Zhan Zhiyuan, Class 6, Senior 1, Shenzhen Xin’an Middle School Instructed by Tang Ying

Our school held the 31st sports meeting from November 17 to 19. I was so proud that I was able to work as a judge and as a timer to serve the athletes, which fostered my sense of responsibility.

The day before the opening ceremony, I lay on the bed, with complicated thoughts in my mind. I looked forward to the next day, but bad feelings hit me constantly. I talked to myself, “What will happen if I record the wrong data? The athletes will have to compete again. That would be terrible!” Later, I comforted myself, “Oh, come on. Believe in yourself, you’ll do a good job.” Gradually, I fell asleep and forgot what I had worried about.

The day of the competition arrived, and our work began. I was testing my watch while my palms began to sweat. Taking a deep breath, I calmed down and concentrated on the race. It was the men’s 100m preliminaries. We all gazed at the starter’s gun. “Attention, the starter has raised his gun,” the captain shouted. Boom! As soon as he pressed the trigger and I saw the smoke, I set my watch to record time.

The audience was screaming aloud to support the athletes. My eyes were fixed on the runner whom I had been arranged to record. As soon as he passed the finish line, I stopped my watch immediately and went to report it to the chief referee.

In the morning after we finished the 100m’s competition, all of us felt exhausted, but we had done our work just one morning and there were one and a half days left. I had to struggle to finish our work of high quality! The next day we all worked very hard like the day before.

The sun shone brightly. It was hot but nobody complained and all of us kept what the teacher said in our minds, “Once you have chosen to do a job, you must finish it no matter how difficult it is.”

During the process, we came across some difficulties. When the 200m final began, the starter was on the other side of the playground and lots of students who were watching the races prevented us from looking at the starter clearly. We screamed to ask those students to go away, but none of them listened to us. The captain was so angry that he ran to make them go away. It was the most difficult part of our work.

All in all, the experience was quite meaningful. I have mastered a new skill as a timer for running races, and most importantly, I not only provided good service to the athletes but also improved my sense of responsibility. Furthermore, I have experienced the pleasure of helping others.