With her husband Mr Michael Bryce (pictured below with Senior Mentor CJ Jackson) and her team, they spent half a day with the children and teachers of the school along with Sports Challenge CEO Dr Garry Tester, Programs Coordinator Jacqui Finnegan and Senior Mentors CJ Jackson and Marita Payne.

The visit culminates a seven year partnership between Timber Creek and Sports Challenge in improving attendance, mental and physical health, resilience, life skills and real aspirations for the future.

Objective longitudinal data has shown that the program has been a resounding success. Moreover it has been the fantastic loyalty and trust between the Sports Challenge staff, the teachers, parents and the children built over time that really makes this a ‘lighthouse’ program for remote communities.

As the Governor General explained “You can see how all the hard work has paid off by just looking at the smiling faces of the happy children, with that glint in their eyes, that their dreams and hopes can be achieved”.

Punggol Primary students with their Sports Challenge mentor, Jacqui

Punggol Primary Shines from the front gate to the classroom!

On 26^th February, 2010, our first experience arriving at Punggol Primary School in Singapore set the scene for a great program. As soon as the Sports Challenge van, carrying Jacqui Finnegan, Richard Heptinstall, Margie Thompson and myself (Kate Lynch), pulled through the gates for our briefing session, we were cheerfully greeted by a beaming security guard.

The good feeling continued as we met the administration staff, who were helpful as ever, through to meeting the kindest man of all: the pastoral care teacher, Khamil!  

Khamil gave us a comprehensive tour of the school, showing us the beautiful central gardens with massive fish pond, and included other interesting details of Singapore for our foreign benefit. Aided by the bright colours of the school’s building, we started to feel excited about our 4 day program.

The following week, on Day 1 of our program, we met 50 eager children in a wonderfully air conditioned room and then split into our teams. The children in each group responded well to our team building activities and discussions on team work and aspirations for the future. The beautiful, airy, wooden-floored hall was a great setting to run activities such as ‘The Grid’ and ‘Abacus’, and some of the older students were even challenged in the activity ‘Toxic Waste’ (all experiential ‘hands on’ learning activities). 

We were so impressed with Punggol students’ well mannered behaviour and enthusiasm, and left each day feeling good about the childrens’ progress. On our fourth day, we said our goodbyes with the promise to keep in touch through Epals, on the Sports Challenge website, and the ever supportive Khamil took us out to try the local flavours for a relaxed debriefing session.

Sports Challenge visits Punggol Primary School, Singapore

Cedar Girls enjoy the Sports Challenge experiential learning

With Singapore wanting more and more to be a global player in business and commerce, some Singaporean Secondary Schools are taking the lead in developing their students for the world stage.

A critical factor is going to be the engagement of other cultures of which Emotional Intelligence (EI) is to be paramount. The ability to perceive, have empathy and develop social relationships are skills of the future to engage effectively.

One school leading the way through their Head of Pupil Development, Bee Sun, is Cedar Girls’ Secondary. Using the Sports Challenge ‘world first’ objective measures of (EI) and the experiential (hands on) mentoring program, the selected girls of Cedar made huge steps towards effective (EI) skills.

Under the guidance of mentors Jacqui Finnegan, Kate Lynch, Margaret Thompson and Richard Heptinstall, these at first quiet girls began their journey of (EI) discovery as they laughed and squeezed as many girls as possible onto a mat during the ‘Swamp Crossing’ activity to launch effective team work.

The (EI) program showed the Cedar Girls are fond of discussing and planning, rather than trial and error, when it comes to successful problem solving- proving that groups don’t necessarily need to be loud and energetic to get the most out of our experiential activities. During these discussions, it was clear the girls were working on the four components of the (EI) framework that Sports Challenge uses; Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self Management & Relationship Management.

The ‘Pipeline’ activity, which involves meticulous planning, budgeting and using a team approach, saw the girls continually assess their own emotions during group discussions, while assessing and understanding their team mates’ emotions. Putting together a successful pipeline can sometimes be frustrating! In the end, some ingenious and creative designs were presented by the groups.

With post objective (EI) measures, individual mentor evaluations, student feedback and the smiling faces as each girl received their Certificate of Success all goes well for the future of Singapore in the new world order. Here, emphasis will be on the global family and care of our fragile environment. The Sports Challenge mentors were unanimous… Cedar Girls (EI) program is the way of the future.

The Sports Challenge team, sponsored by DrinkWise Australia, was greeted by a sea of very excited faces when they traveled to Timber Creek in the Northern Territory for the annual ‘West is Best Carnival’.  For five days, the Timber Creek racecourse became a hive of activity and colour as more than one hundred kids laughed, lived and competed together.

The primary school students, who camped out on the racetrack for the week, were full of energy and enthusiasm as the Sports Challenge coaches led them through a number of challenging activities aimed at promoting healthy, active lifestyles.

Led by Garry Tester, Leah Pitts, Chris De Boer and Keigan Landon, in conjunction with Jess Wattke from Katherine’s YMCA, the children completed many challenging activities designed to improve cooperation and communication. Activities including ‘Parachute’, ‘Swamp Crossing’, ‘The Grid’ and ‘Crocodile’ allowed the children to practise and develop their skills in a variety of problem-solving and sporting contexts in promoting collegiate spirit.

Thursday the 4th of June was the annual athletics carnival, where the Sports Challenge coaches marshaled and encouraged the children through a number of individual and team events.

Many of the children showed great sporting prowess at the 2009 “West is Best Carnival.”  Perhaps one of Australia’s future sporting stars is hidden amongst this group…..

All in all, a great time was had by everyone involved. The children left with new friendships, increased confidence and fantastic memories.  The Sports Challenge team left ‘pumped’ knowing they had assisted these young children in life’s uncertain journey.

If you were walking past Scotch College on a Friday afternoon you could not help notice the energy of the year 10 boys out on the lawn under the huge pine trees calling out to each other as they try to solve a different leadership activity each week. The activities are designed to encourage and extend students to work together as a team while developing their own leadership skills.

The groups are only small and the activities intense under the guidance of elite sportsmen and women who have been highly trained in the areas of: conflict resolution, goal setting, communication skills, time management and leadership styles and most importantly, teamwork.

Elite mentors CJ Jackson (basketball), Jesse Phillips (kayaking), Briony Keenan (gymnastics) and Richard Heptinstall (AFL boundary umpire) backed up by Programs Coordinator Leah Pitts and Marketing and Communications Coordinator Tania Giorgetta, ensure ‘best practice’ is delivered each week.

The outdoor experiential activities complemented by cognitive work booklets for each boy in the classroom. The indoor work ensures sound leadership practices are documented and evaluated rigorously. All boys are exposed to some ‘world first’ assessment tools including Emotional Intelligence (EI) audits and individual Leadership audits.

As one year ten boy said “It’s great to do something different and through the program I am learning a lot about myself and the others in my group.”

Now into its fourth year at Scotch Year 10 coordinator Bill Cordner sees the Sports Challenge program “as essential in our boys’ development as they strive to be the best they possibly can be in life’s uncertain journey.”