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| Oh Feng, talk about a faux pas... |
Yes she is a mercenary but aren't we all? I work in finance and do I do my work for the love of my job or for the money? And what's wrong with that? My boss is not buying my good will and loyalty by being nice to me - quite the contrary, he can be quite rude with me at times actually. But he pays well, very well indeed and I'm not his friend - I'm a paid employee. A very well paid employee indeed.
People move from company to company, job to job, country to country in search for better opportunities, for more money - this happens a lot in banking. If a banker were to move from New York to Singapore or from Tokyo to Geneva - nobody would bat an eyelid when a banker moves from Citibank to JP Morgan or HSBC. We don't expect employees to be eternally loyal - that is why you have to treat them well and if they leave after a few years, then you just have to shrug your shoulders and say, "no hard feelings, good luck to you."
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| Feng is as much a mercenary as the rest of us working adults. |
Now Feng is not a banker, she is a table-tennis player. There are not many people who can employ her - her potential employers are basically countries she can represent, compete for and win medals for. Whilst she is undoubtedly a highly skilled specialist in her field, her employment prospects are very limited compared to say a banker, an engineer or a teacher. By that token, Feng must've looked at the few options opened to her and she picked the best possible option: Singapore.
I actually know the China system of sports very well - I was subjected to a PRC coach from the age of 13 and was very keen to learn why Chinese gymnasts were the best in the world and why Singaporean gymnasts sucked in comparison. Here's the thing about China - it's a bloody big country and the first level you have to try to break through is within your province (省级行政区) as a junior, which could be as young as 11 or 12. That means having to train very hard from the age of 4 if you show potential to even be the best within your province and then a select number who show promise will be invited to train at the national training centre (usually in Beijing but varies depending on the sport) - and say if there are 5 people needed for a national team (as is the case in gymnastics), then the national training centre in Beijing will train fairly large of prospects from the various provinces, pushing them harder than they ever had been in their home towns to see how many actually become good enough for Olympic glory. Most fail. That's right. Most fail - many end up with injuries and once they are no good to the national sports programme, they are sent packing back to their home towns with haste, chucked out into the rubbish bin like a broken spare part.
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| It is very difficult for any athlete to make the national team in a country as big as China. |
There is this lovely gymnast - Zhang Ye Linzi - she is a stunningly good beam specialist and I adore her work. However, she hasn't even represented China once internationally - she has only competed locally for her province of Hubei. I suppose I remember her particularly well because her name is four characters - rather unusual for the Chinese, but she has one of the most difficult beam routines in the world with a 6.9 difficulty score. That's unreal - most gymnasts in the Olympics are performing routines of difficulty around 5.5 to 6.0 in difficulty to give you an idea of just how good Zhang is. There are two gymnasts vying for gold on the beam in London 2012: Sui Lu of China who performs a 6.4 difficulty routine vs Catalina Ponor of Romania who performs a difficulty rating of 6.6, that's still 0.3 shy of Zhang Ye Linzi - who has the most difficult routine in the world under the current rules.
But no, she can only compete for Hubei and I've not seen her do any competitions in 2012, so she has probably retired. What a shame, as she is such a good gymnast who never got to compete internationally! Had she moved to Singapore, gosh, she could've won Singapore so many medals internationally instead of only representing Hubei province. There is no prize money in these inter-province competitions within China, there is only prize money for those big international competitions and Zhang sadly, never ever represented China in any of these competitions because there was always someone better than her in a country like China. After all, despite being stunningly talented, she never made the national team in China and her shelf-life as a gymnast is limited.
Feng was from Heilongjiang (Manchuria) and the population of that province is 39 million - so not one of the bigger ones but still the size of a country like Argentina or Poland. Indeed, if she had been Argentinian or Polish she would've easily become the best in her country and gone on to represent her country at the Olympics - but in somewhere like China, even if you are the best in your province, you still have an awfully long way to go before you get to represent the country despite being good enough to defeat most other national champions from other countries.
It would've been hit or miss if Feng would ever make the China 'A team' in table tennis as China is amongst the best in the world. Feng was called up to the national team in 2003, when she was just 17. Now most table tennis players do not peak until their 20s - experience does matter a lot in table tennis as it is as much a game of strategy rather than just physical fitness. She suffered a long illness in 2004 and left China in 2005, initially for Japan before moving to Singapore in 2007 - all this time still as a junior (ie. U-21).
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| Feng moved to Singapore in 2007. |
I know that many Singaporeans bitched that Feng was only China 'B team' material rather than 'A team' material - but they do not understand just how competitive the inter-province competitions are. Each year, the provinces battle it out to become the best in the country, in the hope to make it to the national squad. So if Hunan province beats Sichuan province this year, it doesn't mean that Sichuan is crap and Hunan is good - no, it means that they're probably both really good but Hunan is just every so slightly better than Sichuan and Sichuan had a bad day at competition.
Sorry but I have to stick the knife in now so if you're Singaporean, brace yourselves. Singaporeans suck at sport so much because they have no concept of 吃苦 (literally: "eat bitter", to work very hard or bear hardships). I blame the parents - they are too protective of their children. I look at the way my sister and parents smother my nephew - good grief, we could be in the pool and he would have at least three adults chasing after him, within arm's length of him and I'll be like, leave him alone, let him play, you're smothering him good grief. Same thing when we are in the playground - and the kid is 9 years old. Aiyoh, I would say, ani-kuan ei pai an chua ay sai ke dang peng ah! ("How is he supposed to be a soldier in the future?") Such parents will make a generation of useless men who are afraid of everything from the sun to spiders to hard work. Sorry to say this, but this current generation of Singaporean parents are making some terrible mistakes and it is their children who will suffer as a result.
