Adventure in Paraguay: Intercolegial

Essentially, an "intercolegial" is a multi-sport tournament involving schools from all over the city. They send their boys and girls soccer, volleyball, basketball, handball and fut-sol (i.e. indoor soccer) teams to represent the school. Sounds simple enough, right? If only . . .

As most things do, the annual ASA intercolegial has morphed into a two-weekend long extravaganza that puts all other school events I've ever attended to shame.

The first thing you'd notice when you stepped on campus was the complete transformation of the school grounds. And I'm not talking about a balloon "rainbow" arch at the front gate and streamers hanging around the doors of the classrooms. I'm talking COMPLETE transformation. The usual entrance to the school was completely covered with a new school sign, event logo, and event sponsor logos. And yes, that's a Nike swoosh you see. Personal is one of the main cell phone carriers here (think T-Mobile).

Front entrance by the light of day

All lit up at night!

The walkways were lined with booths from a boatload of various vendors. From pharmacies to

Maybeline, M & M's to Pulp (South American soda company). Even Toyota had a station set up in the parking lot with a Yaris on display.

The P.E. offices were covered up by the M & M's

A cell phone company's booth, complete with bean
bag chairs for lounging

A local ice cream brand brought out Rock Band
(or Guitar Hero?) to lure students to their booth

More chairs for lounging, with the pharmacies logo printed
on all sides (in case you didn't see the giant banners)

More lounging chairs by the Yaris

Every possible space on the campus was covered with an advertisement for something. And by every space, I include the walls of the women's bathroom which were covered - floor to ceiling - with static-cling decals for pantiliners. I resisted the urge to take a picture, and, no, I don't know what was done to the boy's restroom. Probably nothing.

The view from the street

Flags also lined the fence of the school, so that if you didn't have a chance to come on campus to be accosted by the advertising, you'd at least know which companies were being represented at the event.

As Bailey and I rolled up to the front entrance we were stopped in our tracks by a mob of students from a local school who were waiting to be let onto the campus. The mob's official title is hinchadas; the link will take you to a youtube video of a hinchada entering a professional futbol stadium and I dare say the students rivaled their passion. Many had donned matching school tees, covered their faces (and arms, and legs) with their school colors, and were shouting a song to encourage the athletes they were there to support. If that weren't enough "school spirit," they also discharged flares (in school colors) waving them around without regard to personal space or concern over the cars still trying to drive in the street that they were blocking.

No, there wasn't a spot on my camera lens; that's smoke
(red and white) from the flares

We managed to squeeze past them, thanks to a few sympathetic drivers who took notice of the pregnant lady pushing a stroller and let me by (gracias!). Once inside the gates, things were a bit less hectic (the flares and fireworks were definitely kept outside the school gates), but "crowded" is a word that doesn't even begin to describe the scene. Below is a video of one of the "hinchadas" (from an all girl's school) parading from the entrance to the volleyball/basketball courts. I have another video of a more passionate hinchada we witnessed during a fut-sol game, but I can't get it to upload...I'll work on it (and maybe get it up on facebook instead, if it'll work there).

The games themselves were relatively "normal" and uneventful as far as high school athletic events go. There were of course yellow and red cards being handed out, teammates holding each other back as threats were exchanged, and unnecessary roughness, but there were also stands filled with enthusiastic fans, high-fives exchanged between games, and the most school spirit I've ever witnessed.

Handball

Soccer

Basketball

Volleyball

Volleyball (moved to a covered court
when rain threatened)

And how did Bailey cope with all of it? She was a trooper. While she hid her face in my shoulder when a bus load of students were setting off fireworks at the entrance on Saturday night, she didn't seemed phased by the crowds or noise at the games. There was also a kid play area open in the evenings where she was able to play with rocking animals, blocks, a play kitchen and princess dress up "stuff" . . . an area sponsored by a few preschools (and one party "bounce house" company) looking to scrounge up new recruits.