culture and provide them with an opportunity to grow culturally as well as politically”, said Dr Romesh Japra, Convener of 22nd Festival of India and Parade. He said, “FIA is an organization that has successfully done that for the past 22 years”. Dr Japra further said, “22 years back the 1st festival started with a few hundred people attending to now where thousands of people come to the festival each year, and we are able to accomplish this with a dedicated team of volunteers all of whom believe in giving back to the community”. President of FIA, Rajesh Verma, Gen Secretary of FIA, Deepak Chhabra and ex Planning Commissioner of Fremont, Yogi Chugh were present at the event.
Also present were school board members, Lily Mei and Desrie Campbell. Addressing the gathering, Lily Mei, talked about how excited she was to be attending the event again this year and also about the positive changes that are coming in the Fremont Schools in the coming year and ended by her announcement of running for the Fremont City Council in November 2014.
Despite the scorching temperatures, the kids and their parents showed considerable amount of effort throughout the day by participating in multiple events and encouraging their children to do the same. Winners proudly displayed their medals with grand parents, parents and children. “I thought that the Sports Day went very well and was a big success. The volunteers put in a lot of hard work and we were able to accomplish a lot, despite the extremely hot conditions”, said Abhay Dewan.
Complementing the festivities was excellent food provided by Shalimar, an Indian restaurant located in Sunnyvale, whose mango lassi and samosas were a hit at the event.
As the event came to a close, the tired and tanned volunteers were thrilled on the success of the event and were already talking about how they can make the next Sports Day, bigger and better.
India Post News Service
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