In my opinion, it would've been enough to simply get the PRC coaches to impose their regime here in Singapore, to get the Singaporean athletes to train like those in China to deliver China standard performances. It worked for gymnastics - Lim Heem Wei is 100% Singaporean but her coaches made her train like she was in China and it delivered results. So why does the government need to import athletes, when all they needed to do was import coaches? Are Singaporean athletes able to 吃苦 and train as hard as they do in China and deliver results the very same way they do in China? If not, then the only option is to import people like Feng who are prepared to 吃苦.
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| Lim Heem Wei competing at the 2012 Olympics. |
The downside of the PRC system is that when you accept your calling in competitive sport, you don't go to school. You train full time and you may get a few hours of schooling here and there but it is training first, school second unlike Singapore. Feng wouldn't have had much of a formal education - that was sacrificed for her achievements in sports. This is why many former sportsmen in China end up coaching for very little money because all they know is the sport they trained in - there is simply no possibility of them becoming say an engineer, architect or accountant, not without much of a formal education.
Coaches don't earn much - such is life. They may have fun working in a sport they are passionate about but they do not earn a lot of money, not unless they branch out into some kind of sport-related business (eg. running a gym club or retailing sports apparel etc). Now there are three guys I used to train with back in the day in Singapore - I have tracked all three of them down on Facebook. One works for SIA now, the other one is an officer in the SAF, the third is a full time gymnastics coach - and then there's me, I work in finance (whilst dabbling in media). Three of us are financially quite well off whilst the coach is well, erm, not doing so well financially. Yeah you could say that he's probably the one having the most fun in life - but what about if say, he gets married and wants to buy a flat or send his children to university, then what? Happiness and fun isn't going to pay the bills.
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| Everyone needs personal financial planning, especially if you have children! |
Feng had this one opportunity to make a lot of money by representing a country like Singapore - there was every possibility she would end up like Zhang Ye Linzi - an outstanding athlete who never represented more than her province. Given that she never had much of a formal education, she did the right thing by making the most of the opportunity that she had in representing Singapore. So yeah, in that context, good for her. Don't forget - Feng's parents were poor, she didn't have a great start in life and she made the most of her talent and opportunities.
Lastly, I want to talk about Oksana Chusovitina. She is an amazing woman - she is the oldest gymnast at the 2012 Olympics, competing at the age of 37 and still making the finals for vault, the apparatus where she won the silver medal in 2008 Beijing. She took part in her first Olympics in 1992 with the CIS team, winning one gold medal then. She then represented Uzbekistan for the next 3 Olympics before moving to Germany to seek medical treatment for her son who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia at the age of 3. In order to repay the Germans for treating her son's illness, she has competed for Germany since 2006. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she won a silver medal for Germany - their first in women's gymnastics for post-reunification Germany. I adore this woman - I met her in 2006 in the German city of Cottbus and we chatted in a mix of German and Russian. OK it says that she is 35 in the video - but this video is 2 years old and she is 37 years old at the 2012 London Olympics.
Talk to any German gymnastics fan about Chusovitina and they will only have positive things to say about her - talk to Singaporeans about Feng Tianwei and sadly, the goodwill just isn't there. Why? Surely there's a lot Feng can learn from Chusovitina about how to compete for another country and be loved by your adopted nation. What went wrong Feng? Why aren't the Singaporeans loving you the Germans have taken Chusovitina to their hearts?
I've got no complaints about Feng, except where her loyalties. She worked her butt off to be here, the same goes for our other China-born athletes.
ReplyDeleteAnyone in their shoes cannot be blamed for grabbing at the 2nd chance (to compete in international events) by representing another country and for good money too.
What you mentioned about Zhang is true, Li Jianwei (our previous golden girl of table tennis) chose Singapore because she was only ranked 5th and couldn't make the Chinese team.
Rather the blame or question has to be put to the STTA or SNOC. Do we really need or want Olympic and international fame so much that we go this route? Among the 1st things that will come as a reply is that - other countries are doing it, we are not different. Unfortunately this is a very poor excuse, something our Govt uses when it suits them. (I really hate to bring politics into sports, but in this instance I have to) When it doesn't suit them especially in making laws, they will say Singapore is unique and independent, and we will do what is right for Singapore.
Ok let's say the reasons for getting this medal and the one in 2008 were compelling, we needed to get Singaporeans interested in sport and put ourselves back in the world map. Now that this has been achieved, isn't it time, to take it to the next step, to either get local athletes up to par, which is difficult in Singapore's success driven system, or to get very young athletes and their families to commit to Singapore for good, while ensuring a proper regimen for their potential success?
We can also talk integration (something that's been bandied around), the whole team in London was China born or dominated by them. Why not just get 1 or 2 FT and make the bulk of the team local. The FTs are they to encourage and support local talent, not replace them. I agree the coaches can be foreign, just as China's dominant swimmers are trained by an Australian (Grant Hackett's coach).
And with FTW, Li Jiawei and the others, the question is loyalty to Singapore. there's no point if they are just gonna be here as long as they can play and train for money, but once that's done and dusted, they will return to China. I don't blame them, but the system. After so many years, they aren't proficient in English enough, let alone know the words of the national anthem (maybe the pledge even). They return to China to marry and depending on where it's better financially, will set up residence. Singapore is not the final and only place, it's just a possibility.
Compare that to our parents, the majority of us are children of descendants of other nations. Yet our parents and fore-fathers, upon coming here, never harboured hopes of returning home for good. Can we say the same of these sporting FTs? I don't have the figures but I dare say there's been at least 5 who have returned the Singapore passport for good. The others who are holding on to it, do it because it still opens up avenues for going elsewhere.
