My First Visit To A YOG Event: CAN! Carnival
After months of writing about the Singapore Youth Olympic Games in this blog, I finally had an opportunity to visit my first event related to the YOG!
You see, the actual Youth Olympic Games competition doesn't start until the year 2010 in Singapore. So when news arrived that the YOG-inspired CAN! Carnival would kick off on 10 January 2008, my first thought was: I had to be there!
Campus Green in Singapore Management University along Stamford Road was the venue of the CAN! Carnival. When I arrived around three in the afternoon, the venue was already filled with many primary, secondary and tertiary school students. The young-at-heart like myself made up the rest of the crowd.
A beehive of activities was in full swing the moment I arrived. Various demonstration sporting events were held on the campus ground that allowed participants to take part. These activities included 3-on-3 basketball, handball, equestrian, wrestling and fencing.
Two horses were present for the students and kids to ride. Looking at the long queue, my heart went out to the two poor horses. The other sporting events featured at the CAN! Carnival provided a hands-on try-out for those present. Hopefully, these activities can help to interest more kids and students to take up sports and physical activities in the future.
Under a large white tent, dancers and BMX cyclists performed to the beat of music and lights. VIPs arrived shortly after and speeches were made befitting the occasion. Even IOC President Jacques Rogge made a surprise appearance by sending his greetings through an LCD screen.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Communication, Youth and Sports unveiled the new Singapore YOG Logo, not before warning the crowd of enthusiatic supporters about the complicated mechanism that he was about to trigger by pushing a button on stage.
Fortunately, no hiccups occurred with the complex launch mechanism that saw 26 transitions, lighting up a timer which led the crowd to count down from 10 seconds to the popping of white and red balloons that finally revealed the official SYOG Logo.
Soon after, I made my way to the starting line-up for my 2010-metre long CAN! Run. To be precise, the 2.010-km run turned out to be more of a walk especially along the first 500 to 800 metres, due to the large turn-out. When the space opened up for me to run, I had to stop several times at road junctions to wait for the lights to change in my favour.
Despite not getting my dose of running, it was a pleasant way to spend half an hour to look at the downtown sights around Bras Basah Road, Victoria Street, Stamford Road and the Dhoby Ghaut MRT. The trail of runners and walkers with colourful balloons brought out stares and smiles from pedestrians and vehicle drivers.
The YOG-inspired CAN! Carnival was a fun-filled afternoon full of Youth Olympic Games spirit. If this YOG event turn-out and fun factor are an indication of what I can expect during the actual Youth Olympic Games, they would augur well for the future of youths in Singapore and the world.
I shall post more pictures in a series on the CAN! Carnival later. You can look forward to more posts on:
Keep reading my discoveries of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games.
Post a Comment