Red Sports pioneer batch of REDinterns graduate

By Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports. Photos by REDintern Kelly Kuo.

Seven months ago, 42 people signed up for the inaugural REDaction! Programme. On January 31st, 2009, eight of them officially graduated from the programme and joined Red Sports as official REDcrew. Throughout the duration of their programme, they have been exposed to different sports and contributed their effort in showcasing the Singapore Sports scene.

Red Sports editor Leslie Tan shared his sentiments, "The REDaction! programme was conceptualised by Jan Lin, and she has been the reason why it works. REDaction! is giving newbies opportunities to cover sports that no other media provides them. I hope that Red Sports continues to provide the Singapore sports community with a voice and the interns are a big part in achieving that aim."

"I’m thankful REDaction was a God-given inspiration," said Jan. "Honestly, I thought it was beyond me when I first pitched the idea to Uncle Les in 2008, but today we’ve graduated the first batch, and many have extended their commitment with us! If I could say this on their behalf, I believe that friendships formed. I’ve seen how some of them grew from total strangers during induction to graduating as friends. I believe in friendships, how they are one of the defining building stones of one’s existence and success."

I myself have also seen the interns grow throughout their programme. Whether they were supporting me at shoots or vice versa, I have gotten a chance to see them dedicate and commit their time to the site.

Of course, there were the times when things would go wrong, and I could never forget the time one of the interns mixed up who was the winner of a volleyball match. But the level of maturity of our interns have definitely become more defined, as they now learn how to deal with readers.

Like what Uncle Les says, "There is no bigger thrill than to see 40,000 readers a month interact with and react to your stories and pictures."

I believe that they have certainly come far, and gone through their various ups and downs in the site. Some of them have received their fair share of criticism from readers, and others have received compliments and words of appreciation.

This is their story.

Koh Yizhe, a.k.a sCreWs is an 18 year old who is currently a second year student at Republic Polytechnic. Though his favourite sport is soccer, he still enjoys watching all sports like tennis, basketball, badminton and even wrestling.

"After my internship with Red Sports and covering a host of sports, my favourite sport would now be a tie between basketball and netball. Basketball simply because of the cheers, excitement and pace of the game. Points keep coming, unlike soccer, where goals come rarely. Netball… Well it is played by the ladies. Need I say more? ;-)"

Yizhe has had the opportunity to come along with the crew to shoot at several big games. He shared with us the highlight of his internship with us. "It would be shaking hands with Alexander Pato, Brazilian superstar," he said.

Yizhe was a writer at the Singapore vs Brazil soccer friendly match when the Brazilian team was touring several countries for warmup matches before heading to Beijing for the Olympic games.

"However, the excitement of school sports beats it HANDS DOWN!" he said, recalling one particular moment which left an impression on him. "During the 2008/09 IVP Basketball Championship, NTU scored a three pointer with 1.37 seconds remaining against NYP. Earlier on, Wong Wei Long had scored with a three-point play and NYP seemed to have the game in the bag. But like everyone says, the ball is round and anything can happen – and it did! NTU came back to push the game into overtime and stun NYP with a win.”

Of course, all has not been smooth sailing for him during the internship. But he said, "I believe in the direction of Red Sports, and therefore hope that more readers will be aware of the site and for readership to go up. Doing what I do for Red Sports is something that I would like to do as a career. I hope to go on with Red Sports and continue what I am doing now."

He also had some words of advice for the new batch of interns. "Remember to communicate with each other and be always willing to learn. Good luck and remember it’s about the journey and not the destination. Enjoy yourself!"

Vanessa Lim is another intern who has graduated from the programme. Aged 20 and currently applying for University, she signed up primarily as a photographer. Her memorable moments were shooting at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix and putting the pictures to the articles.

Editor Leslie Tan was particularly impressed with her work, saying "(A highlight) was Vanessa figuring out how to shoot F1 from behind the metal barricade. When I first looked at her pictures, my first though was ‘How did that girl get inside to shoot??!!’"

Avoiding being crashed into or having balls flying her way were just some moments she recounted. But it was the first time getting her first-ever media pass at the OSIM Singapore International Triathlon which left an impression on her.

She has a strong interest in photography, and it was this interest to learn more about Sports photography that drove her to join Red Sports. "If given the chance, I would like to become a professional photographer. Starting out can get a little scary, especially approaching people or writing the first story, but you’ll get used to it after a while. For photographers, try looking at professionally taken sports pictures. Maybe that will inspire you to shoot."

On her graduation, she quipped "I can’t say ‘I’m a noob’ anymore. It feels like I’ve moved to another level."

