A Stunning Night!

The long awaited night has finally arrived! 4th November 2007 at KL Performing Arts Centre, all the nominees and invited guests were stunningly dressed in black and white for the AYA Dream Malaysia Awards. It was quite a glamorous night filled with dance and song performances by ACTS dancers, KL Young Singers, Mia Palenci, Beautiful Gates and many more.

The results?! YouthMalaysia.Com took home the pewter ‘durian’ award. Indeed they were the more deserving winner of the award for their contribution towards the youth of Malaysia. However, we were very glad and truly honored to be one of the shortlisted nominees for the Youth Friendly Company Award. Many asked what did we get for being nominated….oh well, we took home an acrylic ‘durian’ as a gift. But most of all, listening to the many stories and the origin of this award, we took home a greater sense of wanting to sow into the lives of young people, for the betterment of future and of Malaysia.

Check out their website and read about the winners.

Floorball in Kota Kinabalu

After 3 years of introducing floorball to the folks in Kota Kinabalu (KK), we finally see progress and passion taking its place in the land. Our recent trip to KK on 25th October 2007 was pretty fruitful and rewarding. Highlights of our 1-week stay at KK…..

Kids’ Clinic (26 Oct)
We had approximately 40 kids come to this intro and clinic where basic ball handling was introduced to them. And of course, there was…GAMETIME! (Possibly the most exciting time in the clinic for a all of them!) They were divided into few groups according to their ages, and played a 4v4 with a small goalpost. Awesome time!

Going through the drills with some adult supervision.

The youngest in the clinic leading the way.

More ball handling drills.

Game time!

Some youth having a go with the kids as well.

Youth Clinic (26 Oct)
Only an hour after the kids were dismissed, the Youth Clinic began…. We had a short time giving some tips to the goalies, then a simplified clinic was conducted due to space and time constraint. Basic ball handling, passes and different techniques of shooting were taught. No game time for the youth as we were more technical in this session and allowed more time for Q&A. Click here to get a KK perspective on the clinic.

Getting ready for some drills in their lines.

Intense Ball Control!

Team Nomads who were present at the clinic.

Inter-Church Floorball Tournament (27 Oct)
The tournament was held at Shan Tao Hall, which housed 4 badminton courts. Awesome! The tournament was played in the format of 4v4 with a small goalpost as there were not enough goalies in KK. The scenario was pretty much the same like when Penang first started floorball. A lot of beginners, but all played their hearts out to win the tournament. Edward was the referee throughout the tournament. We saw a few good plays and some potential players who will be able to take the sport to greater heights! Grace Chapel emerged champion for the tournament, followed by Nomad Floorball Club and Skyline. It was great fun for everyone, especially those who have not been playing for some time. It was good to see them get back into the game! Once again, get the KK perspective by clicking here.

Additional Clinic (31 Oct)
With the heat of floorball over the weekend, the KK folks planned an additional session which was not in the original schedule. Those who were hungry for more of floorball came back. We did more stuff this time round being more technical and even had some fun teaching them how to fall properly as well. Some of the girls were too shy to “roll over”.

Game Time! (31 Oct)
After the clinic (and dinner, of course!), we were taken to another hall for a game! In total we visited 4 halls in KK. All of them are very nice place to play in. Smooth flooring, which is something very scarce in Penang. Anyway, this time round we had the chance to play with the locals. Great time! Great fun!

Apart from all the physical sessions we did, we also had the opportunity to meet with the leaders. We are grateful for the opportunity to impart the vision of developing floorball as a sport for the state. With the vision caught by the leaders, and passion instilled upon them, we trust floorball will also grow in magnitude in KK! And for us in Penang…. We can’t wait for an invitation to go and play with them in the future!

* It’s not all work, we had some fun time too at Manukan Island. Wanted to go up Mt. Kinabalu too but was fully booked. Perhaps the next time we go as a team, we will conquer Kinabalu as well. ;)

Snorkling at Manukan Island.

Fun at the beach.

Unleashed Sports Camp

YAY! The camp finally came to reality after a long postponement. The camp was originally scheduled in March school holiday but was postponed to 13-15 October due to lack of responses. Targeted at Christian leaders who are passionate about sports, the camp was held at Chefoo Methodist Centre, Cameron Highlands. It was a very nice campsite (great environment, cool weather, and good food). And the plus point for this camp? We had Awesome Fellowship, Great Discussions, and Loads of Fun!

The camp kicked off with a great teambuilding activity. It caused some to feel uneasy about certain things that they needed to do in order to complete the activity but it certainly served as a good icebreaker. After that, there were lots of fun stuff that we did throughout the camp which came in the form of theoretical and practical sessions.

We are truly thankful to God for His divine blessing and favor upon the camp. For without Him, it would not have been possible in having the camp. We trust that many who attended the camp had been empowered by the Holy Spirit and unleashed to do so much more for the building of God’s Kingdom through sports ministry!

