Banter and a Sprinkle of Sports: A review of the APSUL Sports Week 2025
The APSUL Sports Week 2025 in review.
For an event season that started out good, the APSUL sports week 2025 unfolded rather incredulously. Was it a success? Definitely. But did it have pitfalls that would most likely never be forgotten by both the parties involved and the virtual audience? Also yes.
Emotions were undoubtedly high, lines were crossed—a little typical of Sport Weeks to be honest—however, I’d be bluffing if I said it wasn’t quite the experience. If you weren’t there, you missed quite a lot, but don’t worry, we’ll get you up to speed shortly. Before we get into it…
Disclaimer: This review does not represent the opinion of the editorial on the involved parties. It’s a direct opinion piece based on the experience of the writer.
Alright, let’s go.
A Great Start
With the immediate past sports secretary setting a mark for impressive opening ceremonies, it was more than expected that this year, the new Sports secretary would keep up the pace. And, as expected, the APSUL Sports Week opening ceremony was a success (with a twinge of slight apathy from some).
Amidst the potential for a low turnout, incomplete teams, and holes in the planning, it was great to see everything come together nicely. Similar to last year, the cheerleading display was spectacular, as well as the opening games. For the second time, Pandora held their standing record with volleyball, the Dynamos showed how formidable they were across games, and the Fearless class was just that: Fearless.
To be honest, my first impression of this week was immense coordination, proper planning, and healthy banter in between. But as things progressed, the games took a surprising, but not unexpected turn.
The Line between Banter and Shade
I’m sure one of the major things anyone looks forward to during any sports week is the inter-class banter that comes with it. Talk about how well (or poorly) a player performed, how a class lost a match, or just downright back-to-back bants with a selected person, even if it's your own classmate.
While this can be healthy, it does leave room for a number of potentially harmful things. Bants can escalate quite quickly, especially those between classes. We’ve seen it play out so much that at this point, its more a tradition than anything. And every time, it's handled the same way. Case in point: a complaint laid, offence taken, and an incomplete apology letter.
It's easy to ask for things to be swept under the rug, but you can’t avoid things being said and feelings getting hurt when emotions are high. And frankly, no apology letter would make it go away. Yet, even as I write this, I just know that unless there’s some intervention, this interclass banter turned shade will repeat itself next year, and it will be an issue to handle. So, where do you draw the line between healthy banter and harmful insults?
The Calm After the Storm
After a whirlwind of events, high emotions, and some porosity in planning, the APSUL Sports Week 2025 came to an end, with a grand finish—Squid Games: APSUL Edition. Truly, when this idea was pitched during the manifestos, I was curious to see how it would turn out.
It’s safe to say that the closing ceremony was a smashing success. It’s nice to see something go from plan to impressive execution, thanks to the Sports secretary’s work, alongside his teams, of course.
As this period comes to a close, I’m eager to see what The Visionaries have in store for us next. Aren’t you?
Until next time.
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