Is this what we want? Is this the pride we look for? Perhaps if we who offer the highest cash incentive in the world for sporting achievement, were to slash it by say 75% or more, no more million dollar for Olympic Gold, just 50k, can we still attract them? Are we making the pursuit of money the primary factor? If that is so, then just don't stop at FTW and Co, go to Jamaica, get the runners that failed to make the team to London, or Ethiopia, Kenya and others, they have so many good runners that even the WR holders sometimes cannot make the national teams. Pay them, house them and support them, and hey presto, Singapore will not only produce Olympic Champions but world record holders as well.
Is this the path that we want? I think even Arab countries that tried this path seem to have a change of heart. We have produced our medalists, we have tried this path, lets get back to the basics. If after another 50 years, we don't win anything again, then maybe we can have the excuse to buy success again.
Thanks for that impassioned comment my friend. I appreciate the time you've taken to share your thoughts. I hate to say this but ... I don't quite agree with you. Sorry, but the way I see it, Feng is treating Singapore like an employer, the same way I view the company I work for as my employer. What kind of relationship do you have with your employer mate?
DeleteI've said my piece already in the article - for Feng, it is about money. Nothing wrong with that - she has a chance to make some serious money whilst she is at her physical peak and she ought to cash in on it. Furthermore, I think you're speaking to the wrong person about FTs and loyalty - Limpeh is British today, I decided I hated the way PAP was turning Singapore into Chinapore that I left. I believe that I would have a happier, brighter future as British citizen so I left, the same way Feng left China. I didn't believe that just because I was born Singaporean I had to stay Singaporean and sing Majullah Singpura with pride for the rest of my life. If there was a country offering a better quality of life which was far more in line with my values, belief system and morals, then I will say bye-bye to Singapore and leave. Which is precisely what I did.
Let's talk about the relationship between the state and the citizen. Governments treat their citizens badly in Singapore because they are counting on people like you to remain patriotic and loyal no matter how badly treated you are because they don't think you know the difference between loving your country and loving your government. I love Singapore - I fucking hate the PAP so fucking much. I couldn't live in a PAP Singapore, so I had to go. I didn't have the patience to wait for those older PAP voters to die for a new era to arrive in Singapore, I would be a very old man myself by the time that day came.
Why am I talking about this? Well, I find it bizarre that you would fault Feng on her lack of 'patriotism' - whereas it is clear to me that she is a mercenary. A Gurkha - a soldier who fights someone else's war. We see it all the time in premiership football, take someone like Manchester United - how many foreign players do they have? Do the fans complain, "he's not born in North-West England, he's not even British!!" No, they just want their team to win. Such is the nature of sport and if Singapore wants to go down that road, fine - but if you're expecting Feng to become patriotic, no that's not part of the deal. You can buy her time and effort to perform for you at the Olympics, but you can't buy her love. Such is the deal - take it or leave it.
As for why local Singaporeans can't medal and you need FTs - simple. You can't chi-ku (eat bitter) - parents still want their kids to train no more than 2 hours a day so they can get to tuition classes before dinner. Sorry, but Singaporeans have chosen studies over sports and that's why you'll never medal at the Olympics on your own steam. You need to find someone who's massively talented in his/her chosen discipline and then COMPLETELY give up studies (or at least put it on hold COMPLETELY) until after his/her first Olympic medal. Now find me a parent in Singapore who will say yes to that plan.
Yeah, I think I got too caught up with this loyalty thing. But I don't blame FTW and gang. I blame the system and policy our SNOC and Govt have taken. Did they think for a moment, we will buy a medal (thru very good FT) and the whole of Singapore can be proud?
DeleteI know the UK too has FT, like Mo Farah (anybody who beats the great Bekele deserves utmost respect) but the UK did something really grand back say in 2005-2006. They had this policy where they went round the whole country and got youths who could run, jump swim, row etc and ask them to come for trials, to see who got potential and from there worked on these talent.
Has Singapore done this? Yes, the pursuit of education has drummed everything else here, but has the Govt not considered hey, if we just try asking parents or kids to come and try out and promise them a comprehensive package, both financially and education like they do for the swimming team, maybe we can produce some good local talent? No, they just went full blast into the FT scheme.
Yes, not many parents will agree, but I assure they will be a response and maybe we can produce some very good sportsmen and women. Don't forget we were good at stage in squash, badminton and still are in water-polo. But the whole thing is half-hearted. Even local football, the FT they get are thrash, the training is a joke (I know I used to referee at youth level). Take Alexander Duric, he's 40 now and he's our main striker!! You want FT in team sports either get them young like Ajax Amsterdam (from ages 9 or even 6-7, house them, their parents, provide education, food, employment etc) or buy quality like Japan and the Arabs have. Not half past 6 players who can't even play in the third tier of their own countries leagues. How will these FT boost Singapore football?
There many parents in football who would gladly allow their kids to pursue their sporting ambition, if there was some support financially but no.
Our whole policy towards sporting excellence is a joke, we don't want imported talent just bought wholesale for a medal. We would tolerate them and be very happy for them representing our country if their presence adds strength to our own teams and provides inspiration. At the moment it does neither.
And I disagree with those who say FTW's win is a win for China. To China, all these players are traitors. FTW's win is a win for herself and her effort all these years. I salute her victory as an individual sportswomen, not as victory for my country.
The last paragraph seems to presume that we need medals. Do we? What good is a medal that brings no pride? Is medaling the be all and end all? Maybe for the athlete, but not for national sporting development. If we take pride in sending the best sons and daughters of the soil to the Olympics and the various world championships, and leverage their experiences to improve those around them, it can only be beneficial for the development of sports in Singapore. There is nothing wrong with not medaling in the Olympics... the participation, the camaraderie, the upholding the ethos of international competition being our best against your best each representing their flag... now that is the Olympic spirit. In fact, I'd argue that it is not just Olympic spirit, but sporting spirit. What good is having the best sportsmen if we acquire them through gamesmanship.
