SPORTING FUN ACROSS THE SERVICES

Friendly handshakes and warm smiles were exchanged as men and women from all three Services of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) greeted one another. These men and women had gathered together at the stadium field of SAFTI Military Institute to participate in the annual SAF Commanders' Sports Day (SCSD) held on 30 Apr.

The SCSD was launched in 2008 to provide a platform for inter-Services interaction through interesting and fun games. It also serves to emphasise on the importance of an active lifestyle and promote values such as teamwork and sportsmanship through healthy sports competition.

Said First Sergeant Joanne Chow, a Communication Specialist on board RSS Independence: "The SCSD is like a get together session for us to catch up with friends from the other Services. It is also a way for bonding among all the formations."

Participants, divided into ten formations, were first engaged in inter-formations games. This included the ONE SAF run and sporting activities like soccer, rugby, volleyball, basketball and swimming. Scores from each event were tallied and the formation with the highest score would be awarded the Chief of Defence Force (CDF) Challenge Trophy.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the ONE SAF run. This 3km run involved all formations as well as CDF, Major-General (MG) Neo Kian Hong, and the Service Chiefs.

"The 3km run is the most challenging event for the formations as we need 70 of us to start and 70 of us to finish the run," said First Warrant Officer Abdul Jabbar from the Military Police.

He added, "My formation is very cohesive. We managed to overtake two teams ahead of us and finished together despite one member being injured."

Many notable achievements were made during the inter-formation games. Records for the rugby, basketball and swimming events were broken. The 2008 winner of the CDF challenge trophy, 9th Division Infantry SAFTI formation, clinched top honours again in this year's SCSD.

After the inter-formations games, the three Services competed against each other in three inter-Services events - a Chain-of-Command relay, Golf Chipping Accuracy and a new sporting event, the Ultimate Frisbee.

Introduced to this year's sports day by the SAF Sports Association, the frisbee competition whipped up frisbee fervour among the participants. Spectators cheered for their respective Services as the competition became intense, with the Navy emerging victorious in the end.

During his closing address of the SCSD, MG Neo said, "This is a time for us to note that everybody should try to have a balance in their lives to ensure a sustained SAF."

"The amount of bonding that we have in a simple event like this makes so much of a difference to us that we should not only do our duties professionally, but also enjoy ourselves doing them," he said.