YA Leadership Training, 29 January 2016

Hello Guides! For this 集合， the Young Adults (YA) had planned the respective activities and we had no prior notice of what was in line for us! We 集合-ed as per normal at 2:45 and after an attire check, the YAs took over. They split us up into our batches and told us that the following activities will be done as a batch. Here are the respective accounts:

Year 2s Batch Activity

For the Year 2s, we were give 7 minutes to get our logistics from 团部 that were needed to build a baggage rack, a kitchen dresser, a fire altar and a shoe rack. I felt that we were rather disorganised despite managing to get the logistics needed within the given time, as we were not very sure of the 木 needed to build the standard structures and were rather confused.

We were then given 3 ½ minutes to each tie a square lash and another 4 minutes to tie a diagonal lash. However, some of us were not too sure about the diagonal lash and only managed to finish with a time extension of 1 minute. After that, one of our batchmates demonstrated and explained the diagonal lash to us, ensuring that all of us understood. We were then told to retie our diagonal lashes within 4 ½ minutes. Through the first part of the activity, I felt that we should better familiarise ourselves with both our lashes, as well as the standard structures. Besides that, I feel that we should clarify with our seniors when we are unsure of anything and not just keep quiet.

After which, we were given 40 minutes to build a baggage rack, an indoor fire altar and a kitchen dresser, which we then split ourselves into 3 groups so as to be more efficient. Approximately 5 minutes later, we realised that we had insufficient 木 to build all three structures. At that point in time, we were given 2 minutes to look at the proposals and to figure out the amount of 木 we were short of and then given 7 minutes to get whatever we needed.

After 2 of us from each group got all the necessary logistics, we quickly continued with the building of our various structures. I felt that throughout that time, we all learnt to work together and to have effective communication so as to ensure that the structures are built accordingly. What made me feel motivated was that we all helped each other out and we stepped out of our comfort zones and attempted in asking when we were lost, instead of silently doing what we thought was right.

However, I feel that we could have worked with a higher sense of urgency as we had to ask for a time extension of 7 minutes to finish up our structures. Fortunately, our structures were rather stable and turned out rather well! Lastly, I better understood the various standard structures as well as their uses through understanding the building process and the common mistakes made that we should take note so as to avoid them the next time round, such as the rationale behind tying the square lashes up to down or down to up so as to avoid overlapping them. Overall, I believe that we all learnt a lot be it communication skills, or the rationale of the lashes!

 

 

Year 3s Batch Activity

All of us felt a little afraid and worried about what was going to happen during this year's leadership training, as we knew that the YAs would be judging our performance based on it. At the start of j集合, the YAs told us to separate into our batches. I was quite surprised that we were going to do the activity in our own batch, as previous leadership trainings had been by patrol and usually been either OJ (obstacle journey) or Physical Training (PT) etc. 

Firstly, we were tasked to bring down a specific amount of mu which the YAs read out to us. After bringing down the mu, the YAs passed a proposal to one of the Y3s, and instructed us to build a mini kitchen using gadget poles in 40minutes. We were also allowed to make amendments to the proposal so as to improve the structure.  At first, all of us were at a loss and the entire situation was very chaotic. All of us were trying our best to take a look at the proposal and we spent the first few minutes shouting at one another to take a specific number of mu to build the main frame. 

After calming down and being more familiar with the proposal, we started work on the main frame. A few of us stepped back to take a look at the structure as a whole and to give the necessary comments to the rest of our batchmates. We then 起-ed the main frames and started to build the 顶脚s to the structure. However, many of us had different opinions and views as to how we should tie the 顶脚s and we all tried to voice out our thoughts. Personally, after thinking back on this, i feel that although it was good of us to step up, we should not all have been so focused on voicing out our views without listening to each other's opinions as well. This made the situation very messy and noisy as all of us were literally just shouting at one another and trying to rebut each other's suggestions. 

Although we went through many challenges in the building of our structure, we finally managed to finish building it successfully. The YAs then gave us feedback and comments and gave us 20minutes to rebuild the structure again, but this time with more improvements based on their suggestions previously. 

