VS Boarders 2010

Here's the new Mafia Gang for 2010

"Shooters watch your front! (and rear too!)"

Got my new toy just the other day-

Multi-cam battle belt & harness with 4 pod mag holders and 1 dump pouch


Couldn't wait for today to try it out at Austin Hills Paintball field in JB
Adjusted the entire rig to fit first and it felt good.

Enough compartments to hold 4 pods of paintballs (about 400 rounds), 1 dump pouch for misc items if needed in the scenario
Some of the guys had more elaborate rigs- with camelbak hydration pouches and comms gear attached. I'm still relatively noob, so this lite-weight set-up good enough for me without sacrificing mobility

With the top on, the harness blends in with the rest of the multi-cam pattern and I'm good to go!


Today was a tad less satsifying because our first warm-up Elimination game ended in draw for both sides
Second game, Capture the Flag game had my O2 tank purge completely in the middle of the game cos of a ruptured O-ring. Sian... caught in the middle of cross-fire right insight of the flag with a fully loaded marker but can't shoot cos got no air in the tank. No choice but to hunker down and dogdge bullets.
Third game, every one shack-out liao.
So we did a small-sided 3 on 3 elimination.
we played 2 rounds- Round 1, my 2 team-mates got shot while running for tree cover in the opening 10 secs. With 3 expert speedballers from the opposite team aiming at me, it was only a matter of time before i got hit. Longest 30 secs of my life.

Second round, our guys took revenge! We eliminated 2 of the opposing team early with 1 loss on our side. With 2 to 1 advantage, we had their last member pinned down.
After laying suppressing fire, I sprinted to flank him while he sought to engage my team-mate.
Then suay suay, Phoenix, my team-mate mistook my sudden sprint as enemy movement, shot me from behind. wah liao
PK'ed by friendly fire *sigh*
The last remaining opponent took this opportunity to close in and then we were all out.

Not exactly triumphant but still, it's the spirit of the game that counts.
The small triumph I take back this weekend is I know the cough that's been plaguing me this week is breaking. Should be on my way to full recovery by next week, just in time for VS Wushu team to enter National Inter-school Wushu Championships.

So time to get ready for another battle, on another battle field!

What do big boys do to have fun ...

Big boys, small boys- all of us like to play with guns :P
The most realistic way to shoot each other and make it back alive is by playing airsoft- the airsoft scene is really big in Manila where I sometimes go to play and train. But closer to home, next door in Johor- there's a great paintball field where Singaporeans and Malaysians gather to play scenarios paintball aka woodsball.

Since 2009, I've played a couple of games with the Wargh crew (they've even help us set up a laser tag mission for Veloci-T Camp in 2009)
Here's footage of the Wargh crew and what mischief big boys get up to on the weekends!
Watch RazorTV as they interview 'Master Chief' Andy and the rest of his crew at Austin Hills , JB.
We'll be heading down tommorrow for a great shoot out!

Keep the Faith

KEEP THE FAITH, VS! KEEP THE FAITH!

National Schools Cross-Country Championships 2010

Yesterday marked a triumphant return of the C and B Division Challenge trophies to Victoria School in the National Schools Cross-Country 2010.
We see our Principal, Mr Low, sitting proudly with the 2 Challenge Shields- back where they belong!


As all true blue Victorians know, no other school has ever won both Division titles in cross-country event for boys in the history of the event in Singapore. Largely this is because, for an almost unbroken stint of 19 years, VS has captured at least 1 title every year: i.e. winning either the C or B Division titles.
Where we have set our mark in history is that in several landmark years, we have won both C and B Division titles-- the only school to have done that for the boys event. We won both divisions title in 2006 and this year's double whammy brings our tally up to 31 combined team titles in the history of the event!

This year our budding crop of talents in the C-Boys have shown that they are proud inheritors of the legacy passed to them by their seniors:


Our C-Boys Top-4 runner's results
1. Marcus Ng, Victoria School – 15:41.66
5. Mahesvaran S/O Selvan, Victoria School – 16:56.54
8. Sean Yeo, Victoria School – 17:31.06
15. Branson Chua, Victoria School – 18:02.98

C Division Boys:
1. Victoria School – 29
2. Catholic High – 37
3. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) – 40
4. Raffles Institution – 72
5. Bartley Secondary – 151

As for our B-Boys, they have proven without a doubt that team-work and humilty and gratefulness are what makes a champion team. Despite facing various set-backs, they have perservered and emerged champions by encouraging it other and working as a united team.

Our B-Boys Top-4 runner's results
4. Venuraam S/O Selvan, Victoria School – 16:20.22
5. Joel-David Wong, Victoria School – 16:27.01
6. Bryan Yong, Victoria School – 16:28.47
18. Hieng Pheak Kdey, Victoria School – 17:06.44

B Division Boys:
1. Victoria School – 33
2. St. Joseph’s Institution – 52
3. Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) – 53
4. Catholic High – 72
5. Singapore Sports School – 95

Of course, none of these would be possible without the passion and dedication of their devoted Cross-Country teacher Miss Sheikha Fadzleen and her partner in crime Mdm Ernie. Day in, Day out; rain or shine- Sheikha is with the boys giving of herself to train them to be the best they can be; and when the boys return to school after their training, Mdm Ernie stays with them to help them catch up on their school work.
Thank you teachers, we couldn't have done it without you!


