AYG - A Big Thank You to all Volunteers!

On the very last day that these Special Squad members performed their Village duties, I thanked each one of them personally and presented them with AYG souvenirs. This group of student volunteers and the teachers who served till the final day July 8 were the only ones I managed to give the souvenirs to.

Many of the other students and teachers from various schools had served in the earlier period starting from June 18.

I did not forget them. No matter how long it took, I spent the whole of last week visiting those who had served and presenting them with the souvenirs. Many of my volunteers were truly surprised and touched that I bothered to drive all the way to their school to deliver them.

And some have suggested that we should have a get-together again...one day.

See what I meant?

At the Training session for all Village Volunteers on June 8 at Swissotel, I ended my training presentation with a particularly interesting and poignant slide.

I mentioned that "once the AYG is over we will not remember it for the hardwork we all put in but for the friendships made among fellow volunteers and wishing that somehow this nice feeling can continue and not go away."
How true!

AYG - A Birthday Celebration and a new Ukulele fan!

One day, I received an SMS from one of the student volunteers asking for permission to skip her Sunday duty at the Games Village. Yes...we all worked through all the Saturdays and Sundays from as early as 6.30 am to 10 pm plus.

I then asked her for the reasons. She related that she would like to celebrate her birthday on that day.

When I met her the very next day on her shift duty I suggested that she could, if she wanted to, celebrate the occasion right there at the Intro Bar and we would all rejoice with her.

That was what actually happened as this photo showed. Happy Birthday!

Here is the latest fan club member of Unk Dicko's ukulele group. Lydia, who is a teacher volunteer from Christchurch Secondary was able to observe my ukulele playing very closely...not just the fingering of chords but strumming patterns and styles.

I encouraged her to give it a try and she somehow displayed quite a natural gift for the ukulele. Hope she can really pick it up from here.

Unk Dicko entertains at Athletes' Lounge , Swissotel..AYG.

The volunteers on duty at the IntroBar venue of the Athletes' Lounge were treated to a special Ukulele Performance on 2 days of the last week of the AYG. Being so busy with AYG Village work, I simply had no time to devote to my Ukulele practice and working out the music and song arrangements for my next public performance.

That afternoon, when the changeover shift had been completed, those on the earlier shift were able to relax and unwind from their duties. I treated all of them to their 1st Ukulele session seen close up.

This group of students from Serangoon Sec were really able to not only enjoy the music I provided but joined in the with clapping and singing as well.

After a while, I paused and asked some of them to give the ukulele a try.

Teaching them a few of the basic chords...they began to strum. Not bad at all..I would add.

As soon as I played some keroncong style music, I could see even the athletes attention were attracted.
One particular song was requested again and again.

They told me they love its catchy beat. What was that song?

Leron Leron Sinta [ Philippines ].

AYG - The Athletes' Lounge, Part 2

Photo:
An athlete in the background having a go at Tennis on the Wii set. I was rather surprised they played the game sitting down. No wonder they often missed the shots !



Photo:
A special AYG Mixed soccer competition in progress. Can't remember which side won. Makes no difference as it was Sg/ Uzbekistan versus Uzbekistan/Sg. But there was much fun and laughter especially when own goals were scored!




Photo:
This was from the Straits Times edition of Wednesday July 8. The press came a-visiting and captured the action in the Games Room. Some members of the Korean team were playing Table soccer. Teacher volunteer Lee KC is on the left.

AYG - The Athletes' Lounge

The AYG kicked off with the arrival of teams for the Preliminary Soccer Competition starting from June 18. That was also the same day I awoke at 5 am to catch the early MRT train to Dhoby Ghaut, then changed to the N-S line to City Hall station. I met my Village volunteers at the Foyer outside the Operations Room at 6.30 am. After my briefing and attendance taking, I led them to the Intro Bar where meals were served for the workforce and volunteers.
Some days later, the Intro Bar was converted to an Internet Games Room for the athletes and was renamed "the Athletes' Lounge". It was opened from 8am to 10 pm daily and I assigned some of my Special Squad members to man it throughout.
There were 7 notebooks with free internet access, 2 TV sets showing all the "Live AYG" action, 2 X-box sets, 2 Wii sets and 2 table soccer sets.


At all hours of the day, the athletes and officials would stream in to have some fun and just simply unwind.
Most of my volunteers had no experience with Wii games and I conducted a brief hands -on session for them. Those who were fortunate to have seen me in action were mighty impressed.
I can still remember one FA chief who was present with her set of helpers and was watching my demo saying......." My Goodness! Look, he has not missed a single shot !"
I told them I have a Wii set at home.


On the very last day of the Games Room operation, these 2 Uzbeskistan athletes wanted to have a game of table soccer with us...as a parting gesture. I obliged them with my key right hand man Ho CH joining in too.
The Games Room was a very popular place for the athletes to hang out, have fun and make friends with other fellow athletes as well as student volunteers.

