JPC Member of Central District
LAM Sum-ching

Bright and early on a Sunday morning, the Central JPC council members gathered at the Hong Kong Award for Young People Jockey Club Duke of Edinburgh Training Camp. They sat in a pair or trio, everyone knew each other’s name but there was still a distance between them.

We began the day with rock climbing. After listening to the precautionary measures, we started practising climbing. To most people, the rocks were like a pivot to lean on for a rest whilst some people felt like a spiked platform that brings fear. Some participants could not get over the fear of falling and showed signs of giving up. Luckily, team members kept encouraging them to continue and hinted them the techniques to master. “I heard them telling me to keep going and it’s going to be alright,” one participant said, “I took a deep breath, rested for a few seconds and went back to challenge myself.” The cheering-up rocked the team!

Rock climbing might sound like an individual sport superficially, but it is actually a team-building sport. Bravery, perseverance, determination and collaboration were key elements to be shared among teammates and each of us was ready to help whoever fell. Rock climbing taught us that success is not final, failure is not fatal, the courage to continue counts. It is not a matter of how high you climbed, but the courage you took to face challenge and the friendship that incubated from the sport. After lunch, we challenged the adventure rope course which looked unsafe with hanging wood ply. We were afraid in the beginning. Anyhow, our team leader took a leap forward and offered her hand saying “move one leg!”, “grab my hand!”, “look forward, it’s okay”, “you can do this!”. Once again, encouragement conquered fear and we moved our way forward.

When you face difficulty, trust is the key to success: count on your teammates and trust yourself. You can make it! The adventure was not the finale at the end of the day, instead, our friendship was just growing with laughter.

 

 

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