Patrol Activity, 28 March 2016

Hello Guides! (:

 

P1 Bougainvillea

We gathered for Patrol Activity (PA) to engage in some gadgeting activities once more. However, this task had a twist to it - as we split up into two groups to build one gadget each, but every patrol member had to be blindfolded with the exception of the two PLs in charge. For my side, we were building a simple baggage rack, but the tying of the two tripods and 顶角s already took up more than half of our time limit as we approached the task with a slow speed. Even though we did not face a shortage of manpower, we needed to increase our sense of urgency and some of our lashes were loose. The structure was also not stable but we were still proud that we managed to finish it within the time limit, despite the few extra time extensions given. Next, another batch of 2 Y3s volunteered to be the PL for that activity, which happened to be splitting up into two groups again to build two catapults in total. We just followed the proposal we were shown and directed our patrol to build the structure. It was a good chance to build up on our foundation and train the Y1s on their hard skills. Then, using our newly-made catapults, we had a mini competition to shoot a paper ball, and the losing party would have to run around the entire GSL twice, as a form of physical training and punishment. It was fun to watch some of our patrol members rally with each other and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this PA activity.

 

P2 Ixora

For this PA my patrol and two other patrols had PT. We had to complete three PT stations in an hour. Before the stations, we had to get two 青木 and pack our 配备 according to the packing list given. I believe our sense of urgency can be improved as we ( all three patrols）过时ed a bit. There was a bit of confusion over who should take the 青木 and who should pack the 配备.  For the first station, we had to do 200 kallang wave crunches and burpees. It was more tiring than expected as we hardly ever did crunches and were not used to the strain. We then did 5 minutes 站马, but we had to balance a 青木 with a bucket of bricks attached to it while we did it. Singing guides songs helped to pass the time and all three of us managed to pia to the end. Finally, we did lunges one round around the F block. Although the exercise were fairly simple, it was quite challenging for us at they all focused primarily on the abdominal muscles. It was still a good time to train up our physical fitness though.
For the second station, we did circuit PT for 15 minutes. We drew lots to decide which PT we would be doing. We did 20 jumping jacks, 10 squats, 1 minute of planking and crab walked one length of the G block.  We managed to do the circuit seven or eight times. I feel that we could have gone faster as we spent quite a bit of time transitioning between the exercises at first. Our third and final station was suicide run. This was, in my opinion, the toughest PT station. We had to run without our 青木 for the first 6 minutes, and after that we took turns carrying one 青木 each until the time was up I think we did quite well for that station, because we aimed for more than 22 rounds, and we achieved 37 rounds in total.

Overall the PT was tougher than usual but it is important to train our fitness especially with PLTC around the corner and KYB is a part of PLTC.

P3 Jasmine

We gathered for PA to engage in some gadgeting activities once more. However, this task had a twist to it - as we split up into two groups to build one gadget each, but every patrol member had to be blindfolded with the exception of the two PLs in charge. For my side, we were building a simple baggage rack, but the tying of the two tripods and 顶角s already took up more than half of our time limit as we approached the task with a slow speed. Even though we did not face a shortage of manpower, we needed to increase our sense of urgency and some of our lashes were loose. The structure was also not stable but we were still proud that we managed to finish it within the time limit, despite the few extra time extensions given. Next, another batch of 2 Y3s volunteered to be the PL for that activity, which happened to be splitting up into two groups again to build two catapults in total. We just followed the proposal we were shown and directed our patrol to build the structure. It was a good chance to build up on our foundation and train the Y1s on their hard skills. Then, using our newly-made catapults, we had a mini competition to shoot a paper ball, and the losing party would have to run around the entire GSL twice, as a form of physical training and punishment. It was fun to watch some of our patrol members rally with each other and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in this PA activity.

