Over the years, Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) has been one of the active supporters of the city’s local sports development by sponsoring a number of celebrated international sports events through various ways, namely, being a title-sponsor of the Macao International Marathon for 18 consecutive years; a sponsor of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Macau and the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League – Macao for 14 years in total; a title-sponsor of the Macau Guia Race of the 68th Macau Grand Prix; as well as a partnering presenter of the WTT Macao 2020, among others. Seeing local sports development as one of its key corporate social responsibilities, GEG has also proactively promoted sports exchanges in the community and enhance accessibility of sports activities to all people, which underlines its corporate philosophy of “what is taken from the community is to be used for the good of the community” and its aims to promote social inclusion and community bonding.[
To promote the community’s participation in sports, GEG has worked closely with a number of social service associations and actively sponsored, supported and participated in a number of sports activities. One of these social service associations is Macau Special Olympics (MSO), whose National Director, Hetzer Sio, speaks highly of the company’s efforts, “Over the years, GEG has demonstrated its commitment to corporate social responsibility by actively supporting a series of sports activities organized by MSO. We are grateful for GEG’s tremendous support in helping promote the sport’s development of people with disabilities.”
In preparation for the upcoming marathon, earlier this year, GEG and MSO co-launched a training program “Run with a Partner”, where team members from the GEG Runner’s Club and MSO members train together on a regular basis. The workouts have been designed by GEG Runner’s Club members and comprise interval runs, long, slow distance, and tempo runs to improve their speed and endurance. Members are grouped in pairs based on MSO members’ physical conditions, needs and progress. This way, both members grow together.
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Ray Fong, leader of the GEG Runner’s Club, shared his experience in participating in the “Run with a Partner” program. “Through the program, I established close friendships with MSO members. The exchange with MSO members made me realize that sports not only improve our overall health, but also promotes engagement between people from different community groups and fosters social inclusion,” he said.
Galaxy Entertainment Group Special Olympics Table Tennis Competition
Since 2011, GEG has been co-organizing the Galaxy Entertainment Group Special Olympics Table Tennis Competition with MSO. Marking the 11th year of GEG’s support to the event, this year’s event will be held on November 14. Each year, GEG also mobilizes its Volunteer Team members to assist MSO members during their competitions.
“Through this platform, we’ve made friendships with many MSO athletes. In addition, we can exchange table tennis skills with them. Through participating in this event, I hope I can contribute to the promotion of social inclusion and encourage people to pay more attention to the needs of people with disabilities,” shared Albert Au Ieong, one of the GEG Volunteer Team members. “I have joined the GEG Table Tennis Team for five years. This year, I’ll be participating in the competition for the third time. It’s always a pleasure to join this meaningful event sponsored by the company.”
The fruitful collaboration between GEG and MSO doesn’t stop there, and for the “2019 Macau Special Olympics Unified Dragon Boat Festival Tournament”, GEG and MSO formed the “GEG x MSO Inclusive Dragon Boat Team”. This year, the GEG Soccer Team also won the champion title in the open category of “2021 MSO Football Charity Tournament”.
The company’s team members’ engagement platform – the GEG Staff Social Club – also provides them with opportunities to participate in different sports activities organized by MSO, such as boules, basketball, badminton, table tennis and bowling. Johnny Ng, from the GEG Bowling Team, shared his bowling techniques with MSO members recently. “Despite the short encounter, I found this event meaningful. They were excited each time when they hit the pins, regardless of how many unsuccessful attempts. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to share my coaching experience in bowling with MSO,” he said.
Community Exchanges
While supporting team members’ participation in different sports events and activities and helping them stay active and maintain a healthy work-life balance, GEG has also encouraged its team members to participate in community activities that promote sports exchanges and social inclusion.
Recently, GEG invited four social service associations, namely, MSO, Richmond Fellowship of Macau, Macau IC2 Association and Concordia School for Special Education to the “ ‘Zero to Hero’ Movie Screening and Sharing Session” with members from GEG Runner’s Club and Volunteer Team.Through the inspirnig story and sportsmanship of the main character of the movie “Zero to Hero”, Mr. So Wa Wai, Hong Kong’s Paralympic Games gold-medalist sprinter, GEG hoped to encourage the participants to keep striving for advancement and achievement. In the sharing session that was held after the movie, a number of participants shared their reflections and related experiences in sports training.
Last year, GEG and the Volleyball Association of Macao also gathered four generations of students, volleyball players and coaches to watch and discuss the acclaimed volleyball film “Leap” at the Galaxy Cinemas. But more than growing awareness for the multiple benefits of exercise, the spirit of social inclusion lives in the hearts and minds of the participants, raising awareness of the sense of belonging to a community of shared destiny.
“The active participation from GEG team members in different inclusive sports activities hosted by MSO embodies the spirit of social inclusion,” said Hetzer Sio. “Through organizing inclusive sports activities, we hope to help the disadvantaged in the community to better integrate into society and let society know that they can shine in different fields as well.”
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