The Federation is very keen to encourage young people to take exercise, stay healthy and excel in their chosen field. Oregon Scientific are helping us make this possible by sharing our vision. Like us they know how vital fitness is for both physical and psychological well-being. For those from less affluent backgrounds, it can give them that unexpected advantage which makes all the difference - a positive outlook with long lasting effects in both their professional and personal lives.
Click here for further details: www.u21.org.hk/main/promotion/scholarship/details.zip or call the Scholarship Scheme Secretariat at 2395 5759

"Seeing these young people get ahead in sports shows how a little encouragement can go a long way, especially for the disadvantaged."
Dr Raymond Chan, Group Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, IDT International Ltd

Let's Talk "Policy Making" with Prof Anthony Cheung Bing-leung in the Lecture Series on Learning from Leaders Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung will share his views with young people on Tuesday 8 November 2005, 6:10pm-8:30pm. Contact 2169 0255 for further information.

Sports funding from Oregon Scientific

Exploring potential is very important for young people, whether on the sports ground or in the class room. Another lesson they need to learn is getting the balance right between work and play. For some youngsters, especially the less privileged, neither of these is easy. Where potential and excellence in sports is concerned, Oregon Scientific steps in.

The Oregon Scientific Sports Training Scholarship is all about helping youth who are keen to pursue sport but who lack resources. Last year 34 teenagers out of 92 nominees demonstrated their suitability and received funding for private coaching and other expenses. We talked to two of them about their experiences. Alan is doing an associate degree at City U, and Joyce is enrolled as an undergraduate in Sports Science and Leisure Management at HKU.

Joyce, already a very active participant in many sports, was able to choose a completely new one with the Oregon scheme: golf. Quizzed about this choice, she explained how useful it would be in her future career in leisure and sports management. But she also marvelled at how it had opened the door to the countryside:

"I can be outdoors and in close contact with nature," she said. "I see birds and wild animals on the Kau Sai Chau golf course, and I get a real feel for the weather – something I am insulated from most of my life."

How does this gel with her career ambitions?

"I imagine myself hosting a group of visiting businessmen and I think I will now be able to communicate with them about a shared interest in golf. But the other reason I chose golf is because it makes you think. Posture and technique are extremely important and it is certainly not only about power and strength. We learned about everything, from how to choose clubs and balls to the entire etiquette of golfing."

Golf coaching can be an extremely expensive business, but the three scholarship winners who chose golf received the attention of Trevor Lee, well known local pro who represents Hong Kong.

'"Without the Orgeon funding and grouping together like this I don't think we could have afforded lessons from him. That was the best thing about the scholarship. The scheme also helped us with travelling expenses. It's quite a long way to Kau Sai Cha and that would have been a disincentive."

Alan's chosen sport also made it necessary to travel some distance. He has always been interested in watersports and the Oregon scholarship scheme has given him the extra boost he needed to focus on his current passion - windsurfing. He completed his elementary training with the Development Squad of the Wind Surfing Association of Hong Kong and then in summer of 2004, he heard that the announcement for the Oregon scheme included windsurfing as one of the six listed sports. As a participant, he did his intermediate certificate with the help of forty hours one-to-one coaching.

"I found a good coach based in Tai Po. Mr Cheng could work flexibly to fit the time available at a location that made training possible for me. I am studying and living on Kowloon side so it would have been hard to get to Stanley where most wind surfers go."

The Federation hopes that last year's alumni will keep in touch and it was Alan, with the help of ten other dynamic beneficiaries of the scheme, who made the idea of a participants' union a reality.

"We know how good it is to participate in sports and what an excellent idea Oregon Scientific have had. It has motivated all of us to focus and concentrate. We gave a presentation along these lines at a Tuen Mun school during the summer and are determined to continue spreading the message."

When asked whether the scholarship had helped in other ways, Alan was full of enthusiasm. He told us how he had grown to understand his own abilities better, gaining self-confidence and learning the techniques of time management in order to fit everything into his busy life. As chairman of the Oregon scheme's union, he made a group of close, supportive friends. All of them are keen sportspeople and many of them now intend to continue serving the sports community, as volunteer trainers of other sports hopefuls.

Facts & Figures

Federation's Opinion Poll on CE's Policy Address 2005

The Federation conducted an opinion poll* from 12-14 October, in the wake of the recent Policy Address. The 505 young people aged 15-39 interviewed used a rating scale where 0 indicated very bad, 50 meant average and 100 was excellent. They gave on average 66.1 points to the Chief Executive for his maiden Policy Address and 66.9 for his overall performance at work, indicating their general approval to date. They also showed firm support for the three main areas covered by the Policy Address. An average of 72.19, 71.49 and 70.11 were given respectively for "Helping the Economy to Power Ahead", "Fostering Harmony in the Community" and "Pursuing Excellence in Governance".

The young people polled were not supportive of all policies outlined by the CE. For example, 57.6% did not support the policy of attracting a quota of talented mainland and overseas people to stay in Hong Kong without requiring them to secure a job offer in advance. They were afraid that this proposal would make unemployment worse. Overall, 49.2% of those polled said they had more confidence in the ability of the SAR government to run Hong Kong effectively after the Policy Address was delivered. Of these, 47.4% were more confident that the Government could revitalize the economy and 46.4% had greater confidence in its capacity to establish a harmonious society.
* www.hkfyg.org.hk/yrc/chinese/yr-p143c.html

Congratulations to astronauts We join the world in applauding Colonels Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng for their successful space mission. Female Yuhangyuan are also in training and in July this year an official announcement stated that 35 young women between 17 and 20 years old had been selected from 200,000 applicants for careers as astronauts. The first Chinese woman is scheduled for a space flight in 2010.

http://www.astronautix.com/
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/people/astronauts/anders.html
http://www.astronautix.com/articles/sheu6faq.htm

Negative effects of poverty on children

A survey of the sense of well-being or lack of it in poor children was conducted between June and September.* The findings were no surprise but were worrying nevertheless. 1,631 Primary 4 to Secondary 3 students were polled, 614 of whom classified as “poor” because the monthly family income was under $10,000. The survey found that 19.2% of these less privileged children had suffered from food poisoning or intestinal diseases, compared to 14.3% of the others. The former missed school more than the latter by 7%, while 9.6% of the poor children thought they were in poor health compared to 6.9% of the others. 22% of the poor children had been bullied by their classmates, while only 14.1% of the rest had such an experience. Few in any income bracket considered themselves happy but more than 14.3% of the poor children had thought of committing suicide, compared to less than 10% of the rest.
*Apple Daily 17 October 2005