SEA Games 2015 Blog

Shi Yun’s & Shi Li’s Story
Wong Shi Yun & Wong Shi Li
Senior Associates, Global Financial Services Industry & Deloitte SEA Games volunteers
[Shi Yun & Shi Li are twin sisters]

To say that we are excited would be an understatement. After all, it is not every day that a major sporting event like the SEA Games is held in this city state we call home.

Now that the Games has started, months of preparation by the organising committee and other stakeholders, and the hard work put in by all the athletes are being put to the test.

This is not our first time volunteering for a nation-wide sporting event. We were, in fact, volunteers when the Singapore Youth Olympics Games (SYOG) was held back in 2010. We participated under the Deloitte corporate volunteer programme when we were still undergraduates. It was such an eye-opening experience for both of us and we are glad that we were part of the “purple army” (the colour of our volunteer uniforms) that helped made SYOG a success.

Now, given that we are official employees of Deloitte, there was no reason to miss this golden opportunity to raise our hands again. We are but two in a sea of tens of thousands of SEA Games volunteers, but we know that we have a part to play to make the Games something the people of Singapore can be proud of. So, we gladly put on the same purple uniform, joining the rest of the Team Nila volunteers to contribute in whatever way we can.

There were many weekends spent at Sports Hub and the National Stadium training and familiarising ourselves with our role as VIP ushers for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Some might say that these are weekends wasted, but we beg to differ. We made the commitment to be volunteers, and to us, it means seeing this commitment all the way through. Attending all the rehearsals is the least we could do, and we made sure we showed up for every single session. As much as we would like to have fun, we have our roles to play, and our responsibility towards the Games’ success is just as important as the organising committee and the athletes.

Both of us have been assigned to usher the VVIPs for the ceremonies, and these VVIPs include Ministers of the different countries and their accompanying delegation. It is a task not to be taken lightly, and we have to be very careful not to direct these VVIPs to the wrong seat! We take our job very seriously, so much so that prior to the Opening Ceremony, our volunteer group was diligently scouring the Internet for pictures of these important guests so that we can recognise them and host them well when they arrive to grace the Games!

The Deloitte SEA Games volunteers have spent a lot of time together, and there is a strong sense of unity and positivity among us that sees us through our duties. The training and rehearsals allowed us to take note of areas in our tasks that had the potential to go awry, and also enabled us to correct any errors before the big Opening day.

During the Opening Ceremony, we all banded together, wearing the brightest smiles on our faces to welcome the guests from all around the region. Seeing our guests comfortable and enjoying the show gave us a great sense of fulfilment that we did our job well.

On a more personal note, while both of us are not exactly sports enthusiasts (although sometimes we appear to be), we do have friends and colleagues who are keen and play very well in different sports. They have been encouraging us to join them and we have to admit that we are slowly getting the hang of things and have taken part in some of the Deloitte sporting activities, like the JP Morgan run and futsal competitions.

Our job as Deloitte SEA Games volunteers is not yet done – we still have the Closing Ceremony to go. We are looking forward to it, as it will allow us to once again be a good host to our distinguished guests.

Meanwhile, as we immerse ourselves in the action of the SEA Games, we would like to wish our Deloitte Team Singapore athletes best of luck in the competitions! Do the best you can and most importantly, let us enjoy this journey together!

Shi Yun & Shi Li