Hey Hakeem! How’re you? (:
Yeah, agree with you on the point of the horse-shoe shaped stadium. There’s a reason why stadiums are always closed and if it ain’t broke…
And yep, we should definitely learn to appreciate the facilities we have in Singapore. Here (I’m studing in Brisbane now), you will never ever see so many tracks and swimming pools in such ridiculously close proximity!! My coaches here said there were probably about 5-7 athletic tracks in the whole of Queensland! And we used to have 2 tracks in the Bishan campus in RJ/RI!
Yeah, so even with limited facilities, kids here still travel to train and make use of surfaces like grass which is better for the legs anyway, and they produce outstanding runners, so we can do it too!
All the best for your upcoming races(:

Hakeem Ooooooooooooooooi! you train in our school! You’re damn cool sia with ur motorbike and all. what iz going on.Ridin high with racer with ridz.

While I do appreciate & am truly grateful for an all-in-one centralised venue for training, i do have to emphasise the fact that the term “excellence” does carry certain implications & pre-requisites with it. Centralised training ground….Check! Centre of Excellence? Well, you be the judge.

I do agree Hakeem, on your point of the Horseshoe design if it will serve it’s ‘faithfulness to sport’ with its revolutionary design. we can only wait for the other 2 design, and hope they choose the ‘best’ one. whatever the criteria basis on choosing, we’ll never know

As for the SAA Centre of Excellence at Gombak, it is indeed a wonderful move by SAA to setup such an initiative, but i feel they could have done better. It may seem ungrateful in a sense that we’re asking for ‘more’ but you’ve to admit the location being choosen, the stadium capacity (for all the prize money that’s being offered, holding world class meet here is kinda embarassing lah, you’ve got to admit that), etc, i still think SAA could have done better lah

I’m sure you’ve trained at gombak right. I think the public there has “more say” than us using the track. Correct it’s closed during specific times, but how many athletes can actually come down during office hours when the stadium is closed for public. Most athletes has school or work and by the time they train there, it will be open to the public already. And you know the kind of ‘response’ we’ve gotten so far from them right. Kinda hostile at times. Also the possibilty of knocking them down is high, you never know, these public might just swerve into your lane. We could reserve lane 1-3 for track usage, it was implemented before at gombak, now it isn’t.

This is just a few nitty gritty details maybe the mgt can look over.

Since SAA Centre of Excellence is already located there at Gombak, i think there isn’t much we can do to change that. It’s Gombak or nothing eh, let’s hope we can see more athletes using it.

See you around soon bro!

hey sha. Well, like I have said, the stadium was the best that was offered to the SAA, the others being even farther away or in very bad shape.

World Class meets are hard to hold in our country, I hope you look at it that way. As I have mentioned, most World Class meets are held in countries that are producing World Class athletes, and are part of a respectable athletics circuit, like the Golden League for example. And, I’m sure if a World Class meet was to be held here, Gombak wouldn’t be used. If it were, I have nothing to say also la haha

About the public though, they give the Gombak Managment alot of stick. Did you know that alot has been done to reduce out training times there? Certain individuals in the public have written in to their MP, asking for the Stadium to be opened earlier. If I’m not wrong, a petition was even drawn up and submitted. As a result of government intervention, SSC refused to lease out the Stadium for training during peak periods frequently. So, we kinda have no choice.

Yea we used to block off the lanes. But again, certain individuals in the Public think they OWN the Stadium because they pay Taxes. Insist on running wherever they want to. And yea they got hostile when approached. I just don’t understand these people

it’s a give and take situation. pavements are built for pedestrians to walk on, but some still choose to walk on the roads.

i have my share of bumping into joggers because they refuse to give way. anyway i dun feel sorry for such ppl especially when i say “excuse me”

Well, i wasn’t exactly refering to the athletes per se, but just an overview of the ground. I don’t wanna sound like some demanding ungrateful bloke but hey, there’s a fine line to be drawn between a centralised training ground & a centre of excellence.

So when all the athletes, local or foreign, walk through the gates of Gombak & happen to just feast their huge saucer eyes on the sprawling white banner which reads “SAA Centre of Excellence”, I do wonder whether what they see on the banner is congruent with what they witness in the stadium.

