There is an interesting article on insidethegames around what London 2012 can learn from the events out here in Singapore for the Youth Olympic Games. Indeed, for me one of the most striking things I’ve of observed in the past few days, which includes watching GB’s Jade Jones win Gold in the 55kg Taekwondo and Sarah Milne’s inspirationally hard fought and atmospherically electrifying bronze medal final yesterday, is in fact something so obviously brilliant its amazing that it is not a fundamental part of every games.
The activity in question wasn’t directly a sporting event either, but rather as part of the Culture and Education Programme of the Youth Olympic Games a chance for all the young Singaporean primary school kids who, having just watched either Taekwondo or Wrestling could then come and take part in some coaching in either of those sports – most likely for the first time ever in Singapore. Alongside these activities is also a museum showcasing replica torches from previous Olympics and explaining a little bit of the history and values of the Games. This museum, situated as it is in the International Conference Centre in Singapore, is accessible to members of the public who happen to be passing or who might be visiting the adjacent shopping centre. I’m not aware of this sort of thing being integral to the experience of previous Games but it strikes me as something both so brilliant, and in fact so obvious, that any host Olympic city in future, serious about public engagement and ensuring a legacy for the Games, should consider it mandatory at every venue.
Indeed, I think that given that all the athletes from these competitions will be staying in Singapore for the duration of The Games, it would be great to try and negotiate a situation in future where a few of them, or perhaps all of them, devoted a couple of hours post-competition to come and take part in these coaching activities. This would, I think, be a mutually beneficial situation for them at such a young age to get a taste of coaching others, promoting sport and like some of the other Culture and Education activities such as Community Drumming – serve as an introduction to them of getting involved in community work and social development through sport.
Over the past week of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games there have been many highlights and the final week will doubtless contain many more. But for me, seeing this activity and witnessing the potential for activities such as these to become part of the future of the Olympic Movement is as exciting as witnessing the young sports people who in London 2012 and Rio 2016 will come to embody it.
Team GB are greeted by a piper at the British High Commission in Singapore ahead of the announcement of sprinter David Bolarinwa as the flag bearer for last nights opening ceremony.
These formalities where followed by a more informal welcome ceremony for all athletes back at the Youth Olympic Village which was opened by the Young Ambassadors playing in the Samba band we had formed when we participated in the Community Drumming programme during the Culture and Education Programme Seminar back in March.
The past couple of days since our arrival in Singapore have largely been spent settling into the Olympic Village. For the coaches this means liaising with their Sports reps and finding out the training times they have been allocated and negotiating transport and other logistical hurdles in order to make sure that the athletes get the best preparation possible and feel most comfortable in the competition environment. For the athletes settling in has involved getting comfortable in their rooms, exploring the Olympic Village and getting used to the competition environment with some light training.
The realities of coping with the time change, jet lag, the heat and humidity as well as the expectations and hopes that rest upon each coach and athlete demand that this is a patient process. At this point it is very much about building a good base, literally in this context, from which we can move forward into the competition period over the next couple of weeks.
Spirits are good in the camp and after the first few days of travelling and living together the athletes are beginning to get to know each other and really experience the first of the Olympic Values, of which the Youth Olympic Games is a celebration, that of friendship.
There is a “Wow!come Session” being held tomorrow, which will celebrate the arrival of all athletes to the Youth Olympic Village – you can watch it live online here.
For some pictures from the Olympic Village click here.
As you might have gathered from some previous posts, I’ve been working as a Young Ambassador for Team GB at the Youth Olympic Games which are due to start in two days time in Singapore. As one of 30 such Ambassadors from 30 different National Olympic Committees – it was a great experience to be part of my own National Olympic Committee’s ‘Kitting Out Day’ on Monday ahead of Team GB’s departure to Singapore. The day consisted of the distribution of the kit to all athletes, coaches and officials as well as lots of media interviews before we got on the plane to Singapore on Monday evening. For an interview with one of Britain’s top prospects for the Games Victoria Ohuruogu you can click here. You can also find a related interview I did recently with another of the members of Team GB Eli Thorogood about her expectations for Singapore a few weeks ago.
