Were you the sporty kid that excelled at all manners of Sport at school and killed it during the annual sports day? Or were you, like me, the one with nose firmly in a book, that preferred to lay low till the frenzy and the “RAH RAH” team / House spirit calmed down to pre-sports day levels? 

At the Quad, funnily enough, there are more of the latter than the former. 

Which is why, come Sports day, there is mild tension, much trepidation and outright panic among certain quarters. Every year, the Squad goes into overdrive calming nerves, tamping down anxiety. But, as they are the usual devils that say evil things like “today’s workout is going to be FUN” and proceed to hide the defibrillators in the far end (Joking!), not many take them at their word – understandably! 

And every year, after Sports day, there’s widespread expressions of pure euphoria (laced liberally with relief!), you know we are on to something good! 

But wait – Sports Day at the Quad? Why? 

Why not? How better to celebrate another year of training at the Quad by doing what we love doing – push, pull, squat, hinge, crawl – but in a carnival-type setting? 

It all started way back in 2013. After a traditional celebratory meal for their very first anniversary, the founders and head coaches Raj Ganpath and Arvind Ashok decided a celebration of sports and fitness is better suited for anniversary celebrations. 

Thus the Quad Sports Day was born, when on (or around) the anniversary of the very first Quad training class in September 2011, all the clients from the different centres, in-person and virtual, come together in glorious harmony. 

Over the years, this day has seen winning teams pit themselves against the Quad Squad for bragging rights, peerless sights such as Coach Santy crawl the length of a basketball coach with a tennis ball on her back, teams goofing off at the photo booth and plenty of good, old fashioned ribbing.  

What are the highpoints of Sports day?

There ought to be a few, right, for a whole bunch of us to do this voluntarily on a regular basis? 

Meet & Greet

The Sports day is an excellent opportunity for the whole Quad contingent to gather under one roof, so to speak, and show off in front of their peers from across the city. This year had the Quad virtual trainees from Bangalore also participating in the event! 

One of the top reasons long-time Quadster Mubeen Ameen, who has been a mainstay of our NGS branch since 2014, gives for not missing a Sports day is the opportunity to hang out with the trainees from the different centres.

“I think it is great that all the coaches and trainees are present in the same place, at the same time. I get to meet a bunch of folks I haven’t seen in a long time!”, says Mubeen. He further adds that, unlike the typical Sports day versions, the Quad one is “super fun, with zero performance anxiety. There’s a nice festive atmosphere, with great music and food & drink, what more do you want? And this time, as an added bonus, we had some of the former trainees and coaches joining in too. I thought that was an excellent call!” 

One of our former trainees, marathoner and founder-member of the Dream Runners Half Marathon Rekha Sudarshan, who was present for Sports day agrees with Mubeen. 

“Though I am not training with the Quad anymore, I was really overwhelmed to get the invitation to participate in the Sports day this year. Walking into Rajarathnam Stadium on Sunday morning, I didn’t feel as if I have spent any time away from the Quad! It was so good to meet up with my old batchmates and get to know the new faces and spend the morning celebrating our love for fitness!” 

Bragging rights: enter the Quad Ninja

NBA can keep its MVPs. At the Quad, we have our Ninjas! Every year, a coach nominates a trainee from their centre for the coveted Ninja title, based on their attitude to fitness, consistency, commitment and the positive impact they have on their community.

For the Ninjas? They get a spanky tshirt and permanent bragging rights! 

When Quad Virtual’s Deepa Suriyaprakash (part of our Shatabdi Express – Bangalore team!) heard Coach Chow call her name out as a Quad Ninja, she was dumbstruck! 

“It was a sweet surprise to win Ninja! Chow is one of the fairest people I know and I thought “hey if she picked me to be Ninja, then I must be deserving of this! 

“Ninja, “Sports” and me – these three would have never come together, if not for the way The Quad looks at things. My training sessions as my therapeutic hour, my ‘me time’. I always try to put my best foot forward and just ‘show up’, as they say, and to be awarded for that, it just felt surreal!” 

The unparalleled joy of community

More than anything, what makes normal, sane people WANT to bounce out of bed on a lazy Sunday morning, get out their dri fit gear and workout at dawn break? The community! This is what brings Rekha back every time. 

“The Quad is one place where you see healthy competition. To be a part of that community on a Sunday morning, in a world where we are constantly running behind something or other, a community where you can be yourself and enjoy fitness – why not?”

Newly-minted Ninja Deepa agrees. “I train virtually and whenever I visit Chennai, I try to train at Chaos (our Adyar centre) and I love the sense of community. I used to run half-marathons and feeling that crowd spirit, the crowd high, was the primary reason. 

That feeling you get when you are part of a collective – that high is what I was looking for when I heard about Sports day. 

The format encourages everyone to do what they do well. To have all the different coaches around, encouraging us, the team working together, it was brilliant!” 

At the Quad, Sports day isn’t only for the fabulously fit athlete. “You can be any size, fast or slow, skilled or not. You are working to be a stronger version of yourself and that strength is for everyone!”, says Coach Chow. 

Celebrating fitness is what we do everyday, Sports day included. If you want to learn to celebrate fitness, why not get in touch with us? We’ll show you how!