Christy Ong is a 20 year old undergraduate at the National University of Singapore. Her favourite sports remain Football, Floorball and Volleyball. "Feet sticks and hands!" She quipped.

Over the course of the intership programme, Christy also got a chance to go to a few major events. "I had the chance to go to F1 and the Singapore-Brazil soccer match… for free! Nonetheless, the real highlight of the programme was when I covered the A division Floorball with Zhijia in 2008."

Many readers would remember her role in her extensive coverage of the A Division Floorball season with fellow intern Teo Zhijia. She even came up with a Floorball awards much to the delight of several floorballers.

One particular moment stuck with her during the internship. "(One memorable event for me would be) watching Yizhe shake hands with Alexander Pato’s and me not getting a handshake! Hmph! But the memorable times are during a competition when people came up to me and thanked me for covering their matches, saying that they read and support my reports."

We asked her on her reason for joining the programme. "I am a supporter of all Singaporean stuff; and I thought Red Sports was, and still is a pretty great site. I wanted to help maintain it in every single way I could. A little help goes a long way."

Christy has also encountered several problems along the way. "At the beginning when I did not have the REDtee, I had problems covering my very first event - The National Schools Track & Field Meet. I did not have access onto the track, and I just wrote what ever I could using the results and interviewing the people around."

She shared some words of advice with the new interns.

"People may get upset about what you write and feel that you are bias. Their comments might be quite scathing in nature. For me, I simply read such comments with amusement. Never get affected by what people say. Be yourself, write what you feel and if you can get some amusement out of provoking them, then why not? :P"

Teo Zhijia, is also an undergraduate at NUS. "I love sports because in it you can see the hard work and the dedication of the athletes. It also tends to bring people together which is a positive thing." She covered the 2008 A Division Floorball Championships with Christy, and also got the chance to attend the Singapore vs Brazil soccer match.

"The hardest part has got to be balancing all the commitments I have. I guess having a set of goals and priorities in addition to good time management helps. It’s nice to have progressed (to become REDcrew), but I believe there’s still much to be learnt," she said.

Wong Hong Yong is one other addition to the REDcrew. Currently studying in Republic Polytechnic, he sees football as his favourite sport. "Football has become an integral part of my life. Even when I’ve damaged both ligaments I would still continue playing it because it’s my passion."

But Hong Yong sees Floorball as being his favourite sport to cover.

"Partly it’s because I am more familiar with the rules and I like the tense moments whenever a team launches an attack at the other team. The local fans of Floorball are also quite passionate and the cheering brings up the atmosphere."

"The freedom to be able to cover sports and when people recognise and ask you where you are from will give you a sense of recognition. At the end of the day, it’s all worthwhile. I hope that Red Sports will be able to grow from strength to strength and have many more REDawards nights. As a REDcrew, I feel that the responsibility has grown and there are certain things that I expect to be able to do better now. I’ll write more and more to help me improve, and make sure my articles aren’t biased."

Rachel Ariel Lim is yet another REDaction! graduate from Republic Polytechnic. She is currently pursuing a Diploma in Integrated Events Management. "It may not be anything to do with sports, but I’m taking Broadcast Journalism as one of my elective starting Year Two. That will mean a lot in terms of expressing my love for writing," she shared.

Rachel plays several sports, but insists that she is "master of none." Rather, her favourite sport would have to be dance. "Dance may not be a sport, but I love that to the core. Besides that, I love sea sports because I personally have been an optimist sailor since young, credits to Daddy as it is also his hobby. It has been a long while since I sailed though."

Football and Hockey would be the two sports she prefers to write about.

"My knowledge for these sports is good enough, that’s why liking them isn’t an issue. The other (sports), a lot more to learn. I’ll never stop trying!"

Rachel certainly has high hopes for Red Sports.

"I hope that Red Sports can do well so that perhaps we could get even more recognised and be officially the number one Singapore version of ESPN. Honestly, this inspires me. I’m sort of having the thoughts of a RED Dance. Go after all genres of dance. How cool would that be?"

She also expressed her feelings on progressing to a REDcrew. "I feel proud. It’s dignity and love. It’s the light that shone so brightly to spark the greater future. Looking back, you see those games you wrote and shot for. Those were words and pictures with your name, viewed by hundreds or more. The actions you caught during the game, naming and shooting them down like some super eye… Seeing them from the worst to the best. It’s the feeling of being on the platform when the other’s on grassland."

Rachel also had some advice for the new batch of interns. "Enjoy and indulge. Step by step! It’s the process and the want to reach the sky. Don’t be shy. Be bold and always move forth. More importantly, time is not easy to fork out. Time may always be the issue, but remember - We hold the controller of Life. Find time!"

