CEO Gordon MacLelland has just spent an incredible week immersed in the Singapore Gymnastics community.
A week that allowed him to deliver 10 workshops across the recreational and high performance programme.
Workshops were delivered to recreational coaches and performance pathway staff, coaches, parents and gymnasts.
The partnership between WWPIS and Singapore Gymnastics has been going for around 8 months with all of the initial work and creation or resources done virtually. However, this on the ground visit undoubtedly had a greater impact and being able to meet people in person has undoubtedly led to even better relationships.
Gordon said, ‘It was an incredible visit and I am so grateful for the openness of all parties to the work we were doing to try to create the best level of support for parents and ultimately to help create the best environment for young gymnasts to reach their full potential both in and out of sport. This through the building of positive relationships between all of the stakeholders and a clearer understanding of each other’s roles, behaviours and perspectives.
There were many highlights but the day I spent working with all of the gymnasts(aged between 7-22) across all of the disciplines will live long in the memory. The gymnasts were fantastic sharing their thoughts and their experiences and they were truly given a voice in an incredibly safe space.
All of the information that we have collated this week working alongside Singapore Gymnastics General Manager Karen Norden has allowed us to plan the years ahead to try to ensure that all of the stakeholders in the system are given appropriate support and training to maximise their roles in the process.
I always knew there was not a one size fits all approach and that was never more evident than here in Singapore. Throwing in all of the cultural differences, the attitudes to sport and education but also the wide variety of nationalities involved in the programme each with their own beliefs, thoughts and past experiences meant that all of the support had to be as tailored as possible with an understanding of the different lenses that people were seeing the sport through.
I am confident that we have started to try to bring people on to the same page and am extremely excited about the work we have lined up together over the coming months and years.’
