Singapore_Youth_Olympic_Games_2010_Analysis

Background of the event The Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) was held from 14 August 2010 to 26 August 2010 in Singapore. Only athletes aged between 14 and 18 are allowed to participate in this international multi-sport event. Education and culture also plays an important role in the YOG. There were around 3,600 youth athletes, 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 volunteers. Introduction I am fortunate to be able to volunteer for the Youth Olympic Games 2010. I and have gained great experience, knowledge and skills from volunteering in this mega event. I heard about this volunteering opportunity when the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) came down to Temasek Polytechnic. I volunteered a total of nine shifts at the Youth Olympic Village (YOV) which is located in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) at Pioneer. At firstInitially, I was pretty bummedapprehensive about having to travel to the other end of Singapore, as seeing that I live stay in Pasir Ris, but on hindsight, the long travelling hours were worth it. I made friends with some of the athletes and volunteers when I was at the village. Being a track and field athlete, it was a really great experience as I get to interact with different elite athletes from around the world. The YOG event is not just competition; it also had many recreational events and hands-on activities for the athletes to participate . lLike the World Culture Village, where Singapore schools’ students have researched and set up different booths to showcase the different cultures of all the countries participating in the YOG. The theme of the village would change from Europe to Africa, to America & Oceania to and Asia throughout the event. The idea is brilliant as I feel that it is an efficient and convenient effective way to teach raise awareness of the different cultures of the world to the audiencevisitors, especially the young athletes. Being a volunteer for YOG has beenis very rewarding as I can feel extremely satisfied that with my contributions to the event has made plenty of the athletes smilebrought a smile and warmed the hearts of these athletes. Background of the Organiser The SYOGOC is the organisation in charge of making the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games a success. The committee was established in 2008 after the bid result announcement. It was aided by a panel of advisors composed of Cabinet ministers and Senior Parliamentary Secretary. Furthermore, an Inter-Ministry Committee was formed with Niam Chiang Meng, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports as its chairman. Singapore has also received some international support for the Games preparations, like China, host of 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Apart from the 26 sports and 31 disciplines, the committee also planned the Culture and Education Programme (CEP), which engages young athletes over 50 fun and interactive activities to educate and provide enriching experiences. The main activities include Chat with Champions, Discovery Activity, World Culture Village, Community Project, Arts and Culture, Island Adventure, and Exploration Journey. I feel that the organising committee has gone through a lot of trouble and put in plenty of effort in trying to make YOG a success. One example is, when When there werewas some who withdrew from volunteering in at the last minute causing resulting in a lack of workforce. However, the organising committee quickly contacted tertiary schools for assistance in human resource , solving the problem promptly.and the problem was solved. From this, I am appalledgrateful that with the organising committee has done such anfor their exceptional job in managing the eventmanagement skills for an event at this scale. Discuss the event characteristics and uniqueness The YOG is besides being a Mega sporting event. It, is also the first Youth Olympic Games ever held in the history and it is the first time an Olympic-related event was is held in the city-state of Singapore. I feel that YOG is the biggest sporting eventa good stepping stone for Singapore can ever host as thebefore considering hosting other events like the Summer Olympic Games and World Cup which would need way bigger landscape to hold such a large amount of audiencemore manpower, logistics arrangements and meticulous planning to be successful. I think itIt will probably take be a few decadeswhile for before the YOG to would be held in Singapore again. YOG is different from the main Olympic Games in many areas. It is not just about the sport and winning;, it is about interacting, connecting, sharing and learning about sports, cultural and global issues. The YOG educate the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect in our everyday life. It is more than just sporting excellence; it is about youth of the world to continue making a difference. The Youth Olympic Games is held once every four years; hence it is a rare occasion for youth athletes to come together from all over the world. Discuss some possible reasons why such an event is undertaken by the organiser (or attraction/venue) In the recent years, the Singapore government has been keen inactively developing and promoting participation of Sports in the country. Therefore, Hhosting a mega sports event like the YOG would definitely help inspire Singaporeans, especially the youths, to engage in sports activities. It is evident from the consecutive consistent media coverage of sports for the past few years from: the 2008 Beijing Olympics toand the Asian Youth Games in 2009. Additionally, YOG being a mega event, it would certainly generate drive extraordinarily high