We were surer of ourselves this time and the process was smoother than before. However, like previously, we were all very rash and wanted to get the structure done without thinking carefully about how we were going to go about doing it. We thus made many mistakes and had to 拆掉 some of the things which we had already built. We still managed to add some improvements to the structure though. Overall, I think this activity was a very enriching experience for me as I not only learnt how to step up, but also to think carefully about how to build the structure before just diving head first into it. 

Year 2s & 3s Combined Activity

For the second part of the YA leadership training, the Year 2s and 3s had to work together to build various structures. The purpose of this was to train our communication skills as well as train the Year 3s to be able to lead the Year 2s.

We were given a total time of 7 minutes to check that we had the required gadget poles and to go to 团部 to retrieve the necessary items from our 小队箱. Through cooperation and teamwork, we managed to finish checking the logistics before the time was up. Thereafter, the YAs instructed us to build a fire altar, kitchen dresser, clothes line and baggage rack all linked together. In addition, we also had to build three emergency shelters. We were then given 5 minutes to discuss our strategy.

In the 5 minutes, we decided that P1 and 2 work together to build the baggage rack and clothes line, P3, 4 and 5 work together to build the fire altar and the kitchen dresser, whereas P6 build the three emergency shelters.

We were then given 40 minutes to build the various structures. However, as we were too engrossed in building, we forgot to constantly cheer and 报时. Our overall sense of urgency was also very slow and could definitely be improved on. After 10 minutes, the YAs called us to 集合 and pointed these things out. Our time was then cut short and we had until 35 minutes to complete everything. The YAs also told us to 起 two flagpoles and a dome tent. After break off, P6 who was done with the three emergency shelters, helped to 起 the flagpole and tent while the rest of us carried on with our assigned tasks. Our sense of urgency and morale were greatly improved.

Halfway through, the YAs called three people, including myself out and told us that we could not talk and could only cheer, 报时 and tell others that we could not talk. This was a difficult task as we had to control ourselves from talking and at the same time, lead and give instructions to the rest.

When 35 minutes was up, we all 集合-ed even though certain things were not yet completed. I feel that instead of doing so, we should have asked for time extension and not give up by leaving things uncompleted. We were then given an extra 5 minutes to finish the structures up, which we managed to do so. We were then given time to 拆掉 everything and return all logistics to 团部.

Overall, I feel that our sense of urgency could be improved and our morale could be higher. As Year 3s, we should also take note to not leave the Year 2s alone to do things but should always be there to take charge and lead them. Through this activity, I learnt that communication at the very beginning is very important and we should not blindly jump into completing the assigned task.

Year 4 Batch Activity

For YA leadership training, our batch had attire check at first. If the person on our right was told that their attire was not standard, we had to pump for them. I think that this activity was quite meaningful as our batchmates will learn how to take responsibility to wear standard attire and feel bad for the people pumping for them. After that, we went to 集合 outside 团部. We were then given 5 min to label everything in our 小队箱。 We found out that many of the logistics in our 小队箱  was not labeled so we had to ask for time extension. We asked for time extension twice and we also helped other patrols to label their stuff. After that, we were told to shift all our stuff in our 小队箱 to other 小队箱 s according to the layout the YAs told us. We were given 20min and as we had extra time after that, we thought that the YAs gave us so much time for a reason. So we went to memorise the layout of our 小队箱 and even did a stock check. We later found out that it was redundant as the YAs gave us so much time for us to make everything look neater. Then, they told us a layout to put our stuff. So we had to take out everything again and rearrange our stuff. We also tried to standardise among all the patrols. However, it was not very neat and standardised as the shelves of our 小队箱  are of different levels and thus, some patrols have not enough space to put their stuff. Then, we are asked to level all the shelves in 小队箱 and were made to pack wisely and make it neater. After which, we 集合-ed in 团部 and had a really long debrief on the rationales of why the YAs made us do such an unconventional activity to train our communication skills and teamwork. This activity was very different from what we usually do and we did not expect to do this for YA training. All in all, we still learned the importance of teamwork in a batch even though we would have preferred to have more physical activities.

This week’s 集合was indeed something unexpected and different the usuals! We still hope that everyone was able to benefit in one way or another!

Cheers,
Michelle
47^th Batch Secretary

Patrol Activity 25 January 2016

Hello Guides! (:

This is the first Patrol Activity (PA) of the year! Here are the accounts from the respective Year 3s from the different patrols!