DeleteI don't fault Feng for trying to make the most financial gains of her talents. I too am working in a foreign land because it pays better. I fault the STTA, the SNOC, and the ministry formerly known as the MCYS.
Hi some replies for you guys.
DeleteFor Glenn: I'm not presuming that you 'need' medals but I'm saying that if you do want to medal, then you have to work as hard and sacrifice as much as your opponents as that's the only way to win - and that's why Singaporean athletes are better educated than their PRC counterparts but are beaten soundly in competition. I agree that the amount of controversy Feng has caused does prove that there is deep mistrust in STTA's and SNOC's plans.
And now for Sir: Mo Farah was born in one of the world's most desperately poor countries Somalia and moved to the UK at the age of 8. Now at that age, there is no way to ascertain for sure if he had any future prospect as a runner - no, he was a completely untested entity. He was just a kid who wanted to flee a war-torn country and have a brighter future in a safe, European country. Feng, however, is a tried & tested entity who has proven her skill in the very competitive China inter-province system. Mo Farah is certainly not FT, he is British, he trained locally in the UK and certainly has no desire to return to war-torn Somalia for obvious reasons - he has a much better, safer future in the UK than Somalia, which remains one of the world's most unstable, volatile and dangerous regions.
I ask you please: don't discriminate against athletes who were not born in the country that they are representing - discriminate against those who have made no effort to assimilate. People like Chusovitina speak fluent German despite having been brought up in the Soviet system which little schooling and formal education - it can be done, you can learn a new language.
Haha, I think somehow, I'm still not expressing my true feelings properly.
DeleteNo sir, I am definitely not against athletes not born in the country. In fact we have been able to see many great sportsmen and women compete at the highest levels and allows to savour many unforgettable moments, because they were able to compete for someone else.
Athletes like Wilson Kipketer (Denamrk), Mo Farah, Martina Navratilova, even Mario Balotelli just to name some.
What I am against is 3 fold
a) Only using cash as the carrot to get these players - fair enough we won't get them if we didn't offer, but to offer astronomical amounts that even major sporting powers don't (China, the US, Russia, France, etc), let alone the smaller ones like Surinam, Trinidad, Grenada (all countries with gold medalists at 1 time or the other). But $250k for bronze that's really too much. Offer what's reasonable and attractive enough, not make it into some major bonanza unheard of elsewhere.
b) Using foreign born athletes to replace/represent the whole team - as they did in ping pong, maybe badminton too. The UK for example, would never tolerate this, they would insist the foreigners assimilate, become British and participate with local born athletes. Ours is wrong, fair enough we have FTW, but surely for team events, we should say hey wait a minute, this whole team was bought/brought over, why not put a few local talents in. Let FTW go all out for the individual events but teams must be a mix, doesn't matter if we win or not.
If we take football for example, we have full foreign teams participating, Albirex, Brunei DPMM and others, yet we don't allow lower tier teams a chance to step up. And when we sign foreign players to play for Singapore, these players are really not very good internationally, their presence is not helping Singapore football develop because they are not high quality to start with. (Here football is the opposite of Table tennis and swimming, the latter's offer is too large, the former's peanuts and as such we get monkeys)
c) The Govt, I'm positive did say long ago when we started this policy - oh don't worry, these players will represent us and become one of us, just support them, they will integrate and make Singapore their home. So many, myself included, say okay maybe not a bad idea, if really got good players who are prepared to come here and focus only on sports, something we obviously can't, then it's a win-win situation. We get new citizens fully committed to our cause, they will support and strengthen the locals and finally maybe give us chance to win something.
Then what happened, slowly we started to see some only taking the money and running away after it's done. For the ones that are here, they don't really assimilate, it's just a job like you say. Returning home is very much a possibility, heck even Alexander Duric has not confirmed in interviews he's gonna be here forever.
So that's what I'm against basically, not the athletes themselves but the manner in which we went and procured them. I don't really categorise Tao Li (the swimmer) as one, because she came at 9 (or 11) and has gone through the system.
Maybe she too will go back, but I think if you go for youngsters let them develop and train here, give their families a place as well, but also integrate them into our society and make them an inspiration to our youth (and similarly support those that really wanna try, even if just a handful), in the long run you will get people like Farah and Kipketer etc, who will choose forever to be part of their adopted country.
Or like the gymnast you mentioned, an FT who's grateful and thankful to her adopted country and tries to give something back, besides just taking the cash and benefits and say thank you very much.
OK, since you don't class Tao Li as an FT, then please don't class Mo Farah as an FT as he arrived in the UK at the age of 8 okay?
DeleteGeez, it's like my friend who is from China, she was born in China and came to Singapore when she was 6 months old as as a baby and grew up 100% Singaporean and she is as Singaporean as they come - but people still regard her as a PRC FT despite the fact that she has no recollection of her first 6 months in China.
Anyway, tis late here, pardon my short reply.
Hi LIFT, this thread got me thinking in the following areas:
Delete- What kind of relationship do I have with my employer?
I don't want to dwell on those negative ones that don't last, and should remain as forgettable as possible.
No amount of pay in the past has made it worthwhile, not even to survive.
In fact, even with good pay, my health worsened and lifelong conditions flared up.
Good pay in exchange for a shortened, constantly miserable life — would you take it?
Rather, the kind of relationship with my employer that endures as a positive memory, that made every dollar worth earning, however 'good' or 'low' pay:
the respect, the autonomy, and I repay that with doing my employer bit right — I don't know if anyone would call that 'loyalty' either, it sounds too lofty a word for me.
Amongst you and I there will of course be people who'll enjoy the money while taking the shit — but I can't.
I can't perpetuate evil while enjoying the good of it — it honestly rankles in my mind all the time.
A senior statesman once said that when the survival of yourself and your family is at stake, you'll take on any job.