Athlete kitbags waiting for collection, Team GB Kitting Out Day, Heathrow
The kitting out day itself was but one facet of the huge number of support systems and services that would be called into play throughout Monday and will yet be relied upon throughout the athletes stay in Singapore. All of these ‘services’ and ‘systems’ are critical to ensuring athlete participation and success in Singapore but are unfortunately rarely seen by spectators or viewers at home.
The kit itself, fundamental to ensuring that the athletes have a consistent and visceral sense of team and national identity, was delivered on six pallets on Sunday morning and sorted by a volunteer team all Sunday into the 75 or so kitbags that accompanied us out to Singapore – that’s nearly 7000 individual pieces of clothing – thanks have to go to Adidas of course but also to those in the BOA Office who gave up there Sunday and who have spent months in the co-ordination of the design, sizing, manufacture and delivery of all this gear.
The athlete's kit - a fundamental touchpoint in the sporting experience
The next major piece of logistics that came into play on Monday was of course transportation – there is something quite amazing about the ability of British Airways and Heathrow Airport to cope with being descended upon by 70-odd athletes and staff, with huge amounts of gear and fragile sporting equipment – in addition to being able to deal with the thousands of other travellers flying in and out on Monday night.
Team GB Checking in at Heathrow
And collecting it all again at the other end...
Needless to say all the kit (and team members) made it to Singapore safely, but it is to me fascinating all the details that go into running a international multisport event such as the Youth Olympic Games – an area for the outsized fencing, pole vault, cycling and kayaking equipment to be dropped off at the airport and taken to the venues for example. Or the hundreds of young Singaporeans and international volunteers between the airport and the Olympic Village to meet, greet and escort athletes and officials through their accreditation and to the accommodation. All of whom must have been trained in the past few weeks and months. All working together seamlessly to help ensure that the 3,600 athletes from 205 different nations can congregate in anticipation of the start of the Games. Indeed, the value of the kit is also affirmed in simply being able to distinguish yourself and your team mates from everyone else in such a high concentration of people, processes and equipment!
If you haven’t sussed it already, the theme of this post is support and there are a few things really that have really struck me so far in this experience relating to the idea of support services. 1) All of the logistics support mentioned above and the tireless – often unnoticed – care and energy that goes into ensuring that the team get from a to b intact and in the right state of mind. 2) The unique relationships and support between parents and athletes and coaches and athletes that have enabled and empowered these talented youngsters to achieve what they have and that continue to help support and prepare the athletes ahead of their imminent competitions. Its also interesting to observe the way the relationships between athletes are shaped by the experience of travelling together and living with each other in the fist couple of days in the Youth Olympic Village – Team GB is taking shape. 3) It’s also interesting the way that the media helps cultivate support for the athletes with the folks back home, on the behalf of whom they are of course competing and 4) the amazing way that Singaporeans have come together to support the Olympics coming to their home city and country and the staggering efforts that have been put in by them all here to shape the accommodation and the competition venues and to make sure they are all running smoothly at Games time.
I’m looking forward to the next two weeks of doing my bit to support the performance of Team GB and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. For latest updates you can either follow me on Twitter or Team GB on Twitter and Facebook. The whole team looks forward to your support.
Well first of all, apologies for my recent social media hiatus, particularly from this blog, I’ve been trying to cut back in an attempt to finish writing up my MPhil dissertation on Measuring Motivation and Engagement, there will be more on that once it’s done. For this past week and for the next, I’ve also had the privilege of being able to attend the International Olympic Academy (IOA) in Olympia, Greece, as part of my work as GB’s Young Ambassador for the Youth Olympic Games. Today, the 23rd June is also Olympic Day, so where better a place to celebrate?