P1 Bougainvillea:
On Monday, our PA activity was very unexpected as no one knew that it would be tough. We 集合-ed for a combined patrol activity with P5, and was a little short on manpower as many people did not come. We were given a time limit of around 2 minutes to discuss about our Creative gadget, that had to hold the properties of a shoe rack, a clothes line, a dish rack, and a baggage rack. We wasted a lot of time trying to think of a feasible structure but after much contemplation, we decided on two tripods connected together by 2 长木，and 2 顶角s made more stable with 2 diagonal lashes. We had to do PT circuits while each member took turns to run up to 团部 and retrieve 1 logistic each (required for the structure). At the point, we were all very exhausted as we had ran up many times and almost had no energy to start our building. However, through the patrol cheers and high morale maintained, we managed to pia through the PT. We were given a time limit of around 25 minutes to build our gadget, and although it was not very stable, we were still proud that we managed to complete our task within the given time. Finally, our last activity was to take one 青木 each from backstore and run while carrying it for one round around the track. We had to finish running in 2 minutes, but  under that immense pressure and exhaustion from the previous activities, some of us 过时-ed but the PL asked for a time extension in advance. Overall, it was one of the most physically and mentally tiring PAs, and I learnt how to have a better sense of urgency and how to put in my best for every guides activity I attend

P2 Ixora:

This 集合 we had combined mini OJ with P3 and P6. This OJ had three stations. Our first station, we had to build a Roman chariot. As it had been a long time since any of us had to build Roman chariot, we forgot what the structure looked like. At first we made the trapezium with two 红木and two 青木, as well as two diagonals. Our lashes were also loose as after we finished we had to 重打 all the lashes. Next time we build a Roman chariot need to make sure the lashes are tight and we use 青木 for the trapezium and one 红木 for the diagonal. Our 配备 was also kupped without us noticing. We need to take better notice of our surroundings and look after our logistics.

For the second station we had to build a structure that could elevate our logistics and half of our patrol mates under 15 minutes. One patrol mate was blind while the other could not use one arm. At first we wanted to build a quad pod with 红木, but we realised that we can just make a platform out of 4 红木 and place it between the curb and the stairs to elevate it. We managed to fit all our patrol mates and our 配备 onto the structure.

For the third and last station the year 2s had to build a tripod with two stable 定脚s each while the year 3s had to build a  tripod with three stable 定脚s each. We had to run on round around the sixth floor to get a 白绳. The time was very limited and we could not complete the tripod as we ran out of 白绳. We need to make sure we pack sufficient 白绳 (more than one ziplock bag) for the next OJ.

We also had combined PT. For the first segment of PT, we had to run all the way to the sixth floor, and run around each level before proceeding to the next level. We then ran all the way down before repeating the process. I think this was the most tiring segment of PT as we were not used to so much running. We had to make sure to 等人 but not run so slowly that we were walking. Overall, I think it was good training for future 集合s. We also did 20 pumping, 15 burpees and 20 jumping jacks.

On the whole, I think this PA was a good platform to test our basic skills and improve our physical fitness so that we can leave a good impression when the year 1s come in.

P3 Jasmine:
On Monday, we had a surprise mini OJ. At first I was shocked as our patrol had only 4 members and I was not confident of completing it due to lack of manpower. Nonetheless, we had to try our best and were given 5 minutes to pack our OJ配备. Next, we went to our first station at the area near backstore. It requires us to elevate 2 of our patrol members and 配备. We were given 15 minutes hence we thought of a tripod and two 顶脚s to elevate. However we did not manage to complete it. As I was the PS for that station, I have learnt how to communicate with that PL better as time was ticking and we had to think of an idea as soon as possible. After that we went up to block G level 6, this station was more of individual work as y2s had to tie a stable tripod with 2 顶脚 while y3s had to tie that but with 3 顶脚s instead within 15 minutes. To increase the difficulty level, for every 白绳we needed, we have to run one round around the level. For this station although all of us finished the task in completing the structure, our lashes were far from being tight and our报时was very inconsistent. Hence I feel that even though I am occupied with stuff I will make the consistent effort to 报时and cheer. Lastly, we went to MRL for the last station. We were given 5 minutes to tie a roman chariot. At first I thought that it was a mission impossible and indeed we failed the first time. Subsequently, we learnt to tie the lashes tighter and work together as a team. Initially, we were uncertain about how a roman chariot looks like but under the guidance of our seniors, we managed to complete it. Moving on, we had physical training with patrol 2 and 6. Although it was exhausting, I felt motivated to complete the run as we cheered. Overall, 集合 on Monday was a different experience for me as seniors are training us to acquire a better sense of urgency by letting us learn in the hard way.