P4 Orchid

For pa , the y3s of P2,P3 and P4 were separated from the rest of our patrols and were tasked to complete a series of 3 physical training stations with our 配备 and two green spars. As its name suggests, this activity was relatively exhausting, though for P4, the intensity of our exhaustion decreased throughout the entire course, seeing that we were blessed with a favourable sequence of stations. Our first station, the most energy consuming, was 16 minutes of suicide run where we were to run back and forth for 16 minutes with our logistics aka our 配备 and our spars. Though it was tiring, P4 Y3s ran at a pace where everyone could keep up and it was in those moments where one could really feel true patrol spirit. Our next station was a series of physical trainings, starting with 200 kallang wave burpees and crunches, followed by 5 minutes 站马with our logistics and a pail of bricks and ending with lunges. Though not as exhausting as the first station, we did face some challenges such as balancing the spars on our knees when we were doing 站马 since some of us were more vertically inclined than others. Our last station was a circuit of various physical trainings which we were to do for 15 minutes. Since it was our last station, we tried to put in our best effort to do it well. When the course, though only of three stations, finally ended, we were tired but satisfied. Through this physical training session, we got to experience true 'ohana'. Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind. In those strenuous activities we went through, we went through them together and that was one of the key takeaways i got from that PA session.

P5 Sunflower

Today, we 集合-ed at the GSL to Valerie, before being broken off to take 1 深蓝木, 2 红木, and 4 青木. Then, we had to build a kitchen shelter near the small grass area at the Senior High Block. We immediately started to layout the canvas sheet and 木, and everything went well initially. However, later on, we face problems such as shortage of space, and hence had to 倒 and move our structure several times. This was extremely inconvenient and contributed to our lack of time. Another problem was that when we were ending the square lash on the 深蓝木, there was not enough space for the frapping, hence we did not finish the lash, and left the remaining string dangling. This was a mistake as it interfered with our two main guylines, and thus we also had to 倒 the structure and finish the frapping. When we finally managed to 起 the structure, we were relieved. We immediately went to take the pacings and 打进 the arthurs. Although we had to spend much time teaching the year 1s and reminding the year 2s what to do, it was overall a smooth process with some hiccups when the string might occasionally snap. However, in the end, we managed to finish the kitchen shelter within the time limit and time extensions. After that, we were given feedback that our guylines were too loose, and that we had to 抽 tighter next time. We also learnt that the 青木 should be aligned diagonally to the 红木 when we 抽, so as to get the perfect angle. After listening to the feedback, we were broken off to 拆 and keep the logistics.

After the activity of the KS, the patrol was split into year 1s and 2s, and year 3s. The year 1s and 2s did something similar to a treasure hunt where they had to search for items around the GSL. The year 3s, on the other hand, mass-changed 6 times, with a diminishing time limit every time. Although it was tough, we felt that it was good practice.

All in all, the PA helped us to learn more things and train up our skills even better! :)

 

P6 Morning Glory

During PA, the first activity was to test our gadgeting skills as well as our leadership skills. After we took the logistics, the Y1s and 2s were blindfolded. Only the Y3s could see and knew what to do, but could not help tie the gadgets. We had to divide our manpower to build 2 A架s, 1 tripod and 1 quadpod, and also tie the 定脚 for all of them. It was quite slow as it was difficult for the blindfolded members to tie lashes and there was also lacking morale and urgency. The number of gadgets and people to oversee was also more than us, so it was also difficult to coordinate the building of everything, but we managed to finish everything although we needed time extensions. However another problem was that many of the lashes were very loose and took a very long time to tie. Even though blindfolded, we should be able to maintain the speed and quality of our lashes so we needed to take note of that. As the Y3s, we also should have reminded the rest of the patrol to keep a sense of urgency and morale and tried to lead more efficiently and faster so that we do not need so much time to do relatively simple tasks. We had to do a forfeit of running around the GSL 15 times.
After that we had to build a dome tent and an eight men tent. However, we were very slow in doing so as the Y1s did not know what to do and the Y2s were also unsure. We also could have been clearer with our instructions and allocated manpower better. Overall, we had a lot to improve on as we could not even finish the 8 men tent.
Finally we did PT in circuits of toe touches, jumping jacks, planking and pumping. We definitely could have cheered more to keep up the morale but it was generally okay.