Rookie team makes it to charity paintball championship

Rookie team makes it to charity paintball championship

Paintball can be painful.

But this group of friends gamely got involved, and bruised - all for charity.

Keane Seow, 19, and his team of nine, Paintball Prodigy from Temasek Polytechnic, took part in the Crossfire Charity Championship (CCC) organised by the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC).

The $20 per person registration fees were donated to organiser SDC's appointed charity, The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

Keane said his team surprised themselves by making it to the quarter-finals.

None of the final-year Informatics students had played paintball before CCC.

He said: "We just formed a team for this because we're friends and wanted to spend as much time as we could with each other before we graduate next year."

During the preliminaries held between June 21 and 22, they lost their first game. Their second match was lost by a smaller margin.

FINALLY WON

But they won their third match in the preliminaries.

Keane said: "We were the underdogs, with the worst score for the first game, but we managed to win."

Tan Shi Yi, 21, the only girl in the team, said: "It was pretty amazing. When we first went in we all got 'killed'. But we reached our goal of not being the last team."

The strongest team was The Artist, led by team captain Justin Su, 18. The Temasek Polytechnic student has been playing paintball for three years.

"I grew up in a military background," he said. Both his parents were in the army.

"When I was a kid I always watched people take on urban warfare, so paintball was the next best thing."

The top team will win a trophy and the two runners-up will get medals.

The teams will take part in the finals on Saturday during the YOUTHphoria carnival at SDC.

Admission to YOUTHphoria requires a $10 ticket. With the ticket, you can watch performances by The Lion Men stars Tosh Zhang and Wang Weiliang and local bands like PennyLane.

It also gives you admission to a blockbuster movie and a short 3D film screening, which is valid until Sept 30.

You can buy additional coupons on-site to join activities such as Zombie War-themed laser tag, BossaBall which combines volleyball, football and acrobatics on an inflatable platform and other games.

For more information on YOUTHphoria, visit www.sdc.com.sg/special-promotions.php

Fund supports 10,000 children

The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (SPMF) supports over 10,000 children and youth a year.

Since 2000, SPMF has disbursed more than $40 million and helped over 128,000 children and youth.

SPMF works with the National Council of Social Service to disburse pocket money through its network of family service centres, special schools and children's homes.

The amount per student is determined through regular reviews, social workers' feedback, food prices in school tuckshops and inflation.

So far, about $2,598,000 in donations has been collected this year. Donations are channelled primarily for disbursement of school pocket money to children from low-income families.

You can donate or volunteer. More information is available at www.stschoolpocketmoneyfund.org.sg

sgascon@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on June 25, 2014.
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