Many experts agree that sports and games play important parts in a child’s education, not only through introducing a healthy lifestyle for students, but also through learning discipline, how to work hard, and how to work in a team.
Based on this belief, the Singapore Schools Group celebrated their 10th anniversary by holding the SIS Olympics from April 6-9. The annual event encompassed nine different sporting events over four days and included all eight Singapore schools from around the country, namely Singapore School Bona Vista, Cilegon, Kebun Jeruk, Kelapa Gading, Medan, Palembang, Pantai Indah Kapuk and Semarang. “SIS Olympics is a major event for the SIS Group of Schools. In line with the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we carried a Brazilian theme for this year’s event, which included a Carnival procession. We also invited Samba and Capoeira dancers for the closing ceremony and we even did the Olympic torch relay! Almost seven thousand people were involved in this event, including students, teachers, staff, parents and also friends from numerous international associations,” explained Carole Dugast, The Head of Marketing Department of SIS Group of Schools.
Carole also emphasised that the main purpose of SIS Olympics is not about winning the medals, but to tighten the friendship between students and to teach them about the values of sports, which is very important especially these days, when kids seem to be chained to their gadgets. “The kids were very excited to participate in this event, and for the school, SIS Olympics is an opportunity to introduce students to their friends from other cities so they can learn from each other, thus strengthening the relationship between each school as part of Singapore Schools’ big family. Furthermore, we wanted to show students that human connection, team spirit and team play are very beautiful and cannot be replaced by social medias or the internet. Sports and games give them challenges and a chance to have fun with their friends while still learning about things that cannot be studied inside the classroom.” Carole continued.
A number of sports that students competed in the SIS Olympics were futsal, badminton, table tennis, swimming, basketball, volleyball, tennis and athletics. To enliven the auspicious occasion, Singapore Schools also invited various Olympic and professional athletes like Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma to award medals for those participants who excelled in their field. Hopefully, with the presence of these athletes, students will be more inspired and determined to achieve their goals.
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