I think when they say “excellence”, they don’t really mean that the facilities there are excellent but rather it’s a place where athletes achieve excellence in their respective events.

Sometimes, I feel that we as athletes, or rather we being in Singapore, are too well taken care of by the government (it’s a fact, as compared to other countries). Hence, we tend to take things for granted and want to demand for more things. Sometimes, what we should do is to stop and take a look around us and be thankful for what we have that others don’t have instead of grumbling and complaining. I think this will make our lives better.

Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers!

Actually, I second Kenneth’s view about the “centre of excellence” not living up to its name. With all due respect to Hakeem’s opinions, I beg to differ. It may be true that stadiums of worse conditions attract faster and better athletes due to the attractive amount of prize money up for grabs, but isn’t the “Centre of Excellence” supposed to reflect the state of our country’s development? Isn’t it supposed to be a place that Singaporean athletes can proudly proclaim to be a top-notch regional training facility? With the amount of patch-work done on the track, it would be lucky for us to escape any form of jibes unleashed by athletes of foreign origins who come to Singapore expecting to at least compete in a stadium which reflects our metropolitan environment.

Well, I have a bold suggestion. Why don’t we stop employing foreign *cough* coaching *cough* supervisors who abuse national funding to pursue their own goals of coaching prestige? The money can then be channelled into relaying our battered track and perhaps, Singapore will then have a proper “Centre of Excellence” which we can all, beaming with pride, proclaim that it has the capabilities to match even the best regional track and field facilities.

It isn’t fair of us to make potentially damaging assertions as to whether foreign coaches are abusing national funding or not, without any concrete evidence.
Even if they are pursuing their own goals of coaching prestige, wouldn’t that be good for the athletes being coached? They would naturally want the athlete to excel in order to “gain prestige”
A world-class stadium with a 50,000 sitting capacity and a track without any patches isn’t going to help anyone run any faster or break any records. It’s just going to look more aesthetically pleasing that’s all. The timings are all going to be the same. I don’t think el guerroj would have any problems running 3:32 on gombak track.
Yep, i agree it’s meant to be a place where athletes train together and achieve/attempt to achieve excellence.

Actually, just last tuesday, some British coaches came to down to see gombak stadium. Their aim here at the stadium that day was to scout for a stopover place for their athletes before moving on for the World University Games in Bangkok. Guess what they said? They said that it’s a beautiful place. It’s not said to any of our people but it is a whisper among themselves that I overheard personally.

I agree with Hakeem on what we should think of is whether we have the facilities or not and crack our heads in how to use them to achieve our own sporting excellence. Like I mentioned, we should look around and think. Kenya doesn’t have that kind of facilities I believe but look at all the world class runners that they produce.

It is true that through the so-called “complains” do we improve. But we can also improve via constructive suggestions! Take the army for example. True that a lot of us complain and complain about serving NS. However, how did they improve? It is all the effort of the WITS project and all those USMS that they actually improve their processes and procedures little by little.

I really think that we should be thankful for what we have, because there are people out there who don’t have what we have.

well…it all boils down to ppl’s definition of a COE.

it’s not abt the new equipments or a new track or the likes…but it’s more about having a ‘fully equipped’ place.

and does the current centre provide athletes one and all with the right facilities to achieve top class performances?

sadly, no.

hey asmah. well tell me this then. what are these world class performance inducing facilities that bukit gombak stadium is currently lacking?

how fully equipped do you think a COE should be? what is fully equipped? i have given an example of a top class athlete training in gombak, and i do not think he finds the center lacking. many foreigners have trained in the center, and they have not complained. in fact, countries are considering singapore, and in particular gombak stadium, as a training camp location prior to the beijing olympics.

is bukit gombak not full equipped then? hurdlers need hurdles. throwers need implements. sprinters need the track. all athletes need weights, medicine balls, pulley systems, light gates, physio facilities, video cameras for biomechanical analysis, a water cooler.

you talk about the RIGHT facilities. what are the right facilities?

yes asmah i understand that ive been asking this question. ive been asking whether we do in fact have the right facilities. and i was hoping that people would read my article and my comments carefully enough to realise that ive been saying we do. we do have the right facilitites.

what do i consider the right facilities? i consider what we have in gombak stadium to be the right facilities. i consider what i have in the sports school, mind you facilities that i use for training on a daily basis, to be the right facilities. i believe that we do have the right facilities.

the reason i can say for sure that they can produce top class performances, is because top class athletes have used them and have in turn performed.

