Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Athletics at YOG (Day 2)

So Day 2 kicked off with the Boys Javelin Qualifications and there will also be events such as the 2000m Steeplechase for both Girls and Boys, not forgetting the highlight of day 2, the 100m dash. I was pretty disappointed as I was not really able to catch the events live. I was watching online but it kept buffering every 10seconds, making it difficult to watch. But nonetheless, I managed to get a glimpse of a few performances by the athletes.
It was a case of a fast track for the boys competing in the 2000m SC. This is evident from the fact that seven of them bettered their Personal Best timings during the qualifications. Having said that, I am sure we will see even better runs by this group in the next race.

Another surprising display was the Boys Javelin. 11 out of the 15 throwers threw PBs. The winner however did not achieve his personal best but managed to top the field with the distance of 77.27m on his last throw.

Singaporean Zachary Ryan Devaraj knew he needed to step up his game in this Youth Olympics. He was up against many fast athletes from countries such as Qatar and Ethopia. Despite being left behind by the leading pack, he managed to run a PB with a timing of 2min 32.27seconds.

Liang Wei was the next Singaporean youth put to the test in the 100m Girls qualifications. Her heat was disrupted due to a false start. However, Liang Wei had a powerful start of the blocks on the 2nd run. She had in fact, the fastest reaction time and managed to come in 4th in her heat with a timing of 12.79s which was slightly off her PB of 12.58s.

Next up was the Boys 100m. I got our very own Fastest Boy, Calvin Kang, to give me live updates from Bishan stadium as I gave up buffering from the online platform. Calvin was rather excited about the 100m as it was the event he had been running since a little boy. He gaves us his view on who to look out for in the 100m.

“Is he the next Usain Bolt?? Youngster Odane Skeen from the Jamaica has been the grapevine of this Youth Olympics. Turning 16 in 9 days time, this Jamaican is seeded as the fastest boy in the YOG. The 100m heats still continued despite the slight downpour. David Bolarinwa kick started the 100m heats with a time of 10.62sec and was the fastest overall. Odane on the other hand was not far off finishing top of his heat with a time of 10.63sec after facing 2 false starts. The Asians like the Japs and Thais were also on their game in their respective heats. Overall, the boys weren’t really pushing this was only the qualifications. Expect a fantastic final this Sat morning.”

This rounds up Day 2 of athletics at YOG. Many achieved PBs today. It could have been due to the weather. Whatever the case was, these athletes are really talented. We have much to learn from them.

Tomorrow's events promise to be as exciting, with the 200m sprint on show. Till then,

Written by: Shalindran
Edited by: Hakeem
Pictures: Calvin Kang

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Athletics At YOG (Day 1)

Today marks the first day of the Youth Olympics Games for the Track and Field athletes. The weather was not our usual Tuesday morning sun but rather a scorching sun with little wind. That did not deter the Youths in their quest for medals. Today's events were mostly qualification rounds into the next level.


In the 100m hurdles for girls, we had our very own Singaporean girl, Goh Wei Ning. Being in the 1st heat, she was the quickest off the blocks as compared to those in her round. Her final timing of 15.01secs was only fast enough to be able to run in the lower classifications. Ekaterina Bleskina from Russia was the fastest qualifier posing a time of 13.32sec. However Megan Simmonds from Jamaica (picture below) caught my attention. She was the shortest among all her other competitors but had excellent technique clearing the hurdles. She would be one of the few to look out for at the Finals.



Sean Toh was the next athlete donning the Singapore flag and running 110 Hurdles. A hiccup in the starts caused the athletes in his heat to stop running once the gun was off. Though the siren was already sounded, Sean continued to run for another 40m until he was signaled to stop by one of the officials standing by the side. His final time after the 2nd run was 15.09secs which was more than 1sec of his PB. If not for the disruption, I felt he might have been able to run a better race.

Wendy Enn from the Singapore Sports School ran the 400m. The field for this event was very strong with athletes doing timings like 53s. Wendy clocked a timing of 62.74s. I would predict that the 400m girls final will be a fight between Robin Reynolds from the USA and Bukola Abogunloko from Nigeria.

The last sprint event for that day was the 400m boys. Once again, the youths showed their class by running fantastic timings which have surpassed our national record. One athlete was the talk of the town at this event. Santos Luguelin from the Dominican Republic (seen from the picture below) lead from the start to finish and his superlative time of 46.82secs was well enough to put him at the top.

It is just Day 1 and already we see so many outstanding results. As the days go by, we will be expecting first class performances by the youths. I cannot wait for Day 2 to come as it will be where the speed demons will be unleashed!! The 100m heats.

So till then, here's Shalindran signing off from Reactiv


Credits: Photos courtesy of Weijen Chao and Calvin Kang

Saturday, August 7, 2010

5th All Comers 2010

It has been quite some time since the last update on Track and Field. This is because there has not been much local races. Recently, a new team in the association was formed and they were put to test at the 5th All Comers 2010. The changes were quite significant for example a different competition venue was picked, (ITE SIMEI). Despite the few hiccups, it was a good job done by the new team with a vision to keep moving forward. We saw a Malaysian team (Nordin Jadi Athletic Club) coming over to compete in which many of them did personal best timings. It was a good exposure for our Singaporean Athletes.
As for our training group, since most of us are recovering from injuries, only Nikita and Prayaank were suppose to compete. However, during training that week, Nikita felt the same pain at the knee which many of our athletes have been going through. Thus, I decided that it was not feasible for her to compete but instead to rest and recover. Prayaank took part in the 100m where he did 11.53sec.




I am looking forward to the next big meet in Singapore which is the Youth Olympic Games 2010. Though none of my athletes will be competing, I was very interested in being involved with the Games. Just recently, I got myself accredited for the YOG Athletes Village located in NTU. The training stadium in sports and recreation centre is for Athletics, Weightlifting, Judo, BasketBall, Swimming and Basketball. And I have the privilege to be the National Technical Official of Athletics. It is one of the best place to be, where athletes will be doing their workout and "secrets" being revealed! Watch out for our blog, as I will update the trainings and pictures from the YOG.

Till the next meet, here's Alfred signing off.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

SAQ in Bishan Park Secondary School

Activo organized and conducted a 1.5hour SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness) program with Bishan Park Secondary School on the 8th of July 2010.

Mr Hansen Bey was the main coordinator for this program. We had so much fun meeting the super active kids from the Soccer and Basket Ball school team. The activities were arranged into 3 groups, managed by different instructors. Mr Hansen was incharged of the Agility Ladder, Mr Latiff took charged of the short hurdles, and I was incharged of the Reaction Ball. I have to thank Mr Eddie from Xpat Fitness, for helping us to film these video clips, and Brenda from Activo for the photos.

The SAQ is very beneficial to all students ranging from secondary to tertiary level, who are involved in sports. These 3 components will definitely enhance sports performance. It will be ideal if the coaches from the sports groups will adopt the idea of doing SAQ as part of their training regime.

Pls enjoy the video!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fit Band at Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School

Reactiv collaborated with Activo and conducted a Fitband session with the Teachers and Staff of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School. The 20 minutes session was conducted in the early morning 7.30am on 28th June 2010.

The session started out with stretching warm up, brief introduction of how major muscle group can be stretched. Basic body weight exercises were introduced with Activo resistance fitbands. The teachers had a great time working on both upperbody and lowerbody muscles. They were exposed to the different variation of exercises that they can do even in their office.

The short session ended off after 3 sets of the 5 different fitband exercises, a great way to start the day! Please see the pictures below :)