United for sports: this was the theme of Sports Day held at CIMMYT’s El Batán campus on 18 June 2010. Teams from the Mexican CIMMYT stations (Agua Fría, Obregón, Tlatizapán, Toluca, El Batán) congregated for a day of team competition in volleyball, soccer, and basketball. Individuals also competed in a 5 km walking race, a mini-marathon, cycling, and swimming. A tennis tournament was also held, with the double sets displaying CIMMYT’s multicultural nature at its best.
Away from the mainstream sports, there were recreational games: wrap the mummy, egg and spoon race, pop-the-balloon, sack race, egg-tossing, a dizzy race, and an interesting twist on the three-legged race using a four-man team. The competitors in these games formed international teams and united in silly fun. Aerobics and zumba (a type of dance) performances were held in the gymnasium, cheered on by an animated audience.
Even cleaning up was fun! Environmentally aware two-member teams competed to see who could fill up a sack with plastic bottles in the shortest amount of time. The winning team was awarded, and everyone else was a winner for contributing to the impromptu clean-up campaign.
After all that activity, everyone was hungry and enjoyed a provided lunch, which was accompanied by an award ceremony for the winners of the day’s events. Dancing followed dining. There were various performances, including salsa and Los Chinelos, a traditional dance from the state of Morelos, Mexico. Then it was time for everyone else to take to the dance floor, where they grooved to the beats of the band Adrián y sus teclados (Adrian and His Keyboard), which featured CIMMYT’s very own Ricardo De La Rosa (head of audiovisuals) on the bass. And at the end of the day, there was more dancing, accompanied by a live Cuban band, at El Rincón.