P4 Orchid:

For Monday Patrol activities this week, Patrol 4 had physical training. The first part of physical training required mass change and we managed that rather well as we were able to change from our PT kit to PE attire and then from PE attire back to PT kit both under 3 minutes. After mass change, our Patrol Leader asked for our preference is physical training attire to which we agreed upon PE attire. Our first PT station was on the 6th level where we were required to do a circuit of physical trainings for 23 minutes. Having not been exercising for a while since school had begun, we found the routine exhausting. The circuit was 45 seconds of planking, 3 minutes of 站马, 20 sit ups , 25 burpees and 35 pumpings.  After the first circuit, we were already very exhausted and one of our y3s was feeling nausea. Seeing our discomfort and pain, our patrol leader allowed us to slow down. We managed to complete 2 circuits by the time the 23 minutes were up. Our next station was on the 2nd level where the Y3s had to build a roman chariot in 4 minutes and the Y2s were trained on their communication skills via gadgetting with the appointed in-charge having to be across the block. For the Y3s, we had built our roman chariot wrong and our seniors explained to us how it actually was supposed to be. Our third PT task was to run around the block once before climbing to the above level and doing the same for the consecutive levels. During this physical training activity, one of our Y3s fell out having almost puked. The rest of the Y3s continued on with the PT activity before being given a short break. The 4th physical training activity was lunging whilst carrying a 黑木 which is the heaviest spar of all. It was pretty tough due to height imbalances and the constant someone-getting-hit-by-spar but we pulled through. The 5th physical training activity planned was leg raise whereby the entire patrol was to support a bucket in the middle of us. I felt that it was the most fun as we were able to really connect as a patrol through the laughing about how it could possibly fall and splash all of us. The last physical activity was 5 minutes of kallang wave pumping of which we aimed to complete 250 pumping. Eventually we did better than we'd expected with about 315 pumpings. We ended patrol activity with patrol corner and discussion of future roles. Through this patrol activity, I've realised that fitness needs to be trained and that our physical fitness needs to improve dramatically if we were to survive the subsequent patrol activities. Also we need to work on our skills as we may have forgotten how to build certain structures over the holidays.

 

P5 Sunflower:

Today, we 集合-ed at the GSL at 3.30pm for a combined Patrol Activity with Patrol1.
Firstly, we were given 2 minutes and 20 seconds to discuss a structure which consisted of a baggage rack, a clothes line, a shoe rack and a dishrack. After a long discussion, we finally came up with a structure of 2 tripods connected together by 長木, and on each of the tripod 定腳, we would tie one parallel 木 above it to act as the shoe rack. We would also have diagonal 定腳 to stabalize the structure. Next, both patrols did PT circuits while 1 member ran up to the 3rd storey to retrieve logistics for the building of our structure. At any one point in time, we were only allowed to take 1 logistic (e.g. 1 木 at a time), and this went on for 15 minutes. Finally, we were given 25 minutes to build the structure and we managed to finish building the gadget successfully within the time limit even though some nettings were not properly ended.

After the activity ended, we ran to the backstore and each person took 1 青木. Then, we had to run once around the track in 2 minutes carrying our 青木. By the time all of us returned, we were exhausted and tired, but we felt accomplished too.

At the end of the Patrol Activity, we have learnt to be perseverant, honest (running up to take logistics even though no one is watching) and more efficient.

P6 Morning Glory:
PA was a mini OJ, with three patrols combined: P2, P3 and P6. There were three stations, and even though we had our belongings taken from us in all three stations, we were able to cheer constantly which was good and kept up the patrol morale and in the future we should take better care of our belongings, work faster and have a better sense of urgency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone learned something during this PA!

