Southern Local Junior High schoolteacher Zack Alamy, center, provides instructions to sixth graders in playing Chicken in a Bucket, one of many games in which students in grades 6-8 compete in the school’s annual Battle of the Classes event. (Submitted photo)

SALINEVILLE – Students at Southern Local Junior High School ended the school year by competing in a variety of competitions testing not only their athletic skill but also their creativity.

It was all part of Battle of the Classes, an annual event that spurs some friendly rivalry between students in grades 6, 7 and 8 while burning off the excess energy they often experience as they anticipate summer break, said Zack Alamy, a math teacher who coordinates the event with support from many staff members.

A visitor to the school last week could find the youth competing in nearly a dozen events, from kickball and table tennis to lesser known games like ultimate Frisbee or Chicken in a Bucket.

Ultimate Frisbee is played much like basketball, but with the famous toy disc replacing the ball, while Chicken in a Bucket involves a team using a blanket to bounce a softball into the air and to a large bucket held by a waiting teammate.

Many classmates watched from the bleachers of the school’s gym as the bucket-wielding team member darted to the path of the descending ball.

Many of the games can be played indoors or outside, a plus for rainy days, noted Alamy, who also served as officiant for many of the events.

The competition also an art contest, with participants using chalk to create murals on the school’s sidewalks. Kimberly Adams, the school’s art teacher, served as coordinator and judge for that event.

Alamy said students are invited to sign up for the events of their choice, and an effort is made to ensure everyone gets to take part.

“Almost every kid in each class participates in some way,” he said, adding several students also assist him in running the competition.

Alamy said the event inspires a sense of camaraderie among students and staff, with homeroom teachers and others serving as coaches for the various teams.

Many could be seen offering encouragement to youth engaged in a game that is a cross between handball and basketball.

Making their way from each end of the basketball court, its players tossed a ball back and forth before aiming it at a goal zone framed with tape on opposite walls of the gym and manned by a vigilant goalkeeper.

Many of the players wore colored shirts distinguishing their grade level- sky blue for eighth grade, dark blue for seventh grade, and pink for sixth grade.

Alamy noted other colors were worn by Southern Local High School students as they competed in their own Battle of the Classes earlier.

The high school’s senior class were overall winners of that event, while eighth graders at the junior high school claimed victory over members of the younger classes.

Alamy said that’s fairly typical, as the older students are more familiar with some of the more unique games.

A trophy is awarded to the top high school team and displayed in the coach’s room until next year. The winning junior high class walks away with bragging rights.

The winning grade level at each school is determined through scores based on the number of events in which they placed first or second in the case of the junior high school or first, second or third for the high school.

Alamy has coordinated the junior high event since it was launched last year, inspired by the high school competition that was spearheaded by Robert Shansky, the high school’s athletic director; and others some years ago.

Perhaps the most unusual event in the high school competition was a Rock, Scissors, Paper standoff in which about a dozen participants in the long-time playground game were gradually eliminated to reveal the winner.

Alamy said he and others are considering adding some academic-style games, such as a spelling bee or math-based event, to the competition next year.

(Submitted material)