(Click to Enlarge)Straits Times 25 September 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Montfort Wrestling
Cael Sanderson
On the 22nd of September, four sec 2 classes were treated to a meeting with Cael Sanderson and three others who are part of a newly formed organization for wrestling in Singapore. Cael Sanderson is a 4-time consecutive NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) champion and a undefeated college record of 159 - 0. Among many other accomplishments, Cael Sanderson is an Olympic Gold Medalist of 2004 in the 84kg category.
Being a Giant
Mr Sanderson told the Montfortians that to succeed in anything, one must have that focus required. This also includes prioritizing, staying committed and working hard. He spoke about wrestling, and how many things can be learned from the sport. Wrestling teaches, he said, responsibility and accountability because it's one-on-one and not a team effort. Courage and confidence and also be learned from the sport. In 2006, he became the Head Coach of Iowa State University taking over Bobby Douglas.
Life Lessons
When answering questions posed by some of the Montfortians, he said to never be satisfied with what we have already achieved. If we are, things (eg. going to school) would get to boring. Therefore, we should keep going and trying to beat ourselves. When asked how many times he lost, Mr Sanderson said that he lost several times but he learned more from losing than winning. He also stated that it is important to participate and that "you'll never regret trying."
Mr Sanderson also spoke about wrestling in general and about dreaming big, because anyone can accomplish his dreams. "When you see a person on a mountain, you know he did not fall there." What this means is that to reach any goal, one must take it day-by-day, step-by-step, just like climbing a mountain where the trail gets steeper and harder and the climber must keep working harder to reach the summit.
Being whatever you want to be
Mr Edmund Lim said that wrestling is a sport that teaches positive values. As part of post-examination activities, some sec 2 classes will try out wrestling and any potential players could be short-listed. Who knows, one of our Montfortians could be part of the wrestling team of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Mr Mike Denoma said that Montfort could be Singapore's top wrestling school as we could start wrestling next year.
Brian Theng, 2E4
On the 22nd of September, four sec 2 classes were treated to a meeting with Cael Sanderson and three others who are part of a newly formed organization for wrestling in Singapore. Cael Sanderson is a 4-time consecutive NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) champion and a undefeated college record of 159 - 0. Among many other accomplishments, Cael Sanderson is an Olympic Gold Medalist of 2004 in the 84kg category.
Being a Giant
Mr Sanderson told the Montfortians that to succeed in anything, one must have that focus required. This also includes prioritizing, staying committed and working hard. He spoke about wrestling, and how many things can be learned from the sport. Wrestling teaches, he said, responsibility and accountability because it's one-on-one and not a team effort. Courage and confidence and also be learned from the sport. In 2006, he became the Head Coach of Iowa State University taking over Bobby Douglas.
Life Lessons
When answering questions posed by some of the Montfortians, he said to never be satisfied with what we have already achieved. If we are, things (eg. going to school) would get to boring. Therefore, we should keep going and trying to beat ourselves. When asked how many times he lost, Mr Sanderson said that he lost several times but he learned more from losing than winning. He also stated that it is important to participate and that "you'll never regret trying."
Mr Sanderson also spoke about wrestling in general and about dreaming big, because anyone can accomplish his dreams. "When you see a person on a mountain, you know he did not fall there." What this means is that to reach any goal, one must take it day-by-day, step-by-step, just like climbing a mountain where the trail gets steeper and harder and the climber must keep working harder to reach the summit.
Being whatever you want to be
Mr Edmund Lim said that wrestling is a sport that teaches positive values. As part of post-examination activities, some sec 2 classes will try out wrestling and any potential players could be short-listed. Who knows, one of our Montfortians could be part of the wrestling team of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Mr Mike Denoma said that Montfort could be Singapore's top wrestling school as we could start wrestling next year.
Brian Theng, 2E4
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Mid-Autumn Festival
The school’s Mid-Autumn Festival was held on the 12th of September 2008. The students, some with their parents, trickled into school and by 7.30 everyone was seated and eager for the night’s activities to begin. Only thing missing was the teachers. Unknown to them, the teachers were waiting for the signal to proceed out to the quadrangle, carrying their eye-catching lanterns.