Ahead of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August The British Olympic Foundation and The Get Set For London 2012 Team are marking Olympic Day with a challenge to all school age children to blog about five new things they have done for each one of the five Olympic rings, so within that context I thought I’d let you know five of the highlights of International Olympic Academy so far, and hopefully within that, some interesting reflections on the Olympic Movement. Details of the Get Set Competition can be found here.
1. First new thing must be the 200 new people under the age of 30, from 95 different countries that have descended upon Greece for this year’s IOA, just like the inaugural Youth Olympics coming up in the Singapore this summer and London in 2012 – the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games wouldn’t exist without participants. In fact that was the subject of IOC Member Peter Tallberg‘s presentation yesterday, which gave an overview of the different ways that the IOC is seeking to open itself up as an organisation, become more democratic and better support it’s athletes. This is with a view to increasingly better support and seeking guidance of members of public and the communities that host The Games. This was a frank presentation that acknowledged that the IOC has plenty to learn in this area. The discussions that followed covered some of the controversy over the coverage of both the Beijing Games and Vancouver protests and what the participants feel the IOC can do differently in future in this respect. The great thing about being part of such a diverse and energetic group of people, as I am here, is that there are no shortages of people to challenge your perceptions, whether in discussing the role of sport in resolving tensions in Sudan or in ensuring gender equality and empowerment all over the world there is plenty to learn from this great bunch of people!
2. The second new thing this past week was attending an open air classical music concert and opening ceremony at the top of the hill of Sphyx in Athens for the opening ceremony of the IOA, it was a stunning setting being overlooked by the Parthenon, various awards were bestowed on eminent Greeks for this contribution to the Olympic Movement, with awards also being made to Sir Philip Craven head of the International Paralympic Committee and to Irena Szewińska who also presented to us later on in the week.
3. The third new thing this week has been visiting the site of, and understanding more about, the Ancient Olympics. The ancient site of Olympia, of which I can’t help but admit I am now mayor on Foursquare, is fascinating and helped us all gain a clearer understanding of the inspiration behind the Modern Games, particularly the ideals of the Olympic Truce which called for an end to hostilities between Greek states during the Ancient Games. This truce is something that the IOC campaigns alongside the UN to uphold every time The Modern Games is hosted. The role of sport in creating global peace is the title of the proceedings of this session of the IOA and the focus of most of our discussions.
Bumball from a2activity.dk
4. The fourth new thing this week been playing bumball, this is apparently a Danish game which involves wearing pieces of velcro on your chest and bum and using them to catch and carry a velcro ball – in effect it is a cross between touch rugby, netball and nothing you’ve ever played before but it’s really good fun and made up one of our early morning physical activities before breakfast this week.
Team Scandinavia on the start line at Ancient Olympia
5. The fifth new thing this week is in some respects not a new thing at all, but rather, confirmation that the Olympic Movement, celebrated today on Olympic Day is far more than the Olympic Games. The Olympic Movement headed by the IOC aims to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace. This was backed up by a surprising statistic from Peter Tallberg’s presentation that 92% of the IOC’s revenue goes to the development of sport worldwide. It has been inspiring spending time understanding what the Olympics and the Olympic Values of Friendship, Respect and Excellence mean to so many young people from all over the world. Perhaps if we all work together, as we have been over the past week, we can all help make the Olympics that little bit better for everyone. Happy Olympics Day!
I immensely enjoyed (late) last night’s first episode of Olympic Dreams, which you can catch on BBC iPlayer here and follows a number of young British athletes and former and future Olympians as they prepare for London 2012. The documentary gives a fascinating insight into the balancing act that is the life of an elite athlete, particularly an upcoming elite athlete. I’ve talked often on this blog about some of my own experiences performing this balancing act and a big part of my role as Young Ambassador for the Youth Olympic Games is assisting the members of TeamGB with this balancing act of juggling training and a social life with the demands of education.
