Dear members,
Following the sessions with the Tokyo 2020 Olympian and Paralympians in August and September, a new online sharing session with five Hong Kong officials who had participated at the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games was held today. Training Area Coordinator and Mixed Zone Liaison Manager at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Mr. Gerald Kuh; FEI Para Equestrian Technical Committee Chair , Ms. Amanda Bond; HKJC Performance Manager Ms. Corinne Bracken; Team Coach of Hong Kong Para Equestrian Squad, Mr. Stephane Morai as well as the Team Leader of Volunteers, Mr. Alex Cheung were our speakers today.
At the beginning of the session, different officials’ positions appointed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the National Olympic Committee (NOC), Japan Equestrian Federation (JEF) as well as accreditations with different access rights were introduced. Among all 5 speakers, Amanda, Gerald were technical officials appointed by the FEI and JEF respectively while Corinne and Stephane were officials endorsed by our NOC in Hong Kong, the SF&OC. Alex was a member of the volunteer team of the organizing committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
According to Alex, being a volunteer at the Olympic Games was once in a life time experience. During the games period, Alex was appointed as one of the Team Leaders by the Organising Committee. He was assigned with different tasks, such as helping at the Dressage Final Holding Area, time keeping for the Cross-Country phase and judging at the finishing line for the jumping competition. The job duties of volunteers are tough as the working hours are long every day. “We use love and enthusiasm to fuel ourselves, so we won’t be very tired or exhausted,” said Alex.
Being the FEI Para Equestrian Technical Committee Chair, Amanda had a busy schedule handling different tasks on a daily basis at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. On one hand, she worked closely with different officials and departments to tackle ongoing challenges such as the hot climate and competition issues. On the other hand, she was also responsible for hosting the VIP guests, as well as responding to media enquiries. “There are so many happenings onsite and it is difficult for you to do everything smoothly unless you start your preparation much in advance.” Before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Amanda actually had travelled 3 times to Japan for preparation, working with the Japan NF and the Organising Committee.
Many people misunderstand that coaching is the only duty for any Team Coach but it is not the case in reality, particularly given the pandemic situation. Stephane said, “To be a Team Coach, there are in fact many more duties to do. Apart from the coaching and training of all three Para riders, namely Natasha Tse, Timothy Tsang and Fleur Schrader, I was also responsible for the daily care of the squad within the Paralympic Village, as Corinne was not able to travel to Japan at the last minute. Luckily, Corinne continued to manage logistics remotely, provided a lot of support to the team such as to send out the daily orders, discuss with all riders online before and after the training, etc. Participating in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games is the most unforgettable experience so far. Team work is the key to success.”
With a false positive COVID-19 test result, Corinne was not able to travel to Japan at the last minute. In order to provide her greatest support to the team, Corinne never gave up, but started to think outside the box. She changed her working hours to the Japan time zone and made herself available at all times to all riders during the Games period. Throughout all the work done by Corinne, we have learnt that strong determination and time management were the most crucial factors to overall challenges.
Gerry was appointed the Training Area Coordinator two years ago and later took over the role of Mixed Zone Liaison Manager after the Games has started. In order to prepare for his job, Gerry started his discussion with the Chief Steward of different disciplines a few months in advance on the use and maintenance of arenas. It was also an interesting experience for Gerry to work as a Mixed Zone Liaison Manager and arrange athletes to the media interviews and press conferences after their competition rounds and medal ceremonies.
Being an official is an extremely important role in any sport. Officials provide leadership and guidance to participants, ensuring that the competition is conducted in a safe and fair manner. Without officials giving up their time, most sporting competitions would not be able to function. Throughout the sharing of all 5 speakers, we learnt some of the key factors of officials at the world stage - good understanding of the sport, efficient time management, good team work and social skills.
The HKEF would like to express its gratitude to Gerry, Amanda, Corinne, Stephane and Alex for their sharing of experience. We hope that all members enjoyed the session and our local officials knew more about how to equip yourself for future working opportunities at world stage events.
Please also feel free to share with us any suggestions or ideas for future online sessions. We really appreciate your opinion so we can provide a wide variety of your favourite contents.
Best Regards,
Hong Kong Equestrian Federation