Huge cheers were heard when the students saw their teachers and after everyone settled, the emcees, together with Mr Edmund Lim and several other teachers, officially declared the event opened. The first performance of the night was by the Montfort Wushu Team. They displayed their highly precise and quick movements, both with and without weapons. Some of them even swung their weapons only inches away from the audience. After a short game involving bean bags and colored wood pieces, the first competition involved three pairs of student-teacher to peel a pomelo and hand out pieces to the audience.
The next performance was a Chinese dancer, who danced something about the moon and the mid-autumn festival. Then the about four groups of students who had a mini Chapteh competition, which was judged by three chosen teachers. The teams had to display teamwork and not let only one person do all the work. Next was the CLDDS performance, which involved the actors saying Chinese tongue twisters, and it got quite difficult as they had to saw it to a beat. As the night’s event was about to draw to a close, a game of Gasing was played, with two teachers first explaining how the game worked. For the last event and competition of the night, three pairs of student-teacher made a mooncake. The teachers were Mr Foran, Mr Chrys Ho and Mr Lim Kim Huat. First, they were taught by Mdm Su. Then, they had to do it on their own.
After the performances and competitions were held, everyone was invited to the canteen for light refreshments like fruits, mooncakes and kueh. The parents who came were able to talk to the teachers and students got to do the same. Everyone enjoyed the event and went home with the same smiles.
Done By:
Brian Theng
with Colin Hernandez and Lucas Yap
Huge cheers were heard when the students saw their teachers and after everyone settled, the emcees, together with Mr Edmund Lim and several other teachers, officially declared the event opened. The first performance of the night was by the Montfort Wushu Team. They displayed their highly precise and quick movements, both with and without weapons. Some of them even swung their weapons only inches away from the audience. After a short game involving bean bags and colored wood pieces, the first competition involved three pairs of student-teacher to peel a pomelo and hand out pieces to the audience.
The next performance was a Chinese dancer, who danced something about the moon and the mid-autumn festival. Then the about four groups of students who had a mini Chapteh competition, which was judged by three chosen teachers. The teams had to display teamwork and not let only one person do all the work. Next was the CLDDS performance, which involved the actors saying Chinese tongue twisters, and it got quite difficult as they had to saw it to a beat. As the night’s event was about to draw to a close, a game of Gasing was played, with two teachers first explaining how the game worked. For the last event and competition of the night, three pairs of student-teacher made a mooncake. The teachers were Mr Foran, Mr Chrys Ho and Mr Lim Kim Huat. First, they were taught by Mdm Su. Then, they had to do it on their own.
After the performances and competitions were held, everyone was invited to the canteen for light refreshments like fruits, mooncakes and kueh. The parents who came were able to talk to the teachers and students got to do the same. Everyone enjoyed the event and went home with the same smiles.
Done By:
Brian Theng
with Colin Hernandez and Lucas Yap
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Jam - Sept 16 2008
1. EL Jam
The 'Jam' is an informal gathering of musicians to play improvised or unrehearsed music. It's a Jazz noun meaning "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band" and dates back from 1929, and yielded the idea of a jam session (1933); Most probably, it comes form the word 'jam' (n.), because it was "something sweet, something excellent."
The EL Department had a Jam competition where students took turns picking a topic from a bag. They then had to speak one minute on the given topic. Some topics included 'Hobbies' and 'The best thing about being a teenager'. Interestingly, someone just had to mention 'KNOWING GIRLS' as one of the best thing about being a teenager. I wonder how come 'zits' never figured prominently in the 'jam'.
2. Another Vice-Principal
Mr Simen announced to the school that there was a new Vice-Principal attached to the school. He is Mr Andrew Tan, former Vice-Principal of Meridian Junior College. Mr Tan gave out Sepak Takraw Prizes for the Inter-House Takraw competition.
It was interesting to note that although Sepak Takraw is a game of Malay origins, there were many teams with a good racial mix. Some Chinese students even won the Most Valuable Player award for their teams.
3. The Origins of Sepak Takraw (from http://www.bangkok.com/sport-sepak-takraw/origins-&-history.html)
Sepak and Takraw roughly refer to the kicking, smashing motion the players use to knock the ball around and across the net.
Where sepak takraw originated from remains a matter of intense debate in Southeast Asia, as several countries proudly claim it as their own. Whilst this may never be satisfactorily determined, there is some agreement that the game was introduced to Southeast Asia through commercial contact with China, where an ancient form of the game originated.
