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Athletes of
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Overview •Introduction to our project
•Life journey of Dr William
Tan
•Importance of Perseverance
•Target Group
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Athletes of
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Overview •Camp: “Push-The-Limits”
•Benefits to wider community
•Evaluation of our project
•Conclusion
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Athletes of
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Aim of project •Singapore will be hosting the
Youth Olympics Games in 2010
•Important that Singapore upholds
its pride and enhance
competitiveness of home-grown
athletes
•Local athletes are able to face
strong challenges from
international competitors
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Athletes of
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Project outline •Aim to inculcate perseverance into
30 elite athletes from Swift Athletics
Association (SAA)
•Major in long distance running
•Undergo a 2-day camp – “Push The
Limits”
•Focusing on Dr Tan’s Antarctica
marathon due to his perseverance
ignited in the journey
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Athletes of
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Athletes of
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Biography of Dr.
William Tan •Contracted polio at age of 2
•Neuroscientist and Medical
Doctor
•Not allowed to engage in
physical activities since young
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Athletes of
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•Covets a
meaningful life
-wanted to
make his life
count.
•Started
engaging
in sports
related
activities
Biography of Dr.
William Tan •Chance upon a paralysed former
policeman, Mr Wahid Baba, in The
Straits Time
•Mr Wahid Baba pioneered wheelchair
sports in Singapore
•Began training under his guidance
•Had his talent discovered by Mr Wahid
Baba
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Athletes of
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Don’t worry about
your disability. It’s
part of your life.
You’ve got to do
whatever you
can.
- Abdul Wahid
Baba
Introduction to Dr. William
Tan’s Journey •Antarctica Marathon – King
George Island
•Rejected at first as no wheelchair
athletes had participated before
•Manage to convince Thom
Gilligan (race director) to allow
him to participate
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Harsh conditions
experienced
•Dr Tan’s Wheelchair sank
two feet into the quicksand-
liked mud
•Did not anticipate the mud
•His poorly designed racing
chair spoilt due to extreme
coldness
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Turning Point in his
life •Realised he had not enough time to
complete full marathon
•Officials told him he would bust the
time limit of a full marathon
•Can only complete the half marathon
and get a medal for it
•Proves to be a turning point as he has
not failed before
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Through this
marathon, I had
grown to learn
that there will be
resilience when
you push the
boundaries.
–Dr William Tan
“I had learnt to
never take no as
an answer and to
learn from
setbacks and
never repeat
them again.” –
Dr. William Tan
“The race is an
incredible challenge
for fit, able-bodied
runners. Tan’s feat
was a tremendous
display of
perseverance of
what the human
spirit can
accomplish. –
Tom Gilligan
IMPORTANCE OF
PERSEVERANCE
•Ability to persevere against all
odds is a main character trait of
successful people
•“perseverance” is one of the
most important attributes an
athletes can possess to perform
successfully
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Target Group •30 elite athletes from Swift
Athletics Association
•SAA youth athletes, aged 16
to 18 are chosen
•Athletes who majored in long
distance running
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Location Of The Camp
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Sharing Session
By Dr William Tan held at the Singapore Sports
Council (SSC)
Talks about managing and
overcoming his difficulties
Question-&-Answer session
after the talk
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Athletes of
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100% Pertinacity Participants will stand in a row
about 50m from start line
Objective to travel from start
line to end line
Not allowed to repeat travelling
means
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Road To Success •Objective of this activity is to climb
till the 72-storey of Swissotel
without giving up
•Participants are paired up with
each of their legs tied together
•Some of the stairs will be
intertwined with raffia strings
•Balls will be fixed firmly to stairs
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Strings Balls
Safety Precautions Qualified First-Aiders from the
Red-Cross Humanitarian club in
NYJC will be present
Volunteers of SSC will be
present
Athletes are allowed to use
railings during climb
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Icy Freeze •Held in Singapore Sports Council
•3 groups of 10
•Legs immersed in a makeshift
ice-bath
•Balance a board on their heads
•Team with the highest accumulate
timing will emerge victorious
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Makeshift Ice-
Bath
Leg Immersed in
ice bath
Safety Precautions •A maximum of 3 minutes will
only be allowed for every
participant
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Snow Explosion •Snow slope at Snow City
•Lie on a flat slippery board with
Legs bounded by a string
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HangINg There! •Divide themselves into 2 groups
of 15
•Form human chain down the
slope
•Tennis balls in between their
hands
•No boards are used
•Participant at the bottom of the
slope to pick up a marble
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HangINg There! •Throw it into a container
•Detached from the chain
•Process repeated
•Human chain must not break
•Time limit: 1 hour
•Group with highest number of
marbles wins
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Target Group •Secondary and tertiary school
students
•Niche area is in track and field
•About the same age as the SAA
participants
•Therefore relate well between
the SAA participants and the
target group
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Push-the-Limit Road Show!
•Conducted in the school hall
•In a maze form
•Interesting posters and footprints
will be put up
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Layout of Maze
Poster Footprint
Push
your limits!
Sick of thoSe boring training? Want to be fit at the
Same time battle againSt your inner Self? Then
come and join uS in
Our greatest glory comes in not never falling, but rising every
time we fall.
Booth
Push-the-Limits Road Show!
•Booth providing free distribution of
CDs
•CDs containing highlights of the
camp Moulding
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Video Snippets
Talk by SAA participants
•SAA participants invited to give
talk on stage
•Share first hand experience to
students
•Share how the camp instills
perseverance
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SSC and SAA counter
•Collaborating with SSC and SAA
•To discover potential athletes for
the Youth Olympics
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Strengths
•Feasibility of project
i) Its scope is manageable , focusing on
Singapore Youth athletes.
ii) Difficulties, for example, site of camp
and sponsorship had been solved
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Strengths
•Effectiveness of project
i) Very physically demanding to
overcome, catering to the needs of
active athletes
ii) Allows the participants to transcend
beyond their mental and physical limits
to persevere in our camp
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Strengths
iii) Our camp is similar to Dr Tan’s
journey, which had effectively
inculcated perseverance in him
iv) Therefore, there is high possibility
that our camp is effective.
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Strengths
v) 80% of SAA athletes think that our camp is very
effective.
vi) Further supported by Dr Tan in his interview
Do you think that the activities proposed are effective
in bringing out perseverance?
No
20%
Yes
80%
Yes
No
Strengths
Visual
Kinesthetic
Auditory
viii) learners
vii) Different athletes have different
learning styles; so, we craft the camp
to suit their styles
Strengths
• Activities are new or modified,
providing the thrill and
excitement.
•Dr. Tan will be sharing his life
journey, motivating athletes to
persevere in the camp
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Limitations
•Too physically demanding
•Participants may forget the
camp’s objective and give up
•Hire a trainer from The
Absorbent Mind.
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=
Limitations
•Too risky
•Briefed on the safety
precautions
•Snow Explosion and HangINg
There!, layer the bottom of the
slope with a mattress
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Limitations
•Project on a small scale
•only elite athletes will be able to
participate and benefit.
•They can be ambassadors of
perseverance and spread their
perseverance to the wider
community.
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Athletes of
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Conclusion 83% of SAA athletes rarely or
sometimes undergo mental training in
perseverance. How often do you all undergo mental toughness
training
as compared to physical training?
Conclusion •Our 2-day camp can successfully
inculcate perseverance in them.
•They in turn benefit the wider
community.
•Allowing potential athletes to
persevere and soar to great
heights in their sports career and
the Youth Olympics.
Moulding
Athletes of
Tomorrow
Moulding
Athletes of
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