Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Pursuit of Gold

In Singapore, there is a legendary swimming club called the Chinese Swimming Club. The club is responsible for crutching out swimming champions for decades in Singapore. At the Chinese Swimming Club’s Centennial Charity Dinner, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng was the guest of honor and he said that the Singapore government will continue to invest heavily in sports.

Personally I feel this is a good thing, but one question I have is what kind of support will the government give to the various sports associations? The Singapore government has been giving money to the various associations, and they demand good results in return for their investments. In theory, this is fine. However in practice, it’s a different situation. Fears of losing government grants, some sports associations have taken short cuts to produce results. Basically, certain sports associations are now so focused on producing results that they are ignoring Singapore youth development.

When there is youth development, certain associations are transporting youths from China instead of training promising young Singaporeans. I have no problem with the Singapore government demanding good results in return for their investments, some accountability is always good, but maybe the Singapore government should also look into not just youth development but Singapore youth development.

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