Coming Together, Singapore United - The Community Engagement Games Day 2009

By Sg United Journalist Wee Yan Ran (River Valley High School)

To bring all the people in Singapore together, regardless of race or religion.

That was the objective of the Community Engagement Games Day 2009. “In sports and games, there are no language barriers,” explained Mr Ling Kin Huat, vice chairman of the Taoist Federation Singapore, one of the organisers of this year’s Games Day, held on Saturday, 23 May.

“They can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone,” he said with smile during our interview.

Indeed, when a group of my fellow Sg United journalists and I arrived at the ITE College East, the venue and co-organiser of the Games Day this year, there were already many people of various races and ages mingling and having fun.

When asked if he thought that the objective of the event had been met, Mr. Ling replied with great certainty that it had. “Just look at the crowd here!” he told us.

After the interview, my friends and I, armed with $5 worth of complimentary coupons each, proceeded to personally try out the Games Day activities.

There were many booths scattered around the ITE College East campus, offering various things from food and drinks to carnival games to one where participants got to try out fencing.

As none of us had ever tried fencing before, the fencing booth piqued our interest and upon approaching it, we were convinced to give the sport a try. Armed with the appropriate protective gear, we proceeded to poke each other playfully with long metal sticks that we later learnt were called “foils”. An electronic scoring system tracked the points by registering valid touches. Many laughs later, we walked away with a greater understanding and appreciation of fencing as an Olympic sport.

After getting some drinks from the drink stalls to quench our thirst, we queued up for some free cotton candy and kacang puteh, and browsed the makeshift stalls, some manned by students from NorthLight School as part of their training module in retail. The latter sold goods in support of students of the ITE College that needed financial assistance to complete their education.

Meanwhile, there was a Taichi demonstration on the track and field. There, around 400 people, including 15 Taichi masters from Mt. Wudang in China, had gathered to attempt to break the Singapore record for the most number of people practicing Taichi at one time. Participants of all ages excitedly joined in by trying out the moves that were being demonstrated.

Many wore a proud smile on their faces after the record was successfully broken.

While watching from the stands, my friends and I spotted a white horse strutting about the field with a child perched happily atop it. Naturally, we were curious and proceeded down to the field for a closer look.

A long queue had formed where they were giving out offers for horseback rides to introduce people to equestrian sports. The queue was made up of mostly excited young children.

Colourful carnival game booths nearby next caught our attention. We spent some time throwing hoops and balls at various objects, winning ourselves goodies like water bottles. Then, we spotted some chapteh shuttlecocks lying on a table and were soon kicking them around and laughing at each others’ lack of “foot-eye co-ordination”.

Sometime in the afternoon, we finally left the ITE College East Campus exhausted and worn out by the heat and all that physical activity.

In my opinion, from the success of the event, one could see that the hard work and careful planning, spanning “more than 8 months”, in organising the event was well worth it.