But since he had most likely never been in the position of the ordinary person on the street, struggling to survive, I don't think even he will eat shit for good money.
Especially because of the high medical bills later, cleaning out all that shit stuck inside; plus the reduced life expectancy from all that faecal poisoning.
- Would any Singaporean parent say yes to his/her uniquely talented child giving his/her all to sport (or some other arena deemed less profitable in the long run), in place of (over-hyped) education?
Yes, I would, ON MY CHILD'S BEST TERMS (not mine, not society's).
We sit down as a family with our child, we let him know all the pros and cons, as much as he can understand at his age, and then we support his decision all the way.
We're not that kind of stereotyped Singaporean parents, with obsession for narrow-minded reified education.
We delight in the happiness of our child FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW.
And we believe that anyone who grows up healthily in mind will strive to constantly re-educate ALL HIS/HER LIFE.
So we're not in a desperate hurry to acquire 'education' soon outdated in this swiftly changing world.
We're all students for life.
- Patriotism is not to PAP. Patriotism is not to the government.
Patriotism is to the people and the land.
OK, here's the difficult bit maybe, for many people:
patriotism is NOT JUST TO the nation.
Greater than nationalistic, jingoistic patriotism, is patriotism to the human being, to the rights of each member of humanity.
And greater than human-based patriotism, is patriotism to the world that supports humanity, the ecosystem of flora, fauna and nature that ensures the survival of that every human being.
The greatest patriot fights for the good of the world at large, as fervently as he fights for his own beloved close ones. Or his nation.
No government should try to suppress that fundamental human wisdom.
Hi LIFT,
ReplyDeleteThank you for explaining about the background from which Feng Tianwei came.
It certainly puts the human being back into the sportspeople who have had to give their lives for China's and the worl'd sporting glory.
I find interesting, your twist question at the end: why isn't Feng more loved locally; what has she done that would have made her more adored?
I tested this out on my older boy: I read out much of what you'd said about her, and then I read him your briefer intro to Chusovitina: straight away, his heart went out for the loving mother beloved by her adoptive countryfolk.
That answers the question for us.
—
Singapore does owe gratitude to the China training culture.
But we must as soon as possible develop one of our own.
We should not forever remain just a heavily import-dependent country.
We have to also treasure our own Singaporeans, the ones who truly represent what this nation is becoming, with all their flaws AND strengths.
And for the actual best amongst us, I like Chusovitina's words at the end of her above video, which represents the mindset of real elites:
"When I'm training, I'm always in a good mood.
If I don't feel like training, I don't train.
But if I train I also want to train."
Spoken naturally as a human being.
And showing our way out, if we no longer want to continue as an artificial state.
Hello Alan, how are you? Thanks for your comment. Just think for all the Chinese competitors in the 2012 Olympics, how many Zhang Ye Linzi's are there - incredibly talented and super good at their sport, but just failed to make the cut of the Chinese national team? Just think, if Zhang Ye Linzi moved to Singapore, she could've competed for Singapore ... but yes, people like Zhang and Feng would've given up school, moved to a full time training facility from the age of around 8 or 9. Imagine leaving your parents' home at that age to go stay in a dormitory type facility where all you do is train, eat and sleep and get very little schooling. From that age, they train 6.5 days a week and get a half day on Sunday off and if they're lucky, that's when the parents will visit but if the parents live far away, then some only see their parents ONCE a year during Chinese new year. Imagine the price they pay for sporting glory - such is the China system. They create kids who can "chi-ku" (eat bitter) in a way Singaporeans will never understand, we don't even come anywhere close to their kind of chi-ku.
DeleteAnd Chusovitina came in 5th today. Sigh. I do wanted her to medal but she was beaten by gymnasts who weren't even born yet when she competed at her first Olympics - still, 5th place at the Olympics at the grand old age of 37 is pretty grand and she got the loudest cheer in the arena as everyone loves her because of her story. But yes, what an incredible story about a mother's love and sports coming together.
Hi LIFT, thank you for allowing my comment.
DeleteWe're quite fine, thank you, except for that nagging problem.
And how are you?
Since I'm family-oriented, I'll be the first to admit that I cannot support such a harsh training system.
But at the same time, if this is what my child really wants, who am I to live his life for him?
We'd give him all the support we can, but we won't hesitate to point it out to him, if it all comes down to running a fool's errand, a Don Quixote chasing his windmill-dragon.
What that kind of stereotypical Singaporean parents don't understand, is that same hard-driving devotion to 'education', is no different, and just as transferable, to that same hard-driving devotion to sport, or arts.
What they might understand even more poorly, is the existence of 'soft' power side by side with 'hard' power, and the clever optimal balance between both that brings out even better results.
I want to use this example about using soft and hard power, which typical Singaporean society probably understands far more poorly than, say, Australian society.
An emperor has the power of life and death over his subjects.
So one day, one subject does something unlawful that arbitrarily deserves death.
So the emperor has him executed, right?
Maybe in Singapore.
In another place and time, even in China, the emperor pardons him, earning surprised and overwhelming relief and gratitude.
The subject re-pledges his life, and the lives of his clan, to unyielding devotion to the empire.
And of course, he and his descendants go on to live and die for the emperor and his empire.
In case I've lost anyone by now, hard power is directly pushing and forcing, 'for your own good, for your future' (sounds familiar here?).
Soft power is genuinely encouraging the best, inspiring one's children to want to give their best, and some more (this concept is still alien here, perhaps because parents are still rather insincere; and selfish).
It's not just the hard power to take life away that's awesome; more awesome is the soft power of choosing NOT to do so, giving that second chance, and rekindling fervour in the one who has been given stay of execution.
Love can be more lethal than hate.
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My heartiest congrats to Chusovitina (even if she does not know me)!
