7 - 9 December 2009

The 16th International Academic Session for Young Participants was organized and hosted by the Singapore Olympic Academy (SOA) from 7th to 9th December 2009 in Singapore at the National Community Leadership Institute (NACLI). A total of 116 participants, facilitators, presenters and special guests attended the Session:

• 41 Singapore school teachers
• 26 PE trainee teachers from the graduating class of NIE/NTU
• 11 Asian participants from: Brunei, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Oman, Philippines and Thailand
• 1 invited workshop leader, Dr Deanna Binder of Canada
• 5 concurrent session presenters
• 9 SOA Fellows and technical support officers
• 11 Session facilitators
• 12 Singaporean Olympians

The theme for the 2009 Session was "Equipping and training Olympic Values Education Program (OVEP) Instructors". The objectives of the Session were:

• To promote the IOC's Olympic Values Education Program (OVEP) to Asian National Olympic Committees and National Olympic Academics
• To equip Olympic Education educators with the knowledge and skills to deliver the OVEP program in their respective countries
• To grow and develop a core group of Olympic Education champions who will promote the Olympic values in the Asian continent and Singapore, especially in view of the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games where Culture & Education is a significant contributing component of the Games.
• Manage inventory of office stationery and other assets of the SOA

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony of the Session was held on 7th Dec, graced by Guest of Honour Mr Ng Ser Miang, IOC Vice-President and Chairman of the SOA Board of Governors. The SOA also honoured Mr Harry Tan Eng Kwang, outgoing SOA Head of Olympic Education, by inducting him to the SOA 2009 Roll of Honour in recognition of his significant contributions to the promotion of Olympic Education in Singapore as well as to physical education teacher education in Singapore. At the Opening Ceremony, Mr Benson Tan, an intellectually disabled athlete with Special Olympics played several musical pieces on the violin while students of Republic Polytechnic presented a dynamic and graceful dance item.

Just prior to the Opening Ceremony, 12 Singapore Olympians were also present to share their Olympic experiences with the participants in small group dialogue setting. The sharing continued during dinner, after the Ceremony.

Session Workshop & Presentations

The key workshop sessions organized to achieve the objectives were conducted by Dr Deanna Binder (Canada), author of the IOC's "Teaching Values: An Olympic Education Toolkit". In her presentations, Dr Binder introduced participants to a brief history of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Values before taking participants through the toolkit, providing them with abundant opportunities for dialogue, discussions and reflections about the different sections and topics, the instructional methods that can be utilized for delivering the different topics to achieve the learning outcomes. The theoretical understandings were reinforced with specifically designed hands-on activities to facilitate and consolidate the new knowledge and understanding of the participants through an experiential learning process, for example:

• Olympic Heritage Race where participants worked in different groups to accomplish tasks base on Olympic values and themes (e.g. peace, excellence, respect for diversity, teamwork, protecting the environment etc.)
• Designing flags of different Asian nations and understanding the meaning behind each flag's colours and symbols
• International Cultural presentations where groups present a local and international cultural item
• Staging of the opening ceremony of a major game (the "SOA Youth Games") to simulate the experience of being a participant at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games (e.g. parade of athletes, torch run & lighting, oath taking by athletes & officials, march in and raising of the IOC flag etc.)

Other Highlights

Participants at the Session also enjoyed the rare opportunity of meeting 3 champion Jamaican athletes, Olympian sprint champions Mr Asafa Powell & Ms Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Mr Dexter Lee, Junior 100m World Youth Champion at the Youth Olympic Games Learning centre on 8th Dec. Participants were privileged to be able to listen and interact with the Jamaican athletes at the "Meet the Olympians" dialogue session. Participants also attend a presentation on the "Culture and Education Program of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games" by Ms Pearl Samuel, Assistant Director of the SYOGOC CEP Division.

Four Singapore schools were also invited to share the various Olympic Education (OE) projects and initiatives undertaken by their respective schools. Participants were able to gain valuable insights and encouragements about embarking on different OE initiatives and programmes in their respective schools in the build-up towards the 2010 YOG and beyond. All participants also gained an "Asian perspective" when the Asian participants shared about various OE projects and events happening in their respective nations.

Assessment of Session by Participants

Feedback from the participants indicated that the International Academic Session was a resounding success and that the objectives of the Session were met. The participants rated the various segments of the Session positively and appreciated the opportunity to learn about the Olympic Movement, Olympic values and how to use the OVEP Toolkit effectively with children and youths. They appreciated the opportunities to meet inspirational Olympians from Singapore and Jamaica. Living and interacting with each other over the course of the 3 days (5 days for the Asian participants) in a residential setting was also a key factor that contributed to the successful learning outcome of the session.

Acknowledgments

The SOA 2009 International Session would not have been possible if not for the support of the International Olympic Committee and the Singapore National Olympic Committee. Numerous individuals also contributed to the successful session, namely Mr Ng Ser Miang, Dr Deanna Binder, Mr Chris Chan, SOA Fellows, facilitators, presenters, Olympians and most of all, the participants who came to learn and share.

Dr Teo-Koh Sock Miang
Principal/Singapore Olympic Academy