Duo settle in Singapore

Despite getting lost in Seoul airport, Fiji's Grace Taito (basketball) and Norman Bentley (badminton) have made it to Singapore for the Youth
Olympic Games Friendship Camp.

Grace and Norman have settled into the camp at the “huge” Singapore Sports School, where they arrived late and have reported in - with the food scoring favourable mentions from both of them.

The multi-cultural experience is extending to the kitchen, which is serving up dishes from all over the world (but not Fiji as noted by Norman), and an impressive buffet breakfast spread - including burgers - getting a special mention from Grace.

The 260 campers who have come from 130 different countries, are bunked in with two room mates in male and female dorms, and allocated into teams of 13 people. Grace's team includes people from Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, various parts of Africa, Asia and more.

At the end of their first day, which included a tour of the school and team building games, the campers changed into their traditional cultural attire ready for the opening ceremony. According to Norman “people were impressed by the
bula shirt and sulu, especially the sulu - referring to it as a kilt'”.

After a ceremony involving various dances, cultural instruments and a “lion dance”,
there was a festival with food from all over the world, performances, booths teaching campers how to juggle and spin plates on discs, martial
arts and a live band - according to Norman's report, “the campers went mad and started dancing. Overall it was a great night!”

Yesterday they had a “sports exploration”, team building workshops and a “chat with champions” - elite athletes, including former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell, who shared their experiences and advice with tomorrow's champions.


The Fiji Sun Online

Saturday 12th December, 2009




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.