(Photos courtesy of Mr Eeson Tay)
Information on timings taken from Red Sports- For more coverage of the event, please see the article at redsports.sg

Passing the Torch

VS Sec 3 Overseas Advenutre Camp @ KOREF

Every year in March, our entire Sec 3 cohort goes overseas to Kahang, Malaysia where we spend 4 days at the Kahang Organic Rice Eco Farm.
There the boys get a chance to do a variety of Outdoor Activities as well as get to know more about Ecological Awareness and our relationship with the environment.

Let's take a look at some of the activities that allow our students to
Challenge the Process of learning, leading and collaborating:


Throughout the various events, our various student leaders i.e. the Red Shirts, Black Shirts, Class Monitors, Peer Leaders, etc all sought to Enable Each Other to Act by reinforcing our common values as Victorians:


Soon it became apparent that each one of us contributed to this shared experience; that the Victorian Spirit that we talk about, cheer about and fight about is built from the shared dreams and hopes that we inspire in each other. We learn that our actions have a wider impact on the Victorian family and that each and every step we take for ourselves also allows us to Inspire a Shared Vision with our fellow Victorians


When we faced the challenge of climbing Mount Lambak, we knew it was a daunting task that would test not only our physical endurance but our mental endurance too. But Victorians leave no one behind and it is this belief that allows us to be willing to carry each other's burdens, to lighten each other's load and to Encourage Each Other's Hearts:


We believe that a Victorian is ultimately a Gentleman, Professional & Sportsman. Ultimately, that is the model for every Victorian to follow. From students, to teachers, each and everyone of us seeks to Model the Way for future generations of Victorians to follow:


(The theme of the above videos has been structured according to the Kouzes & Posner framework which VS has adopted and incorporated into our Student Leadership Framework)

Innergy Awards 2010 and MOE ExCEL Fest 2010

Well, not often that I get to wear tie and formal dress, so this morning, bright and early, I got changed up nicely and set out to Suntec Convention Centre.
I had received notice from MOE that I was given a Commendation prize for the MOE Innergy Awards!

What had started out as a shot in the dark, had turned out to garner us a Commendation prize in the MOE Innergy Awards. Since 2006, we had started having a 'live' blog for our Sec 1 EDGE Orientation Camp. So last year, encouraged by Mr Low, I submitted an entry for the Innergy Award "Educating Students Outdoors, Engaging Parents Indoors- Using Mobile Content to Connect Teachers, Students and Stakeholders Beyond the Classroom"

I was shortlisted by the panel and gave a short-presentation on how we used mobile
3G phones and streaming content to allow parents at home to have 'live' updates of photos and videos of their child during our Sec 1 Camps. We demonstrated this by showing the panel a 'live' stream of CCA training at VS conducted by student leaders.

So it was a pleasant surprise to be notfied later on that our pet project that we had developed to engaged parents, had actually won a commendation award


Later in the day, our team of teachers headed by Mr Maran and comprising of Miss Tang Waiyue, Mr Chen Zhongyi, Mr Munir and myself, presented a concurrent sharing session to teachers attending the MOE ExCEL Fest on the VS Student Leadership Framework.

For the first part of the programe, we got the teacher participants to role-play and imagine that they were Sec 1 Victorians participating in our VS Sec 1 Orientation Camp. They would play the part of new Sec 1 students and we got some volunteers to be home sick, to be negative and some to be mere observers. We wanted them to experience for themselves how our VS student leaders would exercise leadership by conducting the team-building activity and managing them at the same time. The boys did really well and here's a clip of them in action:


Later on, Jia Lok and I did a small role-play to show the participants how we use our leadership passport to help our Junior and Senior Leaders take stock of their personal growth as leaders:


It was a long day but a fulfilling one and after we finished, several participants stayed back to chat with the boys and us to find out more. To me, that was a more tangible reward than the trophy we got in the morning- becaue through our presentation and subsequent dialogues with the participants, we did indeed show that Victoria is something more.

Nil Sine Labore

Athletic Standard Test- Sec 1F

We're coming to the end of Term 1 and our Sec 1F boys have been running, jumping and throwing their way through the various PE lessons!

Like all boys, they can be really mischievous-- Just take a look at Maverick in his High Jump attempt today:


But their class spirit and enthusiasim is contagious- you can see how they cheer each other on to reach greater heights!


They also constantly surpise me with their never say die attitude when even the heavier boys give their 110% and successfully clear heights that other Sec 1 classes can't. Here we see Qi Long proving that size does not matter, rather it's the never-say-die spirit that conquers all:


Inspired by Qi Long's success, even our smaller boys were determined to challenge themselves. Here we see Leonard proving this height is no obstacle for him too!