(If you did not understand what she just said, neither did I when she sent in her stories for me to edit 😉 Work hard, Rachel!)

Renuka Singh from Republic Polytechnic is another graduate. Her favourite sport remains rugby as it gives her so much joy and fun.

Over the course of the internship, she shared that the journey which she took through the whole programme was the highlight.

"From the start, when I attended the induction talk by Uncle Les right to the end when I graduated. This whole journey has been superb!"

Renuka joined the internship programme as she had always loved to take photos but did not have the chance to learn it.

"I thought of Red Sports as a stepping stone." She shared.

Renuka’s shared some advice. "We can never do our best because there is always room for improvement. Even if you think you are good there will still be room for improvement because people would then have higher expectations of you. You should always strive for the better. So in whatever you do, try to do it whole heartedly and take the comments given by people in a positive way. You will go far in life."

Our last graduate of the 2008 batch of interns would be 19 year old Maryam Nasihah Bte Gahzali. She will be in her third year doing Business Application and IT in Republic Polytechnic and she is definitely one football die hard fan. Though she has not been to any major international events, she has faithfully stuck to the sport.

"Since young, I have been exposed to the sport and I’m currently picking up the sport. That is the only sport I have covered (during the internship). It is very challenging to snap pictures of the game because I always need to be able to know the next action of the players or where the ball is going so as to be able to capture a great shot."

Though Maryam had stuck to just covering football, she has encountered her fair share of problems. She had to swallow her fear to be by the sidelines taking pictures in front of a large crowd, only to realise that the other photographers are all males and they have huge expensive cameras and lenses.

"It is quite intimidating and challenging actually. They don’t really care and give way," she said. "During night games, bad lighting caused my pictures to be very blur. After a few attempts and with the help of the REDcrew, I was somehow able to take better shots. Still, there need to be more improvement."

On why she signed up for the internship programme, she said, "The thought of having to experience what it is like to be in the media, especially in the youth scene and the rush to cover an event and publish it so that everyone could read it drew me in. Basically, I want to do something different for a start. Instead of playing a game, I’m behind the lens, taking pictures of the game. Just listen to whatever the players are communicating to each other while photographing. It is a different feeling from just watching the game in the stands."

Maryam also has high hopes for Red Sports. "I hope that we can go big, bigger than a website. Academically, I want to graduate and get my diploma. I want to do something that I like and apart from school activities, Red Sports has given me the opportunity to expose myself in the youth scene. I hope in time to come, I am able to cover big events. International games perhaps?"

Maryam had to stop covering stories for the site for a few months due to problems balancing time between her commitments and writing stories. But she managed to overcome all odds to complete her task and graduate. "I feel very accomplished because I initially thought that I was not able to be in the first batch of graduates. I’m glad I did because I don’t want to feel that all my efforts of rushing to cover events went to waste."

As for the her advice to the new interns, "Cover the games that you are comfortable with and don’t worry about anyone or anything. Just have fun doing it. Because at the end of the day, you’ll feel accomplished when you see you name in the articles that you’ve done and you know people are reading them."

Jan spoke more about REDaction! and the REDinterns. “I define an internship as being at a place where you grow as you get your hands dirty and learn a bit more about who you are, what you like and what you don’t and I’m passionate about young people being put through a process like this.”

She added, “I see the graduation as a beginning. We’ve retained a good number of interns, who pledged another cycle of commitment with Red Sports. The difference between being a casual contributor and a REDintern, is commitment. I hope the interns will see their graduation as a new dawn – dreaming on all they have seen, learnt, tried – to start seeing a world of endless possibilities ahead of them.”

In this academically obsessed society, there is a lack of appreciation for eye-opening experiences. Balance is most important. Learning how to balance life will certainly take one further and REDaction! has provided this learning opportunity.

From what started out as one full time crew (Uncle Les) and a handful of volunteers just two years back, Red Sports has now grown to having many more dedicated volunteer crew. While it used to be just a few of us juggling our time, trying to squeeze in games into our schedule, it is definitely quite heartening to see the crew grow.

Jan had a piece of advice for the interns. “Dare to be different. Red Sports is different, very far from mainstream. So don’t expect familiarity or predictability. Expect the unexpected, think out of the box and to start believing that it is not enough to just do it. But in doing you have to believe that impossible is nothing.”

Leslie only had a few simple words for the graduates and new batch of interns. “Use it or lose it. In the words of Yoda, ‘Do or do not… There is no try.”