“is bukit gombak not full equipped then? hurdlers need hurdles. throwers need implements. sprinters need the track. all athletes need weights, medicine balls, pulley systems, light gates, physio facilities, video cameras for biomechanical analysis, a water cooler.” i said this, and i consider these to be what we need. essentially.

if you say that we sadly, do not have the right facilities, would you care to justify your answer?

actually when u compare sports school and gombak…u can see a vast difference there.
in my opinion, sports school is a better representation of a COE. it is equipped. it’s like a one-stop-all-you-can get place. as an athlete, basically all you have to do is focus on training. they provide everything else. coaching expertise…sports science and sports medical support..just to name a few…

what we have in gombak is good enough. but seriously, if we are talking about ‘excellence’ here, i mean…do we stop at ‘good enough’?

i think we are missing the whole point. it’s not like i am complaining that gombak is not a good enough place to train. it’s just that if u dare label it a COE in the first place, then you had better live up to its title.

but thats the thing, you cannot compare the sports school as a whole with bukit gombak.

i did mention that we have to compare the facilities that i use on a daily basis, and this does not include the sports medical services, or the sports science services. what i have to use in the sports school, can essentially be found in bukit gombak, apart from my coach.

the sports school is funded directly by the mcys. meaning, it is a self-sustainable system in which their own athletes, independent of their NSA’s, can get support. and of course, all of their athletes share these support facilities, not just the track and field academy.

i do not foresee our own COE being a one-stop-all-you-can get place in the near future. the things you have mentioned, facilities such as sports science and sports medical support, maybe even sports psychology, all these are being supported by the SSC. we already have them, albeit at a different location. why waste money on these things, when the SSC has provided us with them.

many sports have COE’s. i suggest anyone, who has a problem with our COE not living up to the COE label, to go visit their COE’s. Swimming, Silat, Sepak Takraw, Sailing just to name a few, all have COE’s. see what their COE’s are like.

i believe the excellence that is being talked about is the performance of the athlete, and not so much the perceived excellence of the facilities. excellent facilities to me, are facilities that can be used to help athletes. so, i see that bukit gombak is an excellently well equipped COE. capable of helping athletes achieve excellent performances. and more is being done to move even further towards this goal im sure.

what is better than good enough? isnt more than good enough bordering on excessive?

i concede that you are entitled to your opinion on what a COE should look like, should be like. i am just pointing out that enough people believe that we in fact that do have a COE that lives up to its name. perhaps the COE doesnt look like a COE to you, but to athletes and coaches from other countries, it does. we want to compare ourselves with the best dont we? if the best think that our facilities are excellent, i believe that it is a good start.

Hello everyone,

Once again, with no intention to offend any of our fellow track and field enthusiasts here, and merely to create constructive discussion, I would like to state that it is a misnomer to consider the “Centre of Excellence” substantial in the sense that it promotes the pursuit and sporting spirit of Track and Field in Singapore. Allow me to explain. In a nutshell, can Singapore be considered the most economically advantaged nation in Southeast Asia? Yes, this is indisputably so. If that is the case, why is it that other nations like Malaysia and Thailand can afford to showcase Track and Field training establishments which overwhelmingly exceed that of ours in terms of facilities and the state of the running track itself? One might argue that it is a matter of funding, or rather, the lack of it. This leads us sadly back to the question of where the funds should be properly channelled, which I shall not explore here.

Yes, the Gombak stadium does have sufficient facilities for our local track and field athletes to train in. However, as a location for Singapore’s most important track meet, which is the Singapore Open, it disgraceful for us to hold it at such a venue. Sure, there are a considerable number of “run down” stadiums around the world which attract what you call big names athletes because of the prize money offered, but often, these countries have more than one so called major training centre, and I am certain some of these major training centres will not fail to impress, unlike ours. Would you hold an IAAF sanctioned Meeting at Gombak Stadium? If you would, then perhaps I am speechless.

