The Backyard Olympics

I've been known to be a bit of an organizer in my lifetime... :))

One of my earliest organizing feats was the creation of the Backyard Olympics.

I had just watched the Olympic games on TV and, of course, was quite impressed with the whole show.

Why not put on our own Olympics? Right in the backyard of our home in Culver City? So I went to the drawing board.

We had an area for the sprints, 2 or 3 different lengths, if I recall...

The shotput was a big rock and the discuss was a pie tin...

We had to dig a pit for the long jump, with a board in the ground to mark the spot where you took off...

Long distance races were started in the backyard, but continued down the side yard into the street, one race even going around the block...

The highlight of the events, probably because I was pretty good at this, was the high jump and pole vault area. I found two trees that were close enough together for our purposes and tied some cord across them. It only took me one gigantic rope burn to learn to tie one end of the rope in a slip knot so that it would give way when you missed - I think I still have the scar...

We found an old mattress to land on - twin size, of course.

The pole vault pole turned out to be a challenge - what could we use that was light enough to carry down the approach, yet strong enough to support our weight - all 80 pounds of us???

We found a length of 2 x 2 wood that worked just fine...not much bend in the pole, mind you, but it did the job...

Now for the Games to begin...

Events were announced and the particpants (actually, just Kent and I) went to their marks...

I remember posting the results of each competition on paper on a tree for all to see. Results were carefully recorded for future Backyard Olympics competitions...

It was a day of glory for the Hambly boys...we captured the Gold and Silver in every event...