Staff, athletes, and beneficiaries have fun at inaugural OCBC Aquatics 2022

AT THE OCBC Aquatic Centre, Mimi Tan and her son Benson watch, enthralled, as nine swimmers from Team Singapore’s synchronised swimming team coordinate elegantly and strike up graceful postures in the water. This is the first time either of them has seen a live aquatic dancing performance.

“I’m not a naturally sporty person,” says Mimi, “but because of Benson’s interest in swimming, I’ve learnt to be more involved in sports, especially swimming.” Her son is a decorated para-swimmer, whose achievements include clinching four gold medals and a silver medal at the 2015 Asean Para Games.

Benson, who is 32 years old, suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was one of the beneficiaries from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds) who participated in the inaugural OCBC Aquatics 2022 on Dec 10. Mimi also took part as a Minds coordinator to assist parents attending the event.

Held at the OCBC Aquatic Centre at the Singapore Sports Hub, the event was organised by OCBC for over 120 employees and staff volunteers, their families, and also beneficiaries from both Minds and the Singapore Children’s Society (SCA).

Intended as a day of fun at the pools for both OCBC employees and the beneficiaries, the programme featured not only an introductory swimming masterclass, but also gave participants the opportunity to try out more niche water activities, such as diving, flippa ball, and aquatic dancing, a simpler version of synchronised swimming. These activities are often not readily available to underprivileged children and individuals with disabilities.

“We enjoyed diving and playing flippa ball, as these are activities that we never had the chance to try,” says one youth from the SCA. “I wish the sessions lasted longer – it’s so much fun. I would definitely encourage more of my friends to sign up if there is another event like this.”

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The participants also benefited from the expertise of Team Singapore’s national coaches and swimmers from the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA), who were on-site to provide guidance, and to put on a show.

Athletes from the national synchronised swimming team captivated the audience with their graceful postures, spins and teamwork underwater. The national divers also wowed the crowd, as they showcased daring half-pikes and somersaults in their dives off platforms ranging from 1 m to 10 m high.

Khemraj Roshyara, an OCBC staff volunteer, enjoyed the aquatic dancing session in particular.

“The national swimmers not only gave us a short performance of artistic swimming, but they also took extra care to coach our beneficiaries,” he says. “The children really enjoyed themselves trying out a new sport.”

Ensuring no one gets left behind

It is important that every Singaporean is comfortable in the pool, says the SSA, not just to be able to enjoy aquatic sports, but also to learn how to be safe in the water.

The problem, however, is that underprivileged children and individuals with disabilities often do not have ready access to aquatic facilities, and may also lack the motivation and finances to engage in swimming activities.

Therefore, the OCBC Aquatics 2022 event was developed to better engage and offer opportunities to these groups. Through its sponsorship with the Singapore Sports Hub, OCBC also organises other community sponsorship programmes including OCBC cycle which is held at the National Stadium.

The SSA, for its part, hopes that the guidance and engagement of national coaches and swimmers at the event would boost participants’ water confidence, and perhaps even inspire the younger ones to take up aquatic sports competitively.

This is important, it says, because “sports is for everyone to enjoy – for the young or old, and for the able-bodied or those with physical challenges. It helps to build bonds, teaches values like teamwork and perseverance, and boosts self-esteem”.

For the beneficiaries from Minds, the event also created opportunities for them to interact naturally with the wider community, and provided them a platform to showcase their gifts and abilities.

These opportunities to interact with neurotypical individuals are important to help the beneficiaries enhance their social skills, says Minds. Encouragement from the volunteers during the event also boosted their confidence, and made them feel recognised for their efforts, it added.

Charity: A two-way street

Importantly, the non-beneficiary participants also had much to gain from the event.

The SSA’s athletes, as ambassadors for the day, demonstrated how aquatics is a fun, safe sport that can be enjoyed both recreationally and at an elite level.

For the caregivers, the event provided a nice respite from their daily caregiving routine, and a space to connect with other parents and caregivers. “This swim experience is an eye-opener for me,” says one caregiver who accompanied his son, who is from Minds. “While I have been coaching my son in swimming, I realised that I can incorporate some of the movements from flippa ball and aquatic dancing into his routine, to further improve his dexterity.”

OCBC said that its employees and staff volunteers enjoyed their time with the beneficiaries, and benefited from “an invaluable opportunity to understand one another better”. And in light of the positive participant feedback about the event, the group now plans to scale up this year’s iteration to a full-day affair with more participants, and even make it open to the public.

For Mimi and Benson, an expansion of the event would certainly be a welcome thing. “Whether it’s water or land sports, we hope future events can achieve good results in helping persons with special needs to try out and have interest in different sports,” says Mimi.

This article is part of a series on sustainability initiatives, supported by OCBC Bank