How to Train your Dragon

Contributed by Ridzwan on Workplace in 2019

For my cycling course with RAC E this week, I did a course framing which is: How to Train Your Dragon. So the watches are on the Isle of Rac, they’re names are Bjorn and Ragnar and as a mobile they would be called Vikings. The instructors are the Viking Chiefs and also Master Dragon Tamers.

Day 1

Dragon Taming 101 (Bicycle Orientation)

Before they can even a ride a dragon, we introduced their PPE as battle armor worn by the Vikings. Afterwards we introduced the dragon and its different body parts and how there were different breeds. There were the normal dragons (normal bicycles), baby dragons (small bicycles), 4 winged dragons for vikings who have never ridden a dragon before (training wheel bicycles) and lastly the Doom-Bringers (bicycles with trailers). Orientation was for them to get familiar and tame their respective dragons. After orientation was done and each of them was worthy to call a dragon their own, we told them to name their dragon by pasting the name on a scotch tape on their squirt bottles. Village Chiefs also joined in and named their dragons. Along the way we would randomly ask them what their dragon name was to see if they would remember.

As night falls after the vikings have feasted and showered, their fortress got attacked! 6 gigantic dreadful dragons from ancient times rained fire upon them. The fortress falls to the ground as the 4 pillars upholding it crumble. Each dreadful dragon was unique and had a name and special attack of their own:

Phantom Fury

Special Attack: Villagers stamina have been reduced and will not be able to go for extended expeditions.

Inferno Echo

Special Attack: Villagers have been left dumbfounded and just stared as the dragons continue attacking.

Mean Impact

Special Attack: Villagers lost some of their memories and imagination.

Shadow Claw

Special Attack: Villagers forgotten how to craft weapons, tools and other items.

Storm Diablo

Special Attack: Villagers lost some control of themselves and their dragons.

Charizard

Special Attack: Villagers go into panic and have chosen to ignore the others in order to survive the attack.

The surviving vikings have regrouped and need to escape their homeland to find a way to defeat the 6 Dreadful dragons. The village chiefs got badly wounded and cannot lead the expedition but can still give sage advice along the way to the expedition leaders.

Day 2

Morning Greetings, Games and PT

Vikings are big and strong and require lots of physical exercise to keep up their strength and conditioning to survive the harsh environment on the Isle of Rac and for the uknown journey ahead. The vikings greeted one another in a viking-like manner with lots of roaring and flexing and we played Dragon’s Tail (Kung-fu Master variant) for the morning game.

Journey to save the Isle of Rac/Cycling Expedition 1 with abseil en route

They were told that they will have to rebuild the fortress and the special materials needed for the 4 pillars can only be found at Mt. Power Rock (Pasir Ris Water Venture Rockwall). The elder villagers also speak of 5 Magical Relics that contain the power to defeat the 6 Dreadful Dragons but their exact location is unknown. The only clue they have is that it could be at the Isle of Changi.

This point in the story unfortunately Viking Chief Maya did not survive her wounds from the attack however the Village Apprentice Chief: Bing Ru has bravely stepped up to take her place.

So the vikings journeyed to Mt. Power Rock to mine for the materials but to their horror find that the mine is empty (Inside the rockwall tower). Then came a Mountain Spirit (we asked them to imagine that it took the form of Maya) who told them that the special materials are not mined but earned. How to earn it is by climbing up via the mine entrance and abseiling down the mountain. With the support of everyone, all the vikings managed to complete the daunting task and earned the materials needed to rebuild their fortress.

The vikings then made their way to the Isle of Changi and discovered that the next clue to the 5 Magical Relics can be found in an Ancient Scroll located at the abandoned East Coast Castle (ECC) however they will have to go through a very long and harsh route to get there known as the Burnt Pass (Changi Coastal Road).

Day 3

Journey to find the scroll at East Coast Castle/Cycling Expedition 2

Before the journey, the vikings blessed their expedition in a circle and were told the potato-egg-coffee bean story but I tweaked it abit by telling them that the person in the story was a small viking named Hiccup who had a tough life before he met Toothless and how his father Stoic the Vast told him to boil the said items. We talked about the commitment and perseverance needed at the Burnt Pass. The vikings proved their worth and made it to the East Coast Castle as one. Once at the castle they were told that the clue to the ancient scroll is scattered all around the castle and its written in an ancient language so they would have to decipher the language once all clues have been found. They managed to find and decipher all 7 clues which led them to the Ancient Scroll (Learning Quest). The scroll tells them that the 5 magical relics are actually buried deep beneath the Isle of Rac by the Ancient Ones and that was why the 6 dreadful dragons came to attack in the first place, they wished to destroy the only things capable of beating them. They have to complete a final quest to activate the power of the 5 magical relics.

Night “Fury” Walk

As night falls and the vikings were preparing for their fnal expedition, we gathered them together and talked about how their final expedition would be the toughest one yet and it will take more than their physical capabilities to finish it. We told them that an ally has come to help them unlock their mental capabilities and it came in the form of Night Fury. To see if they had the mental strength to finish the expedition, they would have to journey on their own through the Castle Dungeon (ECC Store). We could sense some were worried at the start but the walk was actually relatively simple and we debriefed by saying that sometimes they may think a certain part of their journey may seem tough or impossible but after going through it, they may realize that it is actually not that hard.