levels of tourists visitm in Singapore. Therefore Singapore would then be able to make use of this opportunity to generate revenue from tourism. Even ifIn the unfortunate event that the tourism revenue generated is not enoughinsufficient to cover the costs for of running the mega event, there would still beis at least plenty of media coverage involved, and this positive spill over effect it would help publicise Singapore to all parts of the world. YOG has helped to commercialise Singapore and put us on the radar; this and would ultimately help Singapore economically in the long run. One other possible reason that Singapore undertakes an event like YOG is to showcase Singapore’s diverse culture and advanced technology to the rest of the world. Despite being a young nation and lacknation lacking aof longrich history, Singapore has managed to presentsuccessfully presented theher culture of her people to the world during in the opening and closing ceremony of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Discuss the stakeholders of the event Besides the organizer, stakeholders also play a significant part in contributing to the success of the event. Some of the major stakeholders include McDonalds, Coca Cola, Crocodile, Visa, Omega, and Singapore Sports Council. The McDonalds has been involved with the Olympics since 1968. They have provided food, beverages and vouchers to the athletes, audience and volunteers during the YOG event. I feel that McDonald being the official partner for the Olympics has been beneficial for both parties as it provides publicity for both. The Coca-Cola Company is also a Worldwide Olympic Partner like McDonalds. It is also the Official Non-alcoholic Beverage Sponsor for Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Since 1928’s Olympic Games, they have been dedicated to provide healthy beverages such as Minute Maid Juices and Heaven and Earth Teas for athletes, officials, volunteers, members of media and spectators during the games. This is advantageous to the organising committee as it would reduce their expenses. At the same time, it is also beneficial for Coca-Cola Company as it help them advertise the products by associating themselves with a mega sports event. This allows Coca Cola to portray themselves as an icon of health and vitality, placing their products in a positive spotlight.as well. The Crocodile is the official apparel partner for YOG. Majority of the 20,000 volunteers’ uniform (polo T-shirt, pants, and caps) were made and sponsored by the Crocodile Company. Therefore I feel that Crocodile has made great contributions to the success of the YOG. Omega is the Official Timekeeper of the YOG. This is one of the most crucial stakeholders for events like YOG as every single sport in the YOG event requires a timekeeper especially for sports events like the athletics and swimming. This help to ensure accurate timing, scoring and competition results of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Analyse the event’s target market The target market of the event is not just solely the athletes but also the supporters of the competitors – families and friends of the competing athletes. Furthermore, the event has attracted tourists all over the world, for instance, globetrotters, who have interests in watching live games and events. With the YOG’s aim to inspire youths to “embrace the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect”, the target market also includes youths from all over the world. The motivation to attend the event stems largely from the moral support and patriotism for the supporters. On the other hand, the globetrotters and other tourists not related to the competition in the Games choose to attend the YOG possibly due to the hype created around the Games given its inaugural nature. Moreover, Singapore is renowned for our cleanliness and security with the latter especially significant seeing how sporting events are commonly plagued with issues and questions of terrorism. One concrete example in history is the Munich Massacre during the Summer Olympics held in 1972. As such, tourists’ confidence in the ability of both the Singapore government and organizers to provide a peaceful experience draws them to attend the YOG. However, the YOG could effectively attract more local youths if they implemented demographic pricing strategies by charging a lower ticket prices for those aged 18 and below. This makes it more affordable for students and thus the cost of attending the event becomes less likely an impediment. Assess the possible contributions of the event to Singapore’s tourism and suggest how its value could be raised to be aligned with the tourism mission of Singapore. The Tourism 2015 is the mission that Singapore Tourism Boards (STB) has set bold targets for – total of $30 billion Tourism Receipts (TR), 17 million visitor arrivals, and creating 250,000 jobs in the service sector. The government set up a S$2 billion Tourism Development Fund (TDF) to support the growth tourism sector in these four areas: Infrastructure Development, Capability Development, Anchoring Iconic/Major Events, and Product Development. The organising organisation of the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games definitely has displayed Singapore as a “premier destination for Leisure, Business and Service customer segments”. The YOG has attracted plenty of tourists to Singapore during the games time. Due to the wide publicity of Singapore during the media coverage of YOG, Singapore has become even more popular around the world and this would influence tourists to visit Singapore the next time they are interested in visiting South East Asia. Reference(s): https://app.stb.gov.sg/asp/abo/abo08.asp http://www.singapore2010.sg/