Cheers,
Michelle
47^th Batch Secretary

Pioneering, 22 January 2016

Hello Guides! (:

For today’s 集合, we had a pioneering session! The year 2s and 3s were split into 3 groups and the year 4s (apart from the Patrol Leaders and the Company Leaders) were a group on their own. They each had to complete a structure within the given time limit. The following are accounts from members of the various groups!

Group 1:

We were required to build a tower that was not taller than 3 metres . For this activity, Group 1 built a tower with an extended platform which doubled as a bench and part of a ladder to reach the platform at the top of the actual tower.  To build our tower, we started by building the main frames which were 2 trapeziums, with yellow spars, red spars and green spars. We tied a red spar across the two yellow spars horizontally as the base and two yellow spars across diagonally as supports as well as two green spars across horizontally for the platform and railings. We made a carbon copy of it for the other main frame as well. After tying the main frames, we erected them and joined them with yellow spars tied diagonally across the two main frames as supports as well as red spars tie at the bottom across horizontally to complete the base. After ensuring that the main tower was able to stand on its own, we were split into two groups with one group working on completing the main tower and the other group working on the extended platform.

Around this point, however, we realized that we had run out of rope and work had to be put on hiatus for a few minutes while some of us went around to the other groups to take more rope. Thankfully work resumed very soon and we were not affected much though we could have been more accurate in calculating the amount of rope we needed. As we worked, we realized that our structure was somewhat slanted and unsymmetrical due to the fact that one side was leaning in more than the other. We loosened a few lashes to try to improve the situation but we couldn’t totally make the structure symmetrical which resulted in a slightly shaky structure. We could have prevented this if we did timely checks to see the structure from afar. Also we were not able to complete our structure within the allocated time which we could have if we had tied our lashes tighter as much time was spent retying lashes, utilized manpower slightly better as there were instances where many people had nothing to do and maintained our sense of urgency throughout the activity as we slowed down towards the completion of the structure. We also had to be reminded constantly to report the timing which could be improved on since many of us wore black watches but were always waiting for someone else to report the time which goes to show that we need to take more initiative in doing things.

Despite all these, I guess we could say that our structure came out pretty well since we were able to sit on it without it crumbling to the ground and were able to snap a few photographs with it. Also we did not have much conflict which came surprising as we expected some squabbling. On the whole, though we still needed to improve on the usual time management and sense of urgency, our structure was pretty successful despite minor changes in appearance due to measurement errors.

 

Group 2:

When we were broken off to take our logistics, we dispatched our Year 2s to take the 麻布袋 while the Year 3s went to take 10 紅木, 8黃木, 23 青木 as well as 8白木. After that, we 集合-ed at the MRL and shortly after, we began to work on building our structure.

We split ourselves into 2 groups-- one of the two groups would be working on the main frame while the other group would be working on the ladder which is attached to the tower. By around 30 minutes, we were finished with our basic frames. Next, we 起-ed the structure and started to tie the lashes that would connect both main frames together. These included attaching 青木 and diagonal 紅木s to the structure to stabilise it as well. Next, we rafted a platform on the structure with 青木, but faced a minor issue while doing so as we predicted that we would use lesser 青木, and hence we ended up not having enough 青木 to raft the full platform. Hence, we altered our structure and rafted from both sides, then attached a 青木 in the centre of the gap between the two sides of the rafting, mainly for safety purposes. Finally, we attached the ladder to the tower. However, another problem arose as the ladder's intervals were not equal and not spaced out properly, resulting in huge protrusions. Since we had more time on our side, we decided to 重打 all the lashes of the ladder to make it more feasible and aesthetically pleasing.

We managed to finish the structure even before the time limit, leaving us with much time to 重抽 any loose lashes. Overall, we all felt quite pleased with the structure as it was just as how we expected it to be, and because we finished it in time as well. When we were told to 拆 the tower, we were also quite fast and finished 拆-ing the structure, 搬-ing the 木, and 收-ing the 麻繩 within the time limit.

All in all, Group 2 felt that it was good practice for us to try and vocalize more during 集合, and we were also extremely satisfied with the structures that we have built.