It is believed that many variations of the game evolved from an ancient Chinese military exercise, where soldiers would try to keep a feathered shuttlecock airborne by kicking it back and forth between two people. As the sport developed, the animal hide and chicken feathers were eventually replaced by balls made of woven strips of rattan. The first versions of sepak takraw were not so much of a competition, but rather cooperative displays of skill designed to exercise the body, improve dexterity and loosen the limbs after long periods of sitting, standing or working.
The modern version of sepak takraw is fiercely competitive and began taking shape in Thailand almost 200 years ago. In 1829, the Siam Sports Association drafted the first rules for the game. Four years later, the association introduced the volleyball-style net and held the first public contest. Within just a few years, sepak takraw was introduced to the Physical Training curriculum in schools.
In Bangkok, the murals at Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) depict the Hindu god Hanuman playing sepak takraw in a ring with a troop of fellow monkeys. Other historical accounts also mention the game earlier during the reign of King Naresuan of Ayutthaya. The game became such a cherished local custom that an exhibition of volleyball-style sepak takraw was staged to celebrate the kingdom's first constitution in 1933, the year after Thailand abolished absolute monarchy.
Nowadays, sepak takraw is played on a modified badminton doubles court, with the net standing five feet above the ground. Each team consists of three players; left inside, right inside and back server.
Almost every nation that played this game knew it by a different name. In Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, it's called 'sepak raga', whereas in Thailand it's commonly known as 'takraw'. The same game goes by the name of 'sipa' in the Philippines, 'da cau' in Vietnam, 'rago' in Indonesia, and 'kator' in Laos. Since sepak takraw was played and enjoyed in several countries, there were a lot of inconsistencies in terms of how the game was played and judged.
In 1960, representatives from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Lao and Thailand met in Kuala Lumpur to standardise rules and regulations for the game. And after a long and heated debate, consensus was reached that the sport would henceforth be officially called sepak takraw
They also formed the Asian Sepak Takraw Federation (ASTAF), and translated the rules into English, setting the stage for the first international competition, held in Malaysia in 1965, at the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, or SEAP Games, the predecessor to today's Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). This chain of events set the stage for the international development of sepak takraw. However, it was the replacement of the natural rattan ball, which tended to splinter and warp, with the more standardised synthetic plastic ball that really kicked the game's popularity into high gear.
In 1990, sepak takraw was included at the Asian Games in Beijing. Women also got in on the action with the first women's championships in Thailand hosted in 1997. Today, more than 20 countries have national sepak takraw associations with representatives on the board of the global governing body, the International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF).
News from Montfort College, Chiangmai
Hope your first few weeks of school have gone smoothly. I can't tell you how great it feels to know that everyone is back in school as I have been teaching since the middle of July and am soon to be on break. It is still monsoon season here and the rains have been like no other than I have experienced before. It is a lot of fun to sit and watch out over the river during a storm.
Teaching bilingual science to the boys can be a challenge when I am teaching without my Thai teacher. Fifty-four students in a class is hard to handle. Luckily it is only on rare occasions that I am left alone with them. They don't mess around with a Thai teacher in the room. My favorite times are working in the computer lab classes a week and teaching conversational English to other teacher is also fun.
One of my favorite adventures so far was our trip to the border school. It is one of the queen's special projects for the hill tribe living on the border of Burma. (Myanmar) This is where my son Toby will be a volunteer and spend a few months up there. We traveled for about two hours by van and turned onto a dirt road for another half hour up into the mountains. The school is in a valley surrounded by mountains and vibrant green forests. About thirty students attend the school and are of all ages from about five to eighteen. The children were all dressed up and ready to greet us when we arrived.
Our Montfort boys brought each student a large bag of rice. The people of the village are very poor. The people of the village have been taught to grow cash crops like corn in the place of what they used to grow in the past. It was a great trip and I would like to volunteer a week up there myself. I am learning how to cross the street without getting hit and this is no easy task. I usually walk to school each morning which takes me around fifteen minutes.
Most times people will stop and offer me a ride when they see the uniform or the Montfort shirt. This can be embarrassing if they stop on a motorcycle and you are wearing a skirt. The women here ride sidesaddle in skirts and dresses on these small bikes and they hold on to nothing. They must have exceptional balance. I had to tell the man I preferred to walk because I knew that if I tried toride that way, we would have ended up in an accident and that would not have been pretty.
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