She is actual proof of what's not done in Singapore today.
5th worldwide at age 37: how many here can we train to even be that calibre?
Over here, she'd be too old, be considered impeded with a young family, and would be advised to 'retire' as a coach already, instead of 'shamelessly' still competing with the girls.
Our problem mindset here cannot be fixed with $250k; or a million dollars.
In earlier years, I heard it said too often, "If money's the problem, then it's not a problem."
These days, it should be, "Money's not the problem — that's the problem!"
When the incentive is money, it'll naturally attract and employ talents who are after the money... Don't blame the people...the system is to blame.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that FTW has delivered as an "employee" of the "Singapore" corporation.
Thanks for your comment :) Such is the system.
DeleteLIFT,
ReplyDeleteIt is really a pleasure to read your article on 'Feng Tianwei in focus: a price worth paying?'. Question is 'Who measures the worth?'.Will the citizens be equally elated or is it just the pride of PAP? With bread and butter issues on our plate, most Singaporeans are already nonchalant about politics lest about Olympic medals.
In fact, with the foreign imports, any medal won is discredited and degraded to 'not our own medal'. The coffee shop talk is all about how we don't really give shit about the medal and the wasted money. We cannot rationalize why Government can be so stingy with the citizens and yet choose to spend lavishly in areas that bear no tangible benefits to the common folks.
It is no longer about Feng or any other PRC, it is about citizens disagreeing with how the PAP are spending our money. I agree with you on how it makes perfect sense to treat FI as a tool to achieve our objectives and how we should really not quarrel about their lack of loyalty, presumably if our prejudice and judgement is even substantiated. I am sure some of these FI are truly appreciative of the opportunity offered to them and might even at some point of their life think about being loyal to their new home(Singapore) if we are not so vindictive. But if we keep cursing them and treating them bad, then we are really the culprit because we have made their stay in Singapore impossible.
I think why Singaporean's main gripe is actually the lack of love for the country and lack of trust in our leaders. We have become rather bitter and no longer buy in to the fairy tales. I happen to have the benefit of reading 'The Animal Farm' by George Owell for my literature. Sad to say, it is easy to draw parallels with how our country is transforming. If you have read it, you will know what i mean.
Last but not least, thank you for the Blog :)
Best regards,
Kevin
Hi Kev and thanks for your message. As a former national champion gymnast, I am a strong believer in the value of sports and I have always preached on my blog for young people to participate in sports rather than be a 100% mugger. Heck, in a competitive environment, good grades are far from enough to get you the job you want and often, it is the fact that I am a former national champion gymnast that put me ahead of my rivals and got me the job I wanted. That's why it can be argued that rather than spend this much money on one person - Feng - what if that money was spent on Singaporean primary schools instead, to boost their PE programmes, to get more kids involved in sports from a young age. Think of the number of children who would've benefited from that.
DeleteThe counter argument for that is that it's a waste of money - you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Say I set up a great ECA/CCA sports programme for a secondary school in Singapore: but it would mean the students having to spend 3 pm to 6 pm after school to do sports (rather than homework or tuition) - think of how many parents would say, "no way, my child needs homework and tuition more than sports - my child will not take part in sports." Given that is the attitude of SG parents, what is the point in spending money on sports on SG students?
Glad you enjoy my blog, plenty of articles here to keep you amused for a while. Do spread the word and if you do like an article, please share it with your friends on social media - thanks :)
Hi Limpeh,
DeleteI did have my say on the FTW matter on my blog though my rage is at the system and the society that had been created by the PAP. I'm pretty sure we can produce world beating athletes but sadly as you pointed out, society mindset had changed, when parents now pampered their children too much and the focus on the paper chase so overwhelming that it'll be hard to reverse such a mindset after long years of conditioning. My parents are good examples given that they believe so strongly that with a uni degree, life will be a piece of cake in Singapore, frustrating me to no end when I tried to tell them so but I given up on that.
I'm a sports person like you, although I'm not at your level but I can really appreciate and understand how sports played a important part in personal development. The commitment to training, never-say-die attitude/determination, the push to overcome limits, all are something that sports are capable of instilling in you. I have interact and worked with a lot of people and it's usually the serious sport person that will excel and shine.
Sadly, Singapore is facing our very own little emperor and empress problem with so much pampering by the parents on their children. With family size getting smaller and smaller due to financial pressure, this is going to get worse and the rat race/paper chase is not going to help. We are having our own time bomb with the pampered generation and the length parents goes to shield their children astonish me at times.
Hi chrono, here's my gripe with the Singaporean system - a degree does not set you up for life, yes it is useful but there's so much that sports can teach you, it will give you skills that you will never learn in a classroom or textbook. But hey, you're a sports person too - so I am preaching to the converted.
DeleteAnd my friend, for what's it's worth, I totally empathize with your situation (ref: parents) and I have had the chance to say, "I was right, you were wrong" and I criticize my parents' judgement quite openly on my blog and my criticisms of their attitudes have raised a few eyebrows from my regulars who were like, "waliao what if your parents read your blog and found out how you really felt about their parenting". Well, they know how I feel lah and the bottom line is I turned out okay in spite of everything and here's the thing - I have an older sister who was super obedient and never ever challenged my parents once and did exactly as she was told and she's doing brilliantly today; and then there's me who argued non-stop with them and defied them at every single opportunity and guess what? I turned out okay too. Moral of the story? You just have to get on with life regardless of your parents. Don't depend on them or blame them, just get on with your life.
However, I have to kaypoh when I see the mistakes they are making with my nephew. Like I swear, my nephew is 9 and my mother bathes him and I'm like, aiyoh, that's going to scar him psychologically. Like the kid is 9 and his grandmother WASHES him? That's gonna scar him for life man, but my mother treats him like he's an idiot incapable of the most simple tasks and that's why I think this is the kind of time bomb of the pampered generation I'm talking about. Oh well, the PAP will just import more FTs from China then.
