SPH Media Workshop

On 25th of March 2009, the Creative Circle members, together with Ms Lynn See, went to the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to attend a talk by The Strait Times Media Club. We were given notebooks and a biography on Yip Pin Xui, a paralympic who was born with muscular dystrophy.

Once we settled down, Mr. Peter Khoo, the Vice President and the Head of the Editorial Projects Unit, welcomed us warmly and then introduced Mr. Marc Lim, the News Editor for the Sports Section. He explained to us, that "apart from being a sports nut, sports writing is conductive to develop writing skills."

He got inspired to be a sports journalist, after his many failed attempts to be a pro athlete. Different sports pictures were shown and he told us that pictures and headlines for an article should be interesting so as to capture people's attention. He mentioned that we should be prepared with materials. For example, pictures, interviews and ideas for a headline.

We were taught methods of interviewing and the steps to writing an interesting article. As student reporters, we paid full attention as where else can we get better tips other than those coming from the editorial board of our national newspaper, Singapore Press Holdings? One of the basic steps to writing an article is to have information about the topic that we were given. After he gave the explanation, Yip Pin Xui came. Each and every school got a chance to interview her.

Yip was born with muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that slowly breaks down the muscles, and a nerve condition that affects eyesight. When she was 5, she started swimming to improve her health and strengthen her muscles.

Nevertheless, by the age of 11, she had lost her ability to walk and had to use a wheelchair. The youngest of the three children in her family, she studied in Ai Tong Primary School and Bendemeer Secondary School. Yip started swimming competitively when she was 12 years old. After losing her ability to kick, Yip switched from the front crawl to the backstroke.

Yip was away from school a lot and it was difficult to juggle school and swimming. She got sick often when she was in Secondary 2 and this caused her not to experience much of secondary school life. When she was in Ai Tong Primary School, she got bullied a lot and not a lot of people were supportive of what she was doing at first. Theresa Goh then became her motivation.

Yip has a special diet by her own personal nutritionist and has hydration tests every morning. She has 12 sessions of training per week before her paralympics. She felt confident then because she could beat world records in trainings. Her parents have no objections when she does competitive swimming, in fact, she even offers 20% of the monetary award to her parents.

Yip thinks that the press is too serious and causes her to feel demoralised sometimes. Now, she gets more media exposure than before and is recognised on the streets. Yip Pin Xiu left the auditorium with her famous last words: "Nothing is very impossible."

Done by: Siti Hajar and Hafieqa Ismail (2 integrity)