Day 4

Quest for the 5 Magical Relics/Cycling Expedition 3 with Learning Quest en route

The vikings set off to complete the quest and journey back to their homeland for the final showdown with the 6 dreadful dragons. Upon completion of the quest at Lorong Halus, the vikings were told that the villains knew that they were coming and have sent their minions to block their original path back. The vikings had to use the secret path via the Isle of Coney to get to their home. Prepping for war, the vikings donned their war paint on and charged back to their homeland. Once back at the Isle of Rac, we closed the story by saying how the vikings searched underground for the 5 magical relics only to find that they were fake. As the villains prepared to unleash their final attack, the vikings then started to glow from within. They learn that the Ancient Vikings buried the fake relics and casted a spell on the original ones. The spell caused the 5 relics to disperse and their essence would go into the future generations of vikings. The vikings just had to find a way to activate the power from within to defeat the 6 dragons by going through the different trials during their journey such as courage, commitment, perseverance and wisdom. We paused the story and talked about the quote from Kurt Hahn : “There is more to us than we know…” As the story continued, the 6 dreadful dragons were defeated and flew off in a hurry seeing that the vikings have become more powerful. The vikings then celebrated their triumph with a grand feast and watched as their dragons migrated south for the winter.

Day 5

The Calm after the War -> From Viking Villager to Viking Warrior -> The Final Ritual/ Final Debrief -> Peer Affirmation -> Commitment Activity

We shared that the 6 Dreadful Dragons actually represented the 6 Declines in Modern Youth and the first letter in their names would translate as such:

Phantom Fury (Physical Fitness)

The decline in fitness due to the modern methods of locomotion.

Inferno Echo (Initiative and Enterprise)

The decline of initiative and enterprise due to the widespread disease of spectatoritis.

Mean Impact (Memory and Imagination)

The decline of memory and imagination due to the confused restlessness of modern life.

Shadow Claw (Skill and Care)

The decline of skill and care due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship.

Storm Diablo (Self Discipline)

The decline of self-discipline due to the ever-present availability of stimulants and tranquilizers.

Charizard (Compassion)

The decline of compassion due to the unseemly haste with which modern life is conducted.

The 4 pillars of the Viking Fortress actually represents the 4 Pillars of OB

1. Physical fitness

2. Craftsmanship

3. Self-reliance and self-discipline

4. Sense of compassion through service

Lastly, the 5 Magical Relics represented the 5 qualities of an Outward Bounder and together with the 4 pillars were able to defeat the 6 dragons/declines.

1. Enterprising curiosity

2. Tenacity in pursuit

3. Undefeatable spirit

4. Readiness of sensible self denial

5. Above all, compassion

We elaborated more on how the 6 dragons/declines may have already attacked the participants without them knowing previously and now with the added knowledge, they can go home knowing that they have what it takes to beat them.

The step from Viking villager to Viking warrior requires them to know what is their weakness/blind side and we can help them achieve it by doing peer feedback/affirmation. We did so by doing a warm seat with them where each participant would get 3 minutes on the seat and the people on the ground would give feedback to them based on the past 5 days. It was very good warm seat as both our watches provided constructive feedback to their watch mates and there was rarely a moment of silence.

Although their dragons may have migrated for the winter, the vikings received the ability to breath fire for just one time and they are going to use this ability for the Final Ritual/ Commitment Burn where they will have to write down on a piece of paper and burn what is the weakness or bad habit they wish to burn off from their life before they disembark on their journey of being Viking Warriors/Outward Bounders.

Afterwards we got them to draw their viking journey like a mural so that future generations of vikings will know of their legendary tale.

It was the 2nd time I did a course framing, previously was Infinity War, and its safe to say it was one of my better courses as it really turned out better than expected. I’d like to thank Eramaya Mahadi (NYC) and Bing Ru Lim (NYC) for playing along with the framing although it was in very short notice for them and especially Bing Ru who I sparred ideas with along the way and he helped to come up with the idea for the scavanger hunt and night walk. Also to my cycling SB Sim Lin Ping Salome (NYC) for supporting the vikings during their expedition. Special thanks to Nurfatin Liyana (NYC) who helped to spark this How To Train your Dragon idea for me while we were buddying for our cycling program previously.

What worked?

The participants really bought in to the story and referred to their bicycles as dragons and they even added more to it such as saying their cycling fleet was one gigantic dragon and the navigator was the head and the sweeper was the tail. The sense of camaraderie between the vikings was strong as they functioned like a village. Every time we call them vikings, they would reply “Haa-ooh!”

What could have been done better?

I could have used more props for this fantasy framing.  All I had was my portable speaker where at certain times I used to play dramatic music for special effects.  Other than that I had to rely on the participant’s imagination. Sadly also I didn’t take much photos during the course.

So feel free to try out or build upon this framing if you guys would like to. I think it can be used for other courses beside cycling. Any questions you may have, do feel free to ask me.

Thank you for reading 🙂