Let's start with what typically makes us Singaporean any more.
DeleteThe same as what binds communities everywhere: shared experiences.
It used to be kampungs, national service in the army; possibly no more.
These days, it's the same education system attended, the same pressure-cooker work culture we experience.
Anyone else seen to skirt this shared experience is reacted against negatively.
Those acquiring educational advantage far more readily than so many of us.
Those paid far more than what we struggle to bring back every month.
Those openly flaunting far more material luxuries than what the rest of us can hope to afford.
Therein lies the reason why people blame the government.
It's put itself in place as the know-it-all that has been ceded all that power to right all the wrongs.
Any performance less than perfect would lead to disappointment of overly high expectations, urged on by the religion and worship of meritocracy.
One way to get out of that very hot seat, is to give up on that power, and adopt a less influential role.
But who amongst the power-crazy in their right mind, would ever surrender even an iota of that great power?
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I find kinship in you, LIFT, in speaking out against my late parents whenever I felt that they were behaving wrongly.
You don't teach a child positive values, and then expect to get away as an adult displaying bad behaviour.
Never mind what centuries of Asian hypocrisy teach us.
I'm trying hard to be honest and fair in my family, and I hope the boys will grow up to check any abuse on my part, as a frustrated, stressed, desperate and frightened father sometimes.
Unlike certain other parents, I try not to hide behind the pretense of pride and a perfect parent.
That is the least a child should retain of his power over his parent, in a true mentor and apprentice relationship.
When apprentice fails, mentor likewise fails.
Because mentor fails, apprentice cannot succeed.
Our government may not be practising that (how many in the world do?)
And as PAP has done to us, so we do to our children.
Yup, a degree only just open more doorways for one but it definitely don't set one up for life but sadly, it seemed to be the mindset of our parents generation.
DeleteThat's so true, sports really taught me a lot outside of books. I'm definitely grateful for the experience I gained from sports.
Hahaha.. I guess most people went through this to some extent. Your moral of the story really summed it up. Given that I'm like the black sheep in my family, I learnt not to be affected by their mindset and will just tuned them out if it's just too unreasonable. No point getting into some argument or quarrels over such matters.
Well, in a way, I pity the pampered generation because they are missing out on so much things life have to offer, having to go through their growing up years through the tight control of their parents. Though it is really a big time bomb for Singapore and no matter how much FT they imported, sooner or later, this bomb will blow up and that may be the death knell of Singapore.
Hi Limpeh, good read as usual.
ReplyDeleteJust one note: You may be pleased to know that Zhang Yelinzi got third place in the elite category of the Houston National Invitational Gymnastics 2012, representing China.
http://www.houstongymnastics.org/HNI%202012%20Women's%20Elite%20Individual%20Results.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HLESs88jEg Yay, finally she gets to compete outside China - but shame she didn't make the 2012 Olympic team. She could've been an asset to the team, but such is the situation in China - you have soooo many talented gymnasts and only 5 get to compete in London. I hope to see Zhang in the world championships next year. PS. Any idea why her name has 4 characters?
DeleteMy heartfelt congrats to 张业琳子 Zhang Yelinzi, although she also does not know who I am! :-)
DeleteHappiness in life is determined by measuring up to one's standards, because others are often fickle, cruel and even downright unfair with their expectations.
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To try to answer your question about her name, I found out that her surname is indeed one of the common Big 3, 张 Zhang, her given name is indeed an unusual 业琳子 Yelinzi, with Ye 业 being her generational name shared with siblings, after her father 张儒兵 Zhang Rubing's generational name of 儒 Ru, shared with paternal uncles and aunts.
琳子 Linzi is her childhood name, and because her original 张业琳 Zhang Yelin was considered quite a tongue-twister to pronounce, they stuck with 张业琳子 Zhang Yelinzi in the end.
I got this info from the Chinese wiki known as 互动百科 Hudong:
http://www.hudong.com/wiki/张业琳子
or
http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E5%BC%A0%E4%B8%9A%E7%90%B3%E5%AD%90
A note about generational names:
just like in Singapore, brothers could be named Chong Seng, Chong Meng and Chong Hui, or sisters as Bee Choo, Bee Lay and Bee Lian.
Fascinating - thanks so much! I thought her name sounded a bit like Japanese names when translated into Mandarin, y'know how the Kanji characters are read as if they are Chinese characters in a rather bizarre way. I find it quite puzzling as the Chinese pronunciation doesn't in any way fit the Japanese pronunciation!
DeleteTake Japan's top gymnast Kohei Uchimura 内村航平 the Chinese would read that as "nei chun han ping" and I'm like, woah, the rest of the world knows him as Kohei Uchimura - but you can see why I thought perhaps Zhang Yelinzi is like half Japanese or something ...
An analogy for those who who argue that born-and-bred Singaporeans will never have the talent, temerity or “吃苦” ability ["bear with hardship"] to win an Olympic medal.
ReplyDeleteImagine that you are an extremely-rich middle-aged parent who gave birth to an average child who at best scored B's in all his/her exams, but you want so much to win a Nobel Prize in your family's name, within your lifetime. Would you go to the best research universities in the world to adopt any promising researcher, dangling a $1 million carrot to win a Nobel prize in your family's name? Or would it make more sense to re-evaluate your desire to "win a Nobel prize in your family's name, within your lifetime" at any cost?
There is no "right" or "wrong" answer, just a question of where your values lie.
I guess the kind of 吃苦 that Singaporean students face is the endless hours of tuition and the quest to score straight As and get into the best universities. It's a different kind of 吃苦 - but here's the thing that I resent about the Singaporean students' situation.