These challenges are far from unique to elite athletes however, I’m sure all of us are familiar with the pressures associated with ensuring good performance in either our personal or professional lives or indeed in our hobbies or sporting commitments. For me as someone with fairly a dominant kinaesthetic and visual learning style, visualising performance was always a huge part of ensuring I achieved what I set out to do. I was excited to see Tom Daley talk and demonstrate his pre-dive visualisation process in last night’s documentary and it reminded me of my undergraduate dissertation project ‘Insight‘ a mobile phone and augmented reality environment to aid athletic performance.
Canadian Cross-country skier Chandra Crawford using music to help prepare her performance at the Vancouver Games (c) Vancouver Sun
I’ve often found however, that visualisation (and supporting performance preparation with music) can also be really effective in terms of helping prepare for lectures or presentations that I’ve given, thinking through in my mind where and what I’ll be presenting and how I anticipate the audience to react.
This is an approach that is also increasingly employed in the design world and by service design consultants to help their clients achieve innovative and creative insights or ensure effective service design and delivery. Vocal proponents of these theatrical, role play and embodied approaches to service design include Adam Lawrence (who is well worth following on Twitter, if you don’t already).
Fast Company also covered a related notion a while back, talking about how standup comedy helps design and creativity. As one of the coaches in last nights documentary pointed out – its really about standing up and delivering your performance when it matters – how different they is this to so many other aspects of life? What can the way sports people deal with this pressure do to help us inform our own processes and (quite literally) practice? These principles are similar in justification to why experience prototyping and test-rigs are such effective tools for new product and service development – as just like Tom Daley they allow stakeholders to act our their performances whilst developing them. This process in turn makes those performances ‘more real’ every time they are iterated or evolved – making the experience more realistic every time it is enacted. The outcomes of this aren’t always positive however, and the downsides of realistic training environments and visualisation is something that @georgejulian has blogged about recently.
Prototypes - another form of visualisation (from Ergonomics - Real Design at The Design Museum
One of the big attractions for me of Service Design as a discipline is the myriad ways, tools and processes that it affords practitioners and participants to help people visualise their needs and demands from a service or the complex socio-technological systems and relationships that make up the service. I wonder how Service Designers and designers more generally, might be able to collaborate with sports psychologists and athletes to share practice and experiences on new and creative approaches to visualisation and expression. Would this be of reciprocal benefit – in other words would sports people benefit from more creative and collaborative approaches to preparing for competition?
I also wonder if there is a career pathway or opportunities for athletes to support the design and development of user experiences and the design of products, systems and services after, or in order to support, their careers as full time athletes?
Plato quotes Socrates as saying at his trial “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Perhaps something that John Terry and Tiger Woods might not readily agree with this weekend. I can’t however help but be impressed this week, to see that this is a sentiment that the Nike marketing department and Tiger Woods himself have chosen to take ownership of with their latest ad campaign: Tiger’s late father Earl eerily challenging him from beyond the grave about what the past five months of press revelations about his private life have taught him about himself. Tiger’s speechless and pensive response indicating that whether this weekend, over the next five months or over the next five years he is going to let his sport do the talking and that he’s a better person for having been challenged and for what the past five months have enabled him to learn.
I beg to differ; we need heroes (and heroines) beyond our immediate context, family or social groups. For the very manner in which they challenge us either with their sporting, creative or charitable endeavours or, as with Tiger Woods, their ability to withstand scrutiny that I know most of would struggle to cope with. We also need heroes and heroines who make mistakes, so that we, with them can learn from their experiences without having to repeat their mistakes ourselves.
It is interesting that the very ‘crimes’ that it is recorded Socrates was tried for in Ancient Greece are those that many including Alan Webber and Augusta Masters Chief Billy Payne seem concerned that Tiger Woods and countless other sports people before him are guilty of – namely ‘immorality’ and ‘corrupting the youth’. It assumes that the youth are pretty passive and helpless doesn’t it? Socrates was fond of challenging the social conventions and power structures of his time, largely by publicly questioning himself and others about their role within society. Tiger Woods is likewise a role model for his ability to challenge himself and to face up to the responsibilities and realities that then throws up whether on the golf course or off it. Not one us is ever perfect and as Tina says “…I wonder when we are ever going to change…”. John Terry and Tiger Woods recent off field behaviour has as much to teach kids as their behaviour on it. This is a challenging and unpredictable reality much like sport in general and life itself.
