Kinesiology Olympics Champions DeVonte Driver and Erica Hernandez.
There was no hiding the fierceness of the competition as kinesiology students rowed, jumped, scooted, threw and displayed feats of strength, all in the pursuit of lavish prizes.
Well, maybe the prizes weren’t so lavish, and perhaps the competition was more fun than fierce at the 17th annual California State University, Stanislaus Kinesiology Olympics. But then, that’s the whole point.
“All of this is about getting the kinesiology majors together,” said DeVonte Driver, a senior from Tracy who paired with Erica Hernandez to claim the overall championship. “We’re all in our small part of campus, which makes it even more fun to bring everybody together for some competition. And, yes, I’ve been trying to win this for three years.”
There was rowing on Warrior Lake, a version of disc golf, the tossing of medicine balls, an obstacle course that involved hula hoops and jump ropes, and time-trials in which the athletes were seated on a cabinet roller dolly and scooted across a course set up in front of Fitzpatrick Arena. No, most of these events were not the sort you’ll see on television every four years. They were staged for their fun factor, but it was fun with a purpose.
“The idea was for students to get to know each other and the faculty outside the classroom, so hopefully they’d be more willing to come and talk to us if they had any questions,” said Kinesiology Chair Erin Hall. “It’s about building camaraderie within the department and between the programs, and it’s done a lot of that over the years.”
And how cutthroat is the competition? Yes, winners celebrated, but when the strongman competition ended in a four-way tie, the consensus of the group was that the tiebreaker shouldn’t be more weight-tossing, but a dance-off. And the song of choice was from ABBA.
“Everybody is welcome here,” Hall said. “We cancel our classes within the department for two hours, and make sure to encourage the students to go to their other classes, then come out and join us to participate in as many events as they can. Our prizes aren’t just for the best performance, but also can be for the most entertaining, or the one who worked the hardest.”
And Driver, who like his partner walked away with a gold medal (DISCLAIMER: it was a cookie-sized piece of plywood wrapped in tape and colored in a somewhat golden hue), seemed to enjoy the festivities as much as anyone.
“It’s a day for everybody to come together outside of class to meet each other and have fun,” he said. “We just had a really good time.”