BRIEFING SESSION: Lundy (third left) briefs (from left) Peryatim Miri regional manager Dayang Norjanah and an officer from Peryatim Miri on the proposed Skate4Community programme recently.
KUCHING: The young residents of Peryatim Miri will be treated to skateboarding tips and tricks by young Sarawakian skateboarders this June 16.
Seven skateboarders from a Kuching based skateboarders club will work alongside their counterparts in Miri to conduct this inaugural community outreach project by local extreme sports practitioners.
The brainchild of Lundy Joe Sibat from Kuching and his fellow skateboarding enthusiasts, the Skate4Community programme will use sports as a platform to promote positive values such as a healthy lifestyle, creativity and also self-development especially among young people. This project also hopes to unearth new talents in the local skateboarding scene and set an avenue for gifted and passionate skateboarders to share their experiences with interested youths.
“Through the Skate4Community programme, we will try to relate the “never give up” message to the young through a challenging sports such as skateboarding. In skateboarding, one may fall countless times but we’re trained to overcome our fears and keep on trying until we succeed,” said Lundy during a briefing for the representatives of Kompleks Lembaga Hamidah, Peryatim Miri last week who gave very encouraging response to the idea.
Several exciting items are lined-up for the Skate4Community programme this weekend including a skateboarding clinic and demonstration, talks on volunteerism, entrepreneurship in skateboarding, motivational and interactive sessions, all of which are conceptualised and to be conducted by the youth volunteers.
This group of skateboarders have been actively volunteering in AZAM’s recently held youth programmes such as the Kuching Youth Day Out and the Young Souls & the City activities just this May.
Skate4Community is one of the fresh activities under the flagship of AZAM’s Youth Development and Engagement programme called “GegaranBelia” which was first launched in Kuching on May 26. “GegaranBelia” seeks to engage youths from the rural areas on a “journey” to gain more knowledge, to explore their talents and to sharpen their skills for a brighter future.
The “GegaranBelia” and “Young Souls & the City” for Miri youths will be launched at the Miri City Fan on tomorrow by Datuk Dr Lee Kim Shin, Assistant Minister of Sports and also the Assistant Minister of Communication to complement the state-level Youth Week celebration.
Later this year, Miri’s ‘GegaranBelia’ programme will see the skateboarders and a musical group based in Kuching engaging the youths and local communities in Batu Niah in the Skate4Community and Tribal Bootcamp tour projects respectively. The Tribal Bootcamp project seeks to unearth musical talents among Sarawak’s young as well as to promote Sarawak’s traditional music among the young.