I’ve been challenging myself recently not only in exploring Greek History and philosophy but in light of the recent Tiger, John Terry, Michael Phelps scandals thinking how in my role as Young Ambassador for the Youth Olympic Games I might better support the role of young sports people in society and equip and educate young athletes with the tools not only to be able to withstand the pressure and scrutiny public sports figures face but also with the tools for life in general and the reflective capability that life demands of us all if we wish to grow and better ourselves.
Irrespective of this complex question and just as with the Games at Olympia in the time of Socrates and Plato, I don’t think that the off field antics of a few high profile individuals should diminish or distract from the opportunity that competitive sports provide all of us, whether as participants, officials or spectators, to challenge and ask questions of ourselves. Competitive sports enable us to embody the values of excellence and competitive sports people enable us to associate ourselves with, aspire towards and emulate excellence ourselves. By being excellent, they make it possible for us to be excellent as well, in whatever way we might choose. In doing so they also give us the opportunities to make new friendships and to acquire and demand the respect of ourselves and others around us. But as these high profile incidents remind us they also challenge us in demonstrating that we can’t take such acquired values for granted, for me, more than anything about golf, it is this that I think Tiger has enabled all of us to learn.
How do you think we can better motivate and support young people to learn from and avoid repeating some the mistakes of their role models and predecessors?
A few days ago I asked people to submit any reflections or thoughts they were willing to share on what the Olympic meant to them personally. To get the ball rolling I thought I’d share some video I took last week when I was in Singapore as part of the Youth Olympic Culture and Education Programme Seminar. I asked my fellow Young Ambassador from Papua New Guinea Shannon Andrews what he thought he and his team of athletes could gain from competing in the Games in Singapore this August. The interview took place as we were walking through Chinatown.
I think this an awesome insight and a really honest reflection from Shannon and would like to take this opportunity to thank him for sharing it. It is clear that Singapore is a fascinating example of a multi-racial community being united by a common sense of identity, this can act as a role model to a country such as Papua New Guinea which Shannon told me has over 800 different dialects and many tribal identities and affiliations.
I think for me this is part of what I really admire about the Olympics and excites me about my role as a Young Ambassador for Great Britain (itself, uniquely, a nation formed of four other nations) is the power of sport and the Olympic ideals in uniting people irrespective of political, social or religious background. I also think that, as Shannon alludes and as I mentioned a few days ago, the power of the Olympics in bringing people from all over the globe together with shared aims, ambitions and interests can offer us much cause for optimism.
What do you think about the Olympics and its values of friendship, respect and excellence? Do you share the optimism they offer or do you think they are too idealistic? Do you feel that you can point to examples of these values in your local communities? If you can I’d be really interested to hear about it and help the Team GB athletes competing at the Games this summer bring their Olympic experiences back to their local communities. Please use the comments box below or contact me on Twitter.
The Youth Olympic Games is chiefly a celebration of the Olympic Values of Friendship, Respect and Excellence. In my new role as GB Youth Ambassador for the Games to held for the first time in Singapore this August, I’m really interested to know what you all think about the Olympics and what about it you personally do or do not value?
In chatting to some people in the design world recently I know that many people don’t see the relevance of the Olympics to them personally and admitted to not really understanding the relevance of Olympics to society at large. Do you share this feeling or does the Olympics mean a lot to you?
Really any answer or reflection short or long that you fancy giving would be incredibly welcome here, it will help me understand how best to support the Young Athletes I’ll be working with over the next few months explore their social and environmental responsibilities to you, as it will be you who they are representing at the Youth Olympic Games this summer.
