The curtain may have come down on the Youth Olympic Games, but the spirit continued at INDUK Taekwondo on August 28th, 2010, when the Singapore YOG Taekwondo team came to visit.
Led by Mdm Wong Liang Ming, the team's head coach, our Young Olympians – Nurul Shafinas Binte Abdul Rahman, Nur Zakira Binte Zakaria, Daryl Tan and Christopher Lee spent the afternoon sharing their YOG experience and training with our students.
Mdm Wong took our students through the paces of how the national squad trains. She and the young Olympians, led our delighted students through warm up drills, that included exercises like tumbles, cartwheels and splits. The team also went on to coach sparring and kicking techniques, explaining how kicks are to be executed and why.
From the delighted laughter of the participating students and the smiles from the parents watching, everyone had a wonderful time. The forty INDUK students, aged from 5 to 13 years, who participated, were definitely inspired from this encounter. Shi Wen, 10 and currently a yellow tip said, "I am so happy. I got to spar with Shafinas! If I train hard, I can be just like her." Many were happy to have the opportunity to not only meet, but to have their photographs taken and autographs signed by the first ever Youth Olympic Taekwondo team. Ethan, 8, a red belt, sums it up brilliantly, "It’s an awesome training day!"
Yes, to everyone that was there at INDUK Taekwondo, it was indeed an inspiring and awesome Saturday afternoon. INDUK thanks coach Mdm Wong and her team.
