A new outreach idea

The Sports Engagement Programme is an outreach initiative by the school's Public Engagement Committee, and is targeted at Primary 4 to 6 pupils in neighbouring primary schools in Sengkang and Punggol.

Students from Compassvale Secondary School acted as referees during a basketball match.

Teacher in-charge Ms Widayah Binte Othman explains the main objective of the half-day programme, "We hope to raise awareness among the pupils about our school's key programmes and achievements, and to promote enthusiasm in them for the various sporting CCAs we have to offer."

The engagement programme leverages on the relationship one of the teachers had built up with some primary schools. For the past few years, Mr Tang Yiam Boh, the teacher in-charge of the basketball club and a member of the school's Public Engagement Committee, has been collaborating with primary schools such as Fernvale Primary School and Nan Chiau Primary School to conduct basketball clinics.

Ms Widayah elaborates, "This year, instead of the conventional platforms such as publicity talks in primary schools, the committee tried out the novel idea of engaging primary school pupil athletes through a series of sports clinics and friendly competitions showcasing all five sports CCAs in our school."

And it's not just sports talents that the programme reaches out to. Young sports enthusiasts also got to learn and enjoy the various sports in a friendly and fun-focused environment. "Through this event, we wanted to offer opportunities to pupils who are into sports CCAs but are not in the school team per se, to compete and network with peers from other schools," highlights Ms Widayah.

Participants picking up tips on technique at one of the sports clinics.

Students take the lead

The Sports Engagement Programme in May was attended by about 150 primary school pupils and their accompanying teachers, coaches and parents. Planning for the programme began in Compassvale Secondary School as early as January this year.

One of the main challenges the school faced was in coming up with a contingency programme. "Due to the physical constraints of our sports facilities, the organisers had to exercise creativity when designing alternative activities that would be interesting enough to effectively engage the primary school pupils in the event of bad weather," says Ms Widayah.

Besides teachers, student leaders of the sports CCAs were also actively involved with the planning and actual running of the programme. This provided an opportunity for developing their leadership skills and qualities, as they took on roles as referees and coaches for the competitions and sports clinics respectively.

Sec 4 student Marcus Lim was a member of the logistics team, which had to deal with some last-minute changes when certain schools could not turn up for the event. "We had to remain composed and be very flexible so as to make the necessary changes," he says. But the delight on the faces of the pupils was reward enough. "Looking at how they had enjoyed themselves, I really feel that all our efforts were worth it," he adds.

Pupils gave their all in the friendly matches and look forward to more of such opportunities.

Another Sec 4 student Gerald Tan was a referee for the basketball games. This experience helped him to realise what it takes to be a good referee, which he found can be even more challenging than being a player. It also piqued his interest in refereeing. "I may consider going for a part-time referee course after my 'N' Level exams," he enthuses.

He also found that seeing how well the primary school pupils played was an eye-opening experience. "I saw that even though the pupils may be smaller than us physically, they may actually be better than us in terms of technical skills," Gerald reflects. "I realised it's important to be humble and be ready and willing to learn from others. Someone may be young but we could learn much from them too."

Similarly, the young budding sportsmen and sportswomen felt they had learnt quite a lot from the programme. Pri 3 pupil Noor Hakim Bin Samsuddin from Nan Chiau Primary School says, "I've had fun! I also had the chance to interact with fellow badminton players from other schools and got to hone my technical skills through the competitions."

Another participant, Pri 5 pupil Syed Hariz Shah from North Spring Primary School, comments, "I participated in the badminton games against other strong players from other schools through a fun learning experience. I feel that my badminton skills have improved and I really hope that there will be more of such events!"