As Young Ambassador for Great Britain what message would you like me to pass on to the British athletes and if you aren’t British what message would you like passed on to the Olympic community at large that might in turn influence how much you value the Olympic Games and its ideals? Let me know via the comments link below or via Twitter (@fergusbisset) – I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Simultaneous Translation Booths at the Chef de Mission Seminar, 25th March, Singapore - (c) SYOGOC 2010
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been fortunate over the past week to have been invited to Singapore to participate in a Seminar ahead of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games to be held there this August. I was invited in my role as Great Britain’s Youth Ambassador for the Games – it was a great experience and a chance to meet my colleagues in this role from 29 other countries from all over the globe. Some of the other Ambassadors from other nations have already recounted their thoughts and initial reactions from the trip elsewhere; Florian from Austria, Erin from the United States and Callum from Canada are all in agreement that this was a fantastic and memorable trip. It didn’t seem to matter where each of us came from or whether our backgrounds were as youth worker, designer or Olympic medalist, or whether we spoke English, Spanish, Khmer or Mandarin. The power of the activities and the spirit and idealism that had brought us to Singapore and that the Olympic Games provides, ensured that it did not take long for us to build a strong understanding and friendship with each other.
It was also a great chance to understand more about the host nation of Singapore and in the company of 60 local ‘Youth Champions’ last week we were immersed in the activities and rich culture that await the athletes and visitors to the Youth Olympic Games in August. The cultural diversity of Singapore itself makes it an ideal venue for such an ambitious venture in cross-cultural understanding and expression.
Speaking with president of the IOC Jacques Rogge, 24th March 2010
The Culture and Education Programme (CEP) is a new initiative, the brain child of current International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to, in his own words, “reinvent the Olympics.” This sounds dramatic but in effect this is an inspired move on the part of the IOC to attempt to reconnect the modern day Olympic Games with its founding vision of the Olympics as a celebration of not just sporting achievement but also of international cultural, social and educational activities. Over the next few months I will elaborating and promoting these cultural and educational activities to and on behalf of the young athlete members of Team GB, through this blog and a number of other initiatives both online and offline in the build up to the Games. It is an exciting and challenging prospect – helping communicate the hundred and sixteen year old Olympic values and developing and supporting activities that encourage others to embody the values and their idealism.
YOG CEP Seminar, Singapore, March 2010 (c) SYOGOC 2010
I understand that it would be easy to write off this role and its responsibilities as too idealistic and unrepresentative, either of the wider challenges facing the world today or on account of the Olympics potentially seeming like the frivolous entertainment of a privileged, able bodied few. However, one of the most striking experiences of many last week was attending the Chief de Mission Seminar, which was attended by representatives of 205 National Olympic Committees. My guess is that you probably need to visit the UN to have another chance to sit in a room with that many other nationalities – the power and potential of sport uniting nations in pursuit of common goals and ideals, communicating in only two languages (English and French) is an awe inspiring phenomenon and it was a privilege to be part of it.
The good news is, that with the addition of a Cultural and Educational Programme to the Youth Olympics this summer – the opportunities for broader expression and for creating greater global understanding, collaboration and participation, is not limited to sport nor simply to dry meetings and discussions. The Youth Olympic Games will open up the Olympic movement to the full range of human capability, expression and communication and in turn provide inspiration and opportunities for millions of people both young and old to participate in and appreciate something ‘youthful’, fresh and exciting.
I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. Check back for more updates on my journey as Great Britain’s Young Ambassador and in the meantime for a bit of taster of the activities of last week check out this video from the Singapore Youth Games Organising Committee – my thanks to everyone who made this week so memorable and who are working so hard to make the Singapore Youth Olympic Games a fantastic success.
What do you think – can the Olympics, enable better communication and understanding between nations and promote a more peaceful world?
is fascinating and helped us all gain a clearer understanding of the inspiration behind the Modern Games, particularly the ideals of the Olympic Truce which called for an end to hostilities between Greek states during the Ancient Games. This truce is something that the IOC campaigns alongside the UN to uphold every time The Modern Games is hosted. The role of sport in creating global peace is the title of the proceedings of this session of the IOA and the focus of most of our discussions.