 

Group 3:

For pioneering this week, my group was tasked to build a tower which was no taller than 3 metres. After a few proposal submissions, we managed to finalise a structure with 2 rectangle main frames and a cross between them, as well as 2 ladders connecting them, one tied directly to the frames and the other a slanted ladder. We were first given 15 minutes to collect all the logistics we needed. They are: 4 黑木，4黄木，4深蓝木，2青木，11红木, 16 白木 and 麻绳. Once we collected our required logistics, we were given a total of 2 hours to finish the structure. Firstly, we layout the 木 in the shape of the main frame and started to tie them together. Then, we carbon-copied the frame to make the duplicate. At first, we were behind the scheduled timing but once we completed the second frame, we ahead of time which was a blessing. Next, we proceeded on to 起 the structure, little did we know that there were some errors in the building of the main frame and we ended up having to 倒 the structure to amend it, causing us to lose a lot of time. Once we solved the problem, we 起-ed the structure and tied the 顶角.

Due to the wrong choice of 木, our structure had problems standing vertically and kept on tilting towards the centre of the structure. We later learnt that it was because of the fact that the 黑木 was too long and the 白木 顶角 was too light and unsuitable to hold the 黑木. Following which, we started to tie the 深蓝木 as part of the diagonals to make the structure more stable. At the same time, some of us were tasked to build the slant ladder with 白 and 深蓝木. We then build the ladder on the across the frame and started to raft the platform with 红木. The platform was actually meant to be 白木 but due to the width of the structure being too wide, the proposed sparse was too short to fit across and we substituted it with 红木 which was too long, leading to a very ugly and long protrusion on the other side, as well as the fact that it was too heavy, causing the structure to be very unable when we climbed on it to raft them together. It got to the point that when we 拆-ed the structure, when we climbed onto it, it swayed from side to sided and require people to continuously 顶 at the bottom. By this time, we had already ask for many time extensions and I felt quite ashamed that we could not complete it in time as the adjacent group had built a similar structure within the time given.
 

Overall, during the debrief, the seniors and YAs said that it was a job well done and an ambitious one indeed. However, we needed to take note of a few key points from this experience such as choosing the correct logistics to build the structure, how to make the structure more stable by allowing more 木 to touch the ground, as well as other issues such as low parole morale towards the end and the lack of a leader who could speak up well and oversee the whole execution of the structure. Through this pioneering session, I have learnt a lot from the proposal process to the overall building of the structure, and it was an enriching one overall.

 

Year 4s:

We were given 15 minutes to retrieve our logistics from the backstore. However, the situation back there was a bit chaotic as there were 3 groups of year 3s who were also retrieving logistics too and many people were shouting. And many people in our batch were a little unclear with what we were going to build for that day so it was really noisy and we were very very slow. I think what we can improve on is familiarize ourselves with the proposals. I realised if we do not know about the structures we are going to build and just rely on others to give us a set on instructions of what to do, then things will be done at a very slow pace.  Plus we 过时 and didn’t ask for time extension. I think next time we should also constantly 报时 so that we can keep track of time.

There were other stuffs happening such as we didn’t have enough 麻绳 at first and we wasted quite a lot of time and the logistics weren’t enough for us after the year 3s retrieved theirs. But I was quite glad that our batch decided to make use of the time (when we were waiting for 麻绳 to arrive) by asking the ones who did the proposals to explain what they are going to do so things can be done faster. And also the measuring of the frames were very constant so the frames were quite rigid.

However, because of the lack of logistics given, we had to improvise our structure and so it was a little rush to improvise and get things done quickly at the same time. But after we built the main frames and putting diagonals, it was super stable and rigid and we were extremely happy because things weren’t going right at first. But still, it rained and so we had to go back to the shelter and stop whatever we are doing until the ponchos arrive for us to continue building. On the bright side, our lashes became tighter due to the rain (although it was harder to 拆掉) so anyway we proceeded to build the stairs and I was honestly quite happy with the results because the stairs looked kind of cute and finally we built our monkey bars. Though we were tying in the rain but everybody was putting in their best and it felt heart-warming to see us giving it our all!

 

So that was the end of 集合! We hope everyone has learnt something new today and practiced their lashes more with this given opportunity!

Cheers,
Michelle
47^th Batch Secretary