COMMUNITY
Getting in S.H.A.P.E. THE SACEUR TROPHY
by Kyran Weir M
y name is Kyran Weir and I am twenty two years old. I graduated from Nottingham Trent
University last June with a BA (Hons) in History.
I have always wanted to join the Armed Forces after growing up on military bases and experiencing the RAF community first hand. My father is serving in the RAF as did my grandfather before him, so maybe there is the desire to continue in the tradition. I am applying to join the RAF as an Aerospace Battle Manager as I have a fascination with fighter jets and other aircraft. I am preparing for my Presentation which will take place in a few days. I am keen sportsman and a general collector of hobbies, much to the annoyance of my fiancé and family! My main interests include writing, playing guitar and history.
There are few things as successful as sport at bringing a nation together, and promoting the importance of team work and competition. You only have to think back to the Olympics to see how seamlessly it glued together the British population and brought about a resurgence of British patriotism. This
is why it is so important that sport and team challenges are not dismissed or forgotten on overseas RAF bases.
I started working on the SHAPE central NATO command base, in Belgium, earlier this year, as an education and resettlement clerk for the MoD. Almost immediately, I sought opportunities to get involved with sporting events held across the base. From a young age, I have always been very athletic. Perhaps this is attributed to my competitive personality gained over many years of competing against my two brothers in anything and everything. Either way, I knew that SHAPE had excellent sporting facilities and opportunities and I was eager and itching to get involved. This is where my journey in the Saceur Cup began.
The Saceur Trophy competition is a year long competition that sees every nation stationed at the base compete in a series of sporting events, in the hope of winning the coveted Saceur cup. In my eyes, it is an Olympics for those whose skills are far from the quality of Mo Farah. It gives you a chance to represent your country and the Armed Forces, whilst having fun and enjoying yourself. This year, the awards ceremony will be held on the 13thDecember, and I am hoping that the British are in with a chance of winning! Some nations have been grouped together to make a large enough representation. The teams are:
o Britain o USA o Germany o NATO North – Denmark, Canada, Norway, Poland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia o NATO South – Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, Croatia, Albania o Benelux – Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, France.
So far this year, I have competed in two competitions, and am trialling for the touch rugby team this week. I have really
www.raf-ff.org.uk
enjoyed it, and hopefully helped the Brits have a chance of winning the coveted trophy this year.
The first sport I became involved with was the table tennis competition, which was intense, and far more difficult that I had initially envisaged! Having a table tennis table in the garage at home was in fact no benefit at all to me apparently, as no matter how many hours I put in practising, I could never have beaten some of the players there!
This was my first taste of competing for the Saceur trophy, and I was an instant addict. The British came third in this round, held in February, and played brilliantly. Next came the swimming, volleyball and then the biathlon. Then in a blink of an eye, it was time for me to compete again. This time, I was competing in a dodgeball event. Prior to the trials, the only experience of dodgeball I had had was from watching the movie, which is excellent, by the way! However, I seemed to take to it quite well, and the team was brilliant. This event saw us win second place, beaten only by, you guessed it, the USA, the birthplace of dodgeball. I came home with my first medal from the event, and was instantly spurred on to get involved with as many sports as I physically could.
This week, I will trial for the touch rugby team, and from there, who knows where my Saceur adventure will take me. The competition is incredibly successful, in that it unites countries in an otherwise foreign environment, promotes and forges new friendships, creates an air of healthy competition and additionally unites the three divisions of the British Armed Forces into one powerful team. Members of the RAF, Navy and Army all work together in the hope of taking the British to first place in the Saceur trophy competition. Awesome!
Envoy Summer 2013 39
Photographs: Sgt Emily Langer
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