AYG - Kazakhstan Silkscreen Printing

There were many highly interesting activities that I found while browsing the Asian Cultural booths. I chanced upon a group of students working with paints. On closer look, they seemed to be doing some kind of printing. One of them welcomed me, Choon Ling and Allan. They were actually demonstrating the art of Silkscreen printing...passed down from ancient times. This was at the Kazakhstan booth.



They asked me to choose a pattern on offer. I did.

Then working with the chosen engraved block they applied a thin coat of paint to the red bag.



We waited 5 minutes for the paint to dry. A hair dryer was further applied to expedite the drying process.






Photo:
A student explaining the simplicity of silkscreen printing to C Ling.



Photo:
The finished products were presented to us. Well done students and well done Kazakhstan !


Now we have really understood what silkscreen printing is all about.

AYG - Good Morning Vietnam!

The Vietnam section was manned by a few very capable Vietnamese students who are all studying in SJI. They can speak English quite well and projected confidence and a great love for their native land. On the display tables were artifacts, artwork, musical instruments and samples of tea, coffee etc..from their land of birth.
I introduced myself to them by asking," Do you happen to know who looked after the large Vietnamese Contingent at the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore? "
When they smiled and shook their heads... I pointed to myself. Suddenly there was a flurry of excitement as the import of what I said registered.
One of them then blurted out, " That was the same year I was born in ! " I related my involvement with the Vietnamese Contingent and other delegations from Vietnam over many years since.

Photos:
Unk Dicko and a SSC volunteer from the Philippines with the guys from SJI.

In 2001, during the 1st ASIAN Schools Swimming C'ships, I was chief LO to VIP delegates, including Vietnam. Mr Lee Van Quan...the chief delegate taught me a song from his homeland.
I sang some lines of this song to this AYG group. They knew the song and joined in ! What was the song?

" Nhu' Co' Bac Ho trong ngay Vui dai thang'."
The chorus is quite simple and goes like this...Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh ( x 4 ).

AYG - How we kept H1N1 at bay.

As soon as the thermal scanners were placed in the strategic locations and control points, my volunteers got into action. SSC also had their own set of volunteers helping out.

In the main Operations Room area, all workforce or visitors have to get their temp taken twice daily and given a sticker to identify their OK status.

These temp takers were the adult teachers in my Special Squad aided by student volunteers.

Photos:

Top...Ms Mawaddah from PLMGS performing her task well.

Bottom...the visitor filling up particulars in the temperature log book. Green stickers were for use after 5 pm.

AYG - 5 star Service and food !

There were no complaints about the service or food at the Games Village.

It was 5 star standard.

Not many of today's volunteers and workforce had served in the last 1993 SEA Games which S'pore hosted and the many other major Sporting Championships over the last 30 plus years. I have...and thus with hindsight can compare with the past.

I can assure all you were truly well-taken care of.

Photos:

Me, Allan and Fauzi ..2 members of my Special Squad sampling the food over dinner at the Ballroom.

Verdict? Thumbs Up!

AYG - Meals for Volunteers and Workforce

There were 3 main meals provided for all our volunteers and workforce at Swissotel...Breakfast ( 5.30 -9.00am ), Lunch ( 11.30 - 3.00pm ) and Dinner ( 5.30 - 9.00 pm ). The food spread was sufficiently good, with plenty of desserts thrown in too. Coffee and tea and a variety of fruits.

Around day 3 into our work, we started on June 18, Nicholas from YOG roped me in to give instant feedback to Executive Chef Allan Koh on the F and B thus far. I opted for frank but positive feedback method and made some requests.

I am most happy to say Chef Allan Koh was a very accomodating person and almost daily we had some of the very BEST chocolate cakes added as a bonus. These were not on the menu but I asked him to try" kidnap"any of these leftovers from the many conferences and meetings held there.

All you people who enjoyed these tasty cakes, please say 'thanks' to Chef Allan !

The dining places were not at one same place. We had them at the Intro Bar, Padang Room, Canning Room, Olivia Room, VIP Room...as shown in this photo.

It was dinner time. I walked in and saw that almost all the curtains were drawn, making the place very dark.

No one thought of pulling away the curtains! When I did so, this was what greeted my eyes...a beautiful, setting sun hovering just above the roofline of the buildings in the distance.

This was the 1st sunset dinner we had! And what a splendid reddish sunset we witnessed.

