The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Juba Section organised a corporate tournament on 14th-16th of April 2022 at Dr. Biar Sports Complex in Juba, South Sudan. The corporate tournament event of this year is organised under a theme, “Creating Corporate Bonding Through Sport” and six companies participated including the Ministry of Petroleum, Nile Petroleum Corporation (NILEPET), Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), Schlumberger, Sipet Engineering & Consultancy Services (SPECS) and Nile Drilling & Services.
On 14th of April 2022, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Juba Section Corporate Tournament 2022 was officially opened by Hon. Puot Kang Chol, the Minister of Petroleum. In his official opening remarks & statements, Hon. Puot Kang thanked Director for inviting him, appreciated SPE Juba Section for the initiative of SPE Juba Section Corporate Tournament event & thanked all the teams that have turned up.
“First of all, I would like to thank the Director for inviting me. Secondly, I would like to also thank and appreciate the initiative taken by SPE. To me, it is a great initiative. I believe it will not only promote the wellbeing of players but as well as the social connectivity among all of us so I thank you for that. I also thank all of you who have turned up especially the teams from Schlumberger all the way to Ministry of Petroleum (MoP). It is important that you have turned up and it is important that you have taken this challenge upon yourselves. Few years ago may be some who are standing here used to try. But today, if you ask some of us, I think it will be the biggest mistake that one will commit trying to play because we didn’t use our time wisely. We did not realise that the source of our health is in exercise so for those of you who still re-commit yourselves, we congratulate you for that,” Hon. Puot Kang said.
Addressing the gathering, Hon. Puot Kang recognised positive impact of corporate tournament and advised teams that it very it is important that one should exercise for very long time prior to a match.
“You know early when you were marching around, I look at my team (MoP). I asked this gentleman, what have you done to them? You know, it is important that one should exercise for very long time before coming for such a match. I hope all of you have been doing that. If you have not been exercising, you will not be gaining from what you are doing, you will actually be harming yourselves but if you have been doing that it will only be a progress and you will be going for another level. So when I look at them some of whom I never meet and I am in the Ministry which also tells us that some of us you know, we are in jail as we are taken from car to the office and then from the office to car so you have no time to interact with people which is a great mistake. I am glad that I have seen some faces that I have never seen,” Hon. Puot Kang stated.
Furthermore, Honourable Minister also congratulated NILEPET for being the champion in previous seasons, encouraged other teams to work hard to have the cup & appreciated the organisers for making SPE Juba Section Corporate event a success.
“Last but not the least, we congratulate NILEPET for being the champion of the last season. We hope you will maintain that but we also pray that the rest of the teams work hard so that atleast one of them takes it from you if you don’t work hard. Why do we say that? It is not the cup but it is a fact that we are competing. When we compete, it is very healthy. It is good for all of us because this year if for example Sipet happens to have it, you will work hard to make sure that next year you have it. We want you to be discipline. This is my humble request to all of you. Do not compete just simply because of the cup but show us the talent, show us what you have. It is not the companies that will be watching you, other South Sudanese will be watching you. Those of you who are still young, one would play that may be some clubs may come and see someone from here and they will be able to take you and you will go represent all of us in whatever club you are in so what we are interested more in is the talent not just the cup. It is discipline that you show us. With these few remarks, I would like to thank all of you for turning up, the organizers for making sure this event happens. I thank all of you, May God bless you and see you next time,” he said.
After series of competition in the first two days of event, Schlumberger & SPECS competed for the first place whereas GPOC & NILEPET competed for the third place position. Schlumberger won its match against SPECS and GPOC won its match against NILEPET. On 16th of April 2022, SPE Corporate Tournament event finally reached its logical conclusion with Schlumberger in the first place position while Sipet Engineering & Consultancy Services (SPECS) and Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) in second place and third place position respectively.
This corporate tournament event which is organized by SPE Juba Section is a unique opportunity for industry professionals not only to network but also to renew their physical dimension of health through sport activities. For instance, the short survey & opinion poll conducted indicate that SPE Juba Section Corporate Tournament 2022 creates positive impact in the sense that it is a great platform that brings industry professionals together hence corporate bonding. In addition to this, participants in short survey also cited fitness & health as other benefits of such event in the country. This obviously makes sense because physical exercise is good for health as it can contribute to strengthening of muscles, optimisation of cardiovascular system, body weight control, mental alertness, improvement of athletic skills and so on. It has also been suggested by participants in the survey that there is need to incorporate volleyball, marathon & other related sports activities into corporate tournament so as to allow others to unleash their talent.