DeleteIf you were to go to a top coach - doesn't matter what sport: swimming, athletics, basketball, gymnastics etc - within 10 minutes (usually less), the coach can tell the parent if the child has any natural ability and talent for the sport or not. For gymnastics for example, it takes a certain kind of body - flexibility is not something you can train. Either you are born with it or you don't have it and there's no way you can force someone who is not born with flexibility to do the splits. There's a skill that all elite female gymnasts must do - it's called the ring leap. This is when the gymnast jumps up into splits but the back leg goes up into oversplits (ie. exceeding 180 degrees), the gymnast arches her back and throws her head back until her forehead touches her toes (like a scorpion). All that done in mid-air within a split second - you need to be crazy flexible to do it. So as a gymnastics coach, I would be able to tell within minutes if a female gymnast is going to be able to perform skills like that and if she isn't, I'll tell the parent, "don't waste your time with this sport, your daughter lacks the natural flexibility, she won't get far - why don't you try something else instead like cycling or swimming?"
But what happens if a student can't study, aka "bueh tak chek"? Can the parents just accept that fact the same way they can accept, "oh well, my daughter is not flexible so we won't bother with gymnastics". Oh no, they will punish the daughter with endless amounts of tuition until they either turn her into a scholar or drive the poor girl insane.
Hi LIFT,
Delete> why don't you try something else instead like cycling or swimming?
Precisely. Why doesn't Singapore invest in developing sporting talents where the locals have an advantage (e.g. swimming-related events, given swimming's popularity in Singapore) instead of importing an entire team of PRC table tennis players?
Ok, regarding your side-track to the tuition issue. I think I have shared my 2 cents in your previous post about the pointlessness of tuition in Singapore.
http://limpehft.blogspot.ca/2012/07/the-pointlessness-of-tuition-in.html
The ultimate culprit is the way the Singapore society rewards its "winners" compared to its "losers". I will quote myself from that comment [Winking Doll25 July 2012 09:57]: Unless and until Singapore become a more equal society, where holding a blue-collar job pays well enough to sustain a family (not a hand-to-mouth existence) and is socially accepted, parents will still push their children to do well academically (at least to obtain as high a paper qualification as possible) and to avoid the fate of becoming a "road sweeper".
> until they either turn her into a scholar or drive the poor girl insane.
Oh yeah, I have met such a person while I was a student nurse at IMH (Institute of Mental Health) -- from a "branded JC" student to a lifelong mental health patient.
I've started telling my tuition centre students, that generally, they come in with a certain standard, natural or trained, and we work upwards from there.
DeleteI'm honest with them that most people are C-grade (pass) standard to begin with, while a few struggle from D-grade to pass, and a few are easily B-grade.
Existing A-grade potential is genuinely rare.
For most students (C-graders), it's plain hard work (submit weekly homework and regular corrections, which few consistently achieve anyway, for private teaching) to reach and maintain B grades.
The same applies for those who regularly fail at borderline (D-graders) to get to and maintain C-passes.
I actually worry a little more for B-graders.
They have the capability to sustain As but less commonly the drive to do so.
At their worst and most complacent, they are actually D-grade in performance.
Yet most parents want to believe that their children are sure-win A-grade material.
And that teachers are to blame if they do not get what they expect, instead getting what they deserve.
Hi LIFT,
ReplyDeleteMust say some of the earlier comments comes across as slightly deluded. My apologies if anyone is hurt by the following comments.
Earlier comments are pushing the argument that to have a successful Singapore team, you need to have local + FT. This is just quota filling. If the Singaporeans are nowhere as good as the FTs the government employed and you are the coach responsible for selecting the team members, would you still select them? (Knowing they are obviously not ready? Exposing delicate flowers to the hash winter may just succeed in killing them, not nurturing them.)
Also, by using this quota approach, you are not helping to fully develop the Singaporean sports talents. In every competitive sports, you strive to play and win against the best, there's no other way to improve. (Colluding to baby the Singapore sports talents will kill them when they face world level competition.)
That said, I also concede that for Singaporean sports talents, the odds are stacked against them. I personally know of a person who is the only unbeaten Tae Kwan Do competitor in Singapore and Yes, he does train harder than all the China athletes. Before I get blasted by netizens doubting his talent, it took him one punch to floor the Singaporean Tae Kwan Do champion (SEA Games Gold medalist).
The thing that is holding back Singapore sports talents is the management of the sports in Singapore. You can't get to compete in anything if you are not 'sponsored' by the clubs/associations. In Tae Kwan Do, 2 clubs take turns to nominate their talents to competitions, (my friend belonged to neither) worse, the champion he floored belongs to the nominating club for that year! (I've always told him he has rotten luck.)
Until the powers that be fixes how sports talents are selected, maybe by holding open competitions, real Singaporean sports talents will never fully develop. (Parents and their career expectations are another issue and a topic already well covered.)
That said, LIFT, my beef with the Singaporean govt is that since using FTs to win competitions are already a established govt policy, why not just go the whole hog? If they had prioritized and used the $300+ millions for the YOG to buy all the FT sports talents, Singapore would have won everything by now.
Actually, LIFT, you're the successful product of the Singapore system of meritocracy.
ReplyDeleteYou have the ability to go where it best serves your talents, and you did so.
Thanks to what this government has done to push its people, it cannot optimally use those with the greatest potential to make the most impact.
Perhaps this explains why recent policies keep backfiring with the people of Singapore, and this will ultimately bring down our place in the world.
Like a tree cannot focus on producing the best fruits, when roots, branches and leaves feel deprived, and its best seeds have successfully spread elsewhere as a result of effective dispersal.
Now this tree is trying to bear quality foreign fruit on its boughs, importing alien sunshine to make food, and drawing upon waters and soils of other lands.
Good analogy Alan!
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