Basically, I’m against calling our sole training centre as a “Centre of Excellence” because it is misleading and suggests that it is on par with the regional “COE” like training establishments, i.e. Thailand. Once again I have to stress the point I made in the earlier post. It is a national embarassment if you realise the metropolitan and developed nature of our nation. With regards to the British team’s comments, I’m sure they were referring to the pleasant lush greenery surrounding the stadium. Either that, or they’re at a complete loss for words. Does the local Track and Field association really care about the state of this so called “Centre Of Excellence”? What do you think?

For everyone who wants to bask in this spirit of excellence that radiates from training and competing at a dismal facility such as our “Centre of Excellence”, I suggest running on roads, throwing the stones or bricks found along the roadside as weight training, and perhaps letting cars run over you for the ultimate massage experience! Of course, I am trying to be sarcastic and polemic at the same time, but I do mean well when I am one of those who hope that Singapore can have a training facility which at least lives up to it’s financial status as Southeast Asia richest nation, one that can afford the decency of a track without any mismatching and strangely colour patches on the running track.

We wouldn’t know how other countries within our region allocate their fundings but I’m sure that it is not unknown to us all that most of our funds go to the nation’s defense and health benefits, which isn’t a lot in the first place.

wah guys calm down…. no offence to anyone here…

why are we talking about COE, facilities and all those craps when our basic support from them is crap? lousy support == low morale == poor showing with watever is available.

we are not going to train there forever, if that place is not suitable then find another stadium. oh well, i don’t really know how does the track affect a runner cos i seldom use the track (but i hate those “soft patches”).

Gombak has sufficient resources to train but something has to be done to the facilities (for i.e resurfacing the track etc). Maybe SAA can take note of that.

Hi there Hakeem. Well, they should have done better. The facilities in the ‘coe’ is way below standard. We need world class standard facilities to fight into the world class standard. It is really terrible that we do not meet such a height, and top notch athletes around the world are coming down to train. Sometimes i really feel so ashame because the ‘centralised training place in asia’ actually turns out to be one that is equipped with such lousy and rundown facilities.
Examples? The gym. Yes, we have a nice one, with cool facilities. The platfoem for lifting, alright, that world class yeah. But why do we only have got one? What happens if a group of athletes are using it, and another group wants to use it to? Do they just laz around? We know how important to keep the body warm and active, and the importance of the time break between each exercises. So why? Also, the gym is way way way too small. What happens when its raining like it always happen? All the athletes move into the gym. Next is that the gym will be filled with people, and its so cramp that athletes working inside cant carry out their exercises effectively.
You mentioned that we do have our own implements and equiqments for our respective discipline. Yes, we do. But anyone thought about the quality of those equiqments? Take a look at the throwing equiqment, those are of low quality ones, which are all dying. How many actually know the importance of finding ‘YOUR OWN RIGHT’ equiqment and perform with it? Also, whats wrong with hurdles breaking? I am very shocked when someone raised up this issue. Whats wrong with it if it is being used efficently and professionally? So what if its broken? Those we are using are lousy and old, of course they break! The track, that is definetly not well maintained. It has patches here and there, which some area are soft, and some are hard. Haha, what a joke.
But again, why need such a world class facilities when there are only a handful of world class athletes? And why is there only a few? What is wrong with the system here? Why aint the athletes all performing? Where exactly does the root of the problem sets? I think to this question, BOTH the parties place a part. A huge one. Track and Field is a discipline sport, and we all know how tough it is to succeed in it. I think its time to wake up, to become wise and show whats true professionalism.

Hey Hakeem. Although you made a spirited defence and raised some valid points regarding our COE, i still have to point out some stuff.

Firstly, what’s the point of comparing our COE with that of swimming, silat or other sports? Just because they have sub-standard (according to you) training facilities doesn’t necessarily mean our COE has to tread down that same beaten path. We’re talking about excellence here, just because our facilities are better than a sub-standard training ground doesn’t necessarily accord it an “excellent” status.

A point was raised about how foreigners don’t complain about our COE. Well, simply put, as a guest, you don’t enter someone else’s house and start commenting on how crap his joint is right? Being widely travelled as you are Hakeem, I’m confident that you didn’t tell your gracious German hosts how messed up (according to you once again) their stadiums are and the only reason athletes even compete there is cos of the prize money.