AYG - Kazakhstan and Myanmar

One of the major attractions of the Games Village that was always crowded and filled with visitors was the area set up by the participating nations themselves...in the form of booths showcasing their respective nation. On the very 1st day they were up, I happened to pass by a couple of booths.
This was one of them...Kazakhstan. There was this handsome young man dressed in a beautiful costume of his native land and he was using a pencil to draw a portrait of this student volunteer. I love portraits and so went closer to have a look. He was very skilful! Pity that I did not have the time to be his subject.
Astana is the capital city of their country. It happens to be the 2nd coldest capital city in the world after UlanBator ( Mongolia ). In winter, temperatures can reach -35 to -45 Celsius! And guess what is their population figure? Only about 750,000 people.

As I was going into the Operations Centre, I was invited by these lovable Myanmese guys to stop and have a closer look at the Myanmar booth.

After looking around at their nice set-up, I related that I love Myanmar especially Yangon the capital. I was there less than 2 years ago.

These booths and the idea behind it was simply fabulous. It provided everyone with a real opportunity to have a better understanding of our ASIAN neighbours and friends, their culture, history, music and arts.

AYG - Team Welcome for Japan.

Japan CDM receiving a souvenir gift from DHS school rep after the TWC.

The flag from Japan being raised during the TWC.

The Japanese delegation was as usual very impressive and very well organised. Not surprising at all as they have hosted the Asian Games and even the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the shared Olympics too.

What a nice-looking delegation!

DHS was the "twinning school " for Japan. Here they are with Village Chief and yours truly for a memorable picture.

AYG - The Special Squad

Before the AYG started, all the Functional Areas ( FAs ) had been identified and structured into the overall Organisational Plan of the Games Village...all that is except for this Special Squad that I created under my own initiative.
There were doubts that I could even get more than 10 persons into such a squad and operating daily from the word "Go".
The early reasoning was that we will be probably be short of volunteer manpower from the schools both teachers and students to manage the various FAs in the Village. The Secretariat sent emails to schools requesting for volunteers...but the response was slow and inadequate...and the days were fast approaching towards the AYG. That is where networking and very good H R comes in handy. I made a personal and direct approach to just a few schools namely DHS, Zhenghua Sec, Naval Base Sec, Serangoon Sec, Commonwealth Sec, PLMGS ( Primary )..and just from these, secured most of my manpower needs, in addition to the teachers and students from some schools and later some Hq staff.


Photo:
These are the students from Serangoon Secondary with one of their teachers Ms Peh SF. They were valuable members of my Special Squad.
In all, I had nearly 30 teachers and more than 25 students in the squad assigned to various tasks under my command.
The number of teacher and student volunteers under my charge was nearly 500.

AYG - Behind the Scene at TWC.

As the flag of each country was slowly raised in a much rehearsed ritual of protocol, the National anthem of the country was played over the PA sound system.
To ensure that the correct anthem was played for each country, a proper and official digital copy of the approved anthem for each country was ready.
Here is the DHS student volunteer i/c of it behind the scene.
The 30 students from DHS are all selected from the Uniformed groups in their school. They were highly disiplined and responsible.


The CDM from Nepal during the Exchange of souvenirs.

After the flags were hoisted...a flurry of camera activities followed. Most teams wanted to capture pictures of themselves with the beautiful backdrop of the AYG banners and posters.

The CDM of Yemen was very impressed with the gift from this school....represented by the student.

He was genuinely interested in the artwork and asked the gift bearer to explain some of the culture behind it.

He sure made the boy and his school very proud by his animated enthusiasm.

AYG - Bahrain and Macau, China at TWC.

The flags of Bahrain and Macau,China

flying nicely after the ceremonial welcome. Three more NOCs await their turn.

Finally, all 5 flags including Myanmar, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam were unfurled.

I captured this scene after the TWC for Bhutan and

Korea.

Yemen was waiting for their turn.

AYG - a Meeting of many former students !

Our student volunteers worked exceptionally hard at the Games Village. They were deployed to various tasks and duties. As Manager of the Volunteers taskforce numbering in the hundreds, it was my job to organise and assign them to the various roles under the charge of Funtional Areas heads. They came from schools, JCs and some Polys. The adult staff came from schools, MOE Hq, Schools Division etc.

Photo:

This student took his duty seriously, observing closely the thermal scanner as media people stream in and out of the Media centre.

Photo:

Jaswinder, the policewoman on duty was my former student.

I did not realise where all the thousands of students whom I have the privilege of teaching in my 4 decade career have gone to or what they were now doing.

This AYG was an eye-opener for me.

I have never had so many former students of mine coming forward to me and saying," Mr Yip, do you remember me...I was your former student ? I was your student in the year.. . Many are in the AYG workforce, many are also volunteers. Many are now in the education service from teachers, VPs, Principals to Directors. They are in all kinds of professions or business or politics...judges, DPPs, Senior Police and Military Command, lawyers and doctors, business leaders.

Photo:

Team Welcome ceremony for China and other nations.

Photo:

Village Mayor welcoming all at the ceremony.