Our First Lesson

On the 12th of April 2008, Sierra Wing had it first Volleyball lesson. The lesson was aimed at introducing to cadets the basics of Volleyball, and to have a feel of the game. We started off with some basic SAF warm-up exercises and proceeded on to do some drills. First on the table was shuttle run across the volleyball court, followed by blocking along the volleyball net and lastly, rower.

Volleyball can be divided into four main actions namely: Digging, Spiking, Serving and Setting. Digging being the most fundamental of all in Volleyball, we allocated much of our time into teaching the cadets, the technique of digging. After having to experience the ball fly all over the place, majority of them slowly got the hang of it and managed to have at least a rally of 4-5 balls, which is a remarkable achievement for first timers. We proceeded on to show them the method of setting and serving, to facilitate a volleyball match later during the lesson. Like always, newcomers may fell a little dismayed serving their ball straight into the net. But after several tries and practice, they have build up the confidence and managed to serve the ball over the net.

LTA Lim was also around to share his experience as a volleyball player and provided us with some tips he picked up during his volleyball years. He joined in the volleyball match that we had planned for the cadets and brought much laughter and joy to the session. Although a volleyball match is meant for six a side, but in order to let everyone in the team to have a feel of the match, we allowed all to play and had eight to a side. Everyone had a go at serving the ball, and managed to have interesting rallies.

At the end of the day, everyone had fun and felt that they had learnt something from the lessons. The appointment holders also had a chance to get a feel of how it is like conducting a lesson, which would be beneficial to us cadets when we conduct our lessons next time for our men. I feel that by using this method to inculcate values into us is an interesting concept, as at times using the traditional lecture style brings boredom to its epitome. The value shown during this training was professionalism, as it showed the spirit of wanting to learn a new sport well. The first lesson was just an introduction and tough trainings are ahead for those who are in Volleyball. We will progressively increase the intensity of the trainings and aim to be able to allow our members to be able to at least play a decent game of volleyball through the use of the basic actions in Volleyball by the end of service term.