U Sports celebrates the everyday sportsperson of the Labour Movement at Awards Night

Guest of Honour NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing and NTUC President Diana Chia presented awards to honour Labour Movement’s top sporting achievements. Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers’ Union clinches fourth consecutive Top Union title at U Sports Awards Night

Singapore, 26 May 2015 – U Sports Awards Night 2015 celebrated people from all walks of life who found a common ground in sports this evening, handing out awards to members who truly embodied the idea of Real People – All Sports. In addition, U Sports, the sporting community of the Labour Movement, also honoured the sportspeople who displayed passion and outstanding sportsmanship, representing the unions in U Games and NTUC in various competitions. 

Guest of Honour, NTUC Secretary-General, Chan Chun Sing and NTUC President Diana Chia presented the awards tonight to the top unions, deserving athletes, sports convenors and team managers. This is an exciting lead up to the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), which is taking place just next week on home ground – while our national athletes compete on this platform, our union sportspeople did their part to make their unions proud!

U Games 14/15, the inter-union sporting tournament, saw 7,138 participants from 52 unions competing in 13 different sports. Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers’ Union (SMMWU) fought off strong contenders to be crowned the Top Union for the fourth successive year. United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries (UWEEI), who was the 2009 champion, finished as the first runner-up, followed closely by Singapore Port Workers Union (SPWU) in third place.

Last year, SMMWU became the first union to keep the U Games Challenge Trophy after winning the Top Union award three years in a row. This year, U Sports handed out a new trophy, the ‘U PRIDE’ Challenge Trophy. The 6 pillars of the trophy represent important values that are an inherent part of a sportsperson’s DNA: U for Unity, P forPassion, R for Respect, I for Inspiration, D for Determination, and E for Excellence.

“As we celebrate with our union sportspeople and gear up for the 2015/16 U Games, we are also excited with the rest of the nation about the upcoming SEA Games. We are collaborating with the SEA Games committee to show support for our Home Team, some of our staff are officials in the Games, and some of our athletes here are actually in the national teams to compete for Singapore’s glory. Be it at an inter-union level at our U Games or on a larger national scale like the SEA Games, we see the passion and determination in our members who embody the U PRIDE values in their sporting endeavours – showing that sports is the perfect platform for them to discover and develop these attributes they have in themselves,” said Ms Lim Kay Min, Director, Community Engagement & Membership, NTUC Club.

The Awards Night also celebrated achievements by sportspeople in the U Live Games, a sister series specially created for active agers aged 55 and above from the unions. The fourth run of the U Live Games saw a total of 38 unions sending in close to 400 veteran sportspeople to compete in the seven events. 65-year-old Brother Phua Cheng Say from the Housing Development Board Staff Union member won the Most Active Ager award for his role as captain of the union’s volleyball team and also representing the union in the U Games calendar. 

In addition to honouring sporting achievements, U Sports also emphasised the importance of grooming sporting excellence and encouraging sports community leaders to step forward and give back to society by introducing a new award, the ‘U CHAMP of the Year’. U CHAMP is the community’s leadership and capability development programme which nurtures sports leaders within the Labour Movement through a customised system of training and coaching. 

Said Ms Woo Ka Foong, winner of U CHAMP of the year and President of the Team U Sports Floorball, “Taking part in the U CHAMP programme has given me great exposure and opportunities to develop my leadership and events management skills. We planned events such as 3-on-3 Floorball Faceoff and floorball clinic for union members, and this helped me understand the industry from the organiser perspective, allowed me to learn new skillsets and even improve my own competencies in floorball.”

A total of 129 teams took part in the 3-on-3 Floorball Faceoff, initiated by Ms Woo and the floorball team, making it Singapore’s biggest floorball competition. Ms Woo’s team also initiated a Gift-A-Stick campaign, encouraging donation of old sticks to be refurbished and given to underprivileged children. Over 20 used sticks were collected over the two days of the campaign. 

U Sports also launched the new season of the U Games with 9-Ball Pool, the first competition of the 15/16 season taking place on 30 May 2015 and ending in April 2016.