The weather has been stormy lately, but a good deed always brightens the day! Last Wednesday, four bowlers from the Singapore Sports School were on the way to a competition when their bus met a fallen tree across Rifle Range Road, blocking the way for both people and vehicles.
For the four teenagers the decision was easy – make a path for people to get through! Using their Outward Bound Singapore ( OBS ) experience, they soon made an opening through the branches, enough for people to pass through. At the risk of being late for their competition, they stayed to help others through the path they’d created.
As icing on the cake, two of the student-athletes won the gold medal in the doubles’ competition. Well done, Aidan, Jarred, Han Qin, and James! – LHL
#OneKindDay
Singapore Kindness Movement
It was a cold and dark morning. Thunder, lightning, strong winds and heavy rain swept over most parts of Singapore. In a bus sat four male student-athletes and their bowling equipment, and their coaches, heading for Temasek Club to compete in the National Schools Bowling Championships "A" Division Boys' Doubles event.
About 200 metres from the competition venue, the bus slowed down... and rolled to a stop. A huge tree had fallen across the road and caused the rest of Rifle Range Road to become impassable to man or wheels.
The team alighted and joined members of the public who were starring at the fallen tree and talking among themselves.
"Why don't we break the smaller branches and create an opening?" Jarred asked his teammates after assessing the situation.
A member of the public overheard him and suggested that there were ants and they could be bitten. A policeman said that NParks had been notified and help was on the way.
It was approaching 7.30 am and the team had to report at the bowling centre by 8 am or risk being disqualified.
James agreed with Jarred's idea and together with Aidan and Han Qin, looked around for a suitable spot to start clearing the debris.
They twirled some branches, they "tunnelled" through and soon, the four bowlers found themselves on the other side of the fallen tree.
"Luckily, we went to OBS and learnt a thing or two," James laughed out loud.
The four student-athletes returned to the other side of the tree and started to bring their bowling bags through the clearing, and then helped the public get past the debris.
The Aidan Poh-Jarred Lim Jia Le pairing finished their combined 12 games with a total of 2,458 pinfalls, while the Oh Han Qin-James Stuart Lowe Heng Leong partners knocked over 2,377 pins on 19 April 2017. They had done their best, and being unseeded teams, had to wait until the late morning of 24 April 2017 for the seeded teams to finish their games before knowing the final results.
Deservedly, Aidan and Jarred won the gold medal; Han Qin and James came in 6th behind three pairs from ACJC and one pair from ACS Independent - just 39 pins from the bronze medal team.
Kimberly Neo Kah Min and Charmaine Chang Yu Quan also did well to win the gold medal in the Girls' Doubles event after an uncharacteristic start of a combined total of 285 pins in their first game. Difficult though it was to catch up, they did not give up and fought frame after frame to finish with 2,290 pinfalls - ahead of TJC (2,267) and ACJC (2,206). Our second pair of Rachael Tan Soo Hui and table tennis player Angeline Tang An Qi finished 13th.
In the earlier Singles competition, Aidan and Charmaine won bronze medals.
The two-block Team events start today with the girls bowling in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. The second block will be played on 26 April 2017. And then, we wait... Until the seeded teams finish their turn on the afternoon of 26 April 2017 before we know the final results.
Words: Shirley Tan, Team Mum
Video: Catherine Kang, Coach, Bowling Academy