Here are some pics of the many exciting things that we did at camp:

Deswyn is obviously enjoying the ride in this team building activity.

Team debrief after the teambuilding activity.

Selina teaching on having a proper Nutrition and D.I.E.T.

Morning jog and excercise...

Warm up and stretching before a fitness test.

More stretching...

The balance test - Moving in a zig zag motion within a box as fast as you can. You can see Edward keeping time and making sure Deswyn keeps within the spaces as the rest look on.

How long would it take for you to stay in that position and still keep a smile?

The endurance test - How far can you run in 12 minutes?

Planning and sharing what the future will look like in their area of sports ministry.

Sam sharing with the rest of us his vision and strategy for his floorball club.

Everybody learning to do the Supine Bridge in a session on developing the core.

The first batch to be Unleashed showing off a little of what they have in them ;)

That was just a sneek peek of some of the exciting things that happened. Well, as we have had a small and and humble beginning in this camp, the Lord impressed upon our heart that we will be having a bigger and bolder version next year. So…look out for SPORTS LEADERSHIP CONVENTION 2008!

Are You Running the Right Race?

Life is like a race! Everyone is involved in some form of race. Students strive to be straight A’s achievers. Working adults in the corporate world are into running the rat race. Everyone wants to be first in many ways. Some termed this wanting as ‘kiasu’ (in hokkien). In literal translation, it simply means ‘scared to lose or fail’. ‘Kiasu’ is a post modern disease where one tries to outdo one another; and everyone gets stress up by not having their wants met, and their positions secured. It’s about being at the very top that matters! Really?! Think about it…

Anyway, following the craze of The Amazing Race by AXN, Youthwave Penang organized its’ own version of THE RACE on 8 September 2007. Once again, Contact Sports had the privilege to be at the service of Youthwave Penang. THE RACE was targeted at those 13 years to 25 years of age. Each team comprised 4 participants of mixed gender, with one being the driver.

THE RACE was organized NOT with the aim of getting teams to just outdo one another, being at the top at the expense of others, but learning activities were incorporated into each station. There were a total of 10 destinations, spread out all around the Penang Island. Teams had to travel in their own respective cars to get to each destination, except for one destination whereby two in a team had to flag down a trishaw while the other two traveled using their very own legs to get to Little India.

Teams had to go through physical challenges such as canoeing; mental challenges such as memorizing Braille within a span of 20-30 minutes and putting it into practice by deciphering the clues in Braille while being blindfolded as well as emotional challenges such as trusting fellow team mates to give proper instructions while searching for clues in the swimming pool and being blindfolded at the same time. Many other fun activities were also included such as locating a tombstone. Did I say fun? ;) … and running into hypermarts and purchasing items to be given to charitable organizations. A short debrief were conducted at the end of THE RACE to challenge the participants to “run the right race”.

And the prize….. *drum roll…..ta-daa* RM100,000??? …But THE RACE was definitely not about money and the bling-bling! It was about coming together as a team and working hand-in-hand to achieve a common goal. It was about understanding life as a race, persevering through difficulties and learning to make good choices. However, we are proud to have very generous sponsorships from THE CARNIVALL WATER THEMEPARK, GOLDEN SCREEN CINEMAS and EXTREME CONCEPT HAIR SPECIALIST. These people ran with us to make THE RACE looked great! Awesome!!

To those who made it to the final mark on that very auspicious day….here’s a tribute to them *salute*
Champions: Timothy Kok, Sam Teoh, Nicholes Ong and Kao Cui Lin
1st Runner-up: Wong Yi-Wen, Serene Tan, Sheryn Ng and Seow Zi Yin
2nd Runner-up: Goh Shen-U, Yeoh Jun Wooi, Jacky Teh and Loh Cheng Lit.

Participants studying the instructions to their next destination.

Having fun in a trishaw getting to the next checkpoint.

"Forget trying to walk on water, just sit down and canoe!!!"

Blind participants getting their instructions in Braille.

The Blind Leading the Blind!

Participants "helping" a blind team mate locate objects in the pool.

The winning team with Pr Kok Aun and their prizes.

Tribute to our Goalies

This is a blog specially dedicated to our Goalies, namely THUM YUNG MING (Contact X) and JOSHUA LIM (Contact Y) for their splendid performance and goal-saving during our recent participation in the Dalat Floorball Challenge.

For without them, we could have lost! Well, we could have also lost quite terribly BUT they saved the day! Your excellent moves and goalkeeping truly made us proud!

It has been noted (not only by our team) that these 2 goalies performed extremely well during the tournament. In fact, someone even said that Yung Ming should be awarded the player of the tournament for his efforts.

We want to say that you guys are a gem to Team Contact. Hey people, 3 cheers for our goalies! *Hip! Hip! Hurray!, Hip! Hip! Hurray!, Hip! Hip! Hurray!!!*