YOG - Efforts of ordinary Singaporeans

Yesterday was the opening ceremony of the YOG. In my opinion, it was all very well-organised and the organising team can be proud of their efforts, in ensuring that there were no major hiccups in the ceremony. If there was one hiccup, I would say that it was during the march in of the flag bearers of all the countries. Some of them were unsure of where exactly to go, and I was rather amused with some of them, who walked all the way to the front, or to the wrong side, etc. Other than this, I think that the ceremony went quite well. The weather also did not pose any problems and there was no rain during the time when the ceremony was held, which was lucky because there were a number of activities that could not have taken place if there had been rain. These activities included the lighting of the cauldron with the Olympic Flame, and it would have been a major spoilsport if the 27,000 spectators had to use umbrellas and ponchos to view the ceremony. ( Even after paying so much to go to the Marina Bay Floating Platform to watch the ceremony live. )

But, we should ask ourselves. What can we, as ordinary Singaporeans do, to help leave a good impression in the minds of these foreign young athletes? These athletes are mostly between the age of 15 and 17, and they make up the future of the sports world. If they have a bad impression of Singapore, this might pose a major problem in the future, because these athletes would not come back to visit Singapore in the future if they do not have a good impression of Singapore.

So, what can we do to help? Firstly, we can ask our parents, who drive, to give way to the coaches that bring the athletes to their destinations. I think, if we give way to them, they will think that we are gracious and they might want to come back again in the future. Secondly, we can do our part by not littering. I mean, how would you feel if you are an athlete and you go to some country that you have never went to before and you see litter everywhere? Would you want to come back again? Obviously no.

So, I think that by doing our part, we can all help to leave a good impression on these athletes. Even if what we are doing are quite insignificant, I think that we can do a lot if we all work together. You can leave a comment if you have any other ways of leaving a good impression on these athletes.

Dickson