Finally, let’s keep this debate clean guys. I think it’s great that everyone’s airing their views freely and taking more of an interest and ownership in the sport we hold so dear. Just because we’ve got differing views doesn’t mean we gotta make things personal. Let’s keep the gloves on!

Hi Kenneth.

I am comparing the COE to the COE’s of those particular sports because they have done so well in recent years, garnering medals for Singapore at the SEA Games, Asian Games and even Commonwealth Games level. For the record, I did not say that their COE’s were sub-standard. I was implying that ours is on par with theirs. And being on par with such accomplised sports, (facilities wise anyway), to me, says alot. I can only hope that people infer correctly what I am trying to say when I write.

To answer your critique on my point about foreigners, I have to point out the obvious fact that if they really think that our Joint is Crap, then why do they come back? And if they’ve already seen our ‘crap’ facilities, why do they then decided to come here for their training camps anyway? I would like to think that our facilities are in fact more than what they need to train at a high level, and I would like to think they are not of the opinion that the COE is not up to scratch.

As you have pointed out, I have been to my fair share of countries. I have seen many athletics training grounds. (this is the reason I wrote the article by the way) And from what I gather, our COE is comparable to many of these places.

I have always maintained that the term ‘Excellence’ in the phrase ‘Center of Excellence’ refers to the performances of the athletes the Center produces. And I have always maintained that the COE has the facilities to help athletes to be in a state of ‘Excellence’. Now, if only our local athletes can be more easily pleased.

hello friends,

ask u smth, how often do u all train at gombak? if the facilities is of concern, then find another stadium to train and call that your “COE”.

Although i hope that those idiots will come here and read watever u all have posted so that they will have an idea of how we feel, that’s not going to happen. -sigh-

anyway i dun have a good impression of gombak as COE.

my my…diff ppl have diff views yeah?

like kenneth said…let’s not let it get personal and try to force ur views onto others.

i think gombak is not good enough to be labelled a COE and you think otherwise.

let’s leave it at that.

wat do we get out of this debate anyway? nothing more than an exchange of views.

asmah

i agree with u :)

Conceded we’ve got differing definitions of what constitutes “excellence”. Nevertheless, i feel the examples you cited of the foreign athletes to be inappropriate. I can think up of a number of reasons why these athletes are training at Gombak which does not necessarily relate to the “immaculate” state of its facilities.

1. Their coach is based there. I would like to believe the reason you’re training at Sports School right now would be more to do with the fact that your coach is based there than anything else.

2. They don’t have to pay for usage of the facilities. After all, they didn’t fly thousands of miles to pay $2.50 for using a clubfit gym.

3. The climate in Singapore which allows for whole yr round trackwork.

4. The upheaval back in Lebanon.

5. I would also like to work on the assumption that their training stint here is paid for by some other party. When someone else pays for your trip, i do believe you would be less inclined in making demands about your training facilities.

Of course i’m not assuming that all of the above reasons are valid. But they do serve as possible alternatives to the fact that they came ALL THE WAY here because they fell in love with Gombak. Let’s just take your training stint to Germany for example. If the stadiums you trained & competed in were “worse off than Gombak” (cited from your main article), the question is why did you still go?

Hakeem,

with regards to your statement

“And I have always maintained that the COE has the facilities to help athletes to be in a state of ‘Excellence’. Now, if only our local athletes can be more easily pleased. “

I believe that most of us are easily pleased and we are not demanding. we just want the necessary support for us to survive.

However, i would like to point out that certain people do things for the sake of doing. In fact, they are merely doing it to show the boss that their brains are actually functioning. hence, for the peanuts that they contribute, the athletes get monkeys out of it.

Hakeem maybe you can tell us if we are really being nutured to be in the state of excellence and if you are easily satisfied.

[…] After reading the above, it does raise a couple of justifiable issues. With the SEA Games coming up, I’m pretty sure all the ‘drama’ will ensues soon enough. From the new Point System selection criteria, to our ‘excellent’ facilities, to the the foreign athletes training on our fine ‘world class’ shores. Like I’ve said before, politics ‘muddles’ the very sport we love and I would really love to see my beloved sport