HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES AND TOES

A few weeks ago I wrote about the family weekend I attended in my church, but I only talked about the tug of war game. There were a lot of games played that day, and among many, I participated in a game tournament which was like a contest. The game was called head, shoulders, knees and toes. It was my first time participating in such a game talk without a tournament. The game required two contestants who would touch any part of their body called upon by the umpire. This would be done simultaneously while a cup is placed in the middle of the contestants. Both contestants must be ready and alert for when the umpire would say the word “cup.” If a contestant touches the cup when the umpire has not instructed, that contestant is automatically disqualified.

The game had 4 different rounds to the final round and every contestant was made up of a team of four. Teams are to face off until only two persons are left from two teams. In the first round of the game, every member of my team emerged successful by eliminating our opposition. It's a game of reflex, where the man with the quickest reflexes wins. I remember standing against my opponent in the first round, controlling my breath to ensure I wasn't nervous because I realized my opponent was. I fastened my ears to every part of the body the umpire called, touching them with only my left hand so my right hand would be ready to go as quickly as possible.

After my team emerged victorious in the first round, we discovered we were the only team whose members were all complete for the second round. In the quarter-final of the game, one of our team members was eliminated leaving three of us remaining in our team. That round was really tricky as my opponent looked fierce and masculine this time round. I almost got disqualified after I and my opponent thought we heard “cup” and almost reached out only to quickly withdraw but the force from our body movement moved the plastic cup In our front and my opponent was quick to put the blame on me to save his head. I told the umpire who was also very focused on us that it was the force from our body movement that moved the cup which he confirmed by watching closely.

I was surprised I beat my opponent after all the arguments about who moved the cup, but I was happy I was in the next round alongside a team member. The semi-finals were easy for me, but my team members lost, leaving me to represent my team in the finals. For the first time in a long time, I realized how it is when the spotlight is on you, with all the cameras and drones focusing on you. That tension of realizing the fate of your team rests on you, and any mistake you make means it's over. My opponent successfully faced all my team members simultaneously and eliminated everyone. Now he was facing me and I was trying to take control of every emotion flowing through me.

Other games

My team

We started off the final stage, hearing the umpire mention parts of the body. The umpire ensured he was calling parts of our backs which would make us use both hands taking our hands far away from the cup. Immediately he mentioned “cup”. I reached out for the cup first but didn't have enough grip which made my opponent snatch the cup and win. I emerged 1st runner up and got the silver medal of honor with other consolation prizes I'd been promised. At the end of the day the contest was fun and intensive, even though I didn't win, I was satisfied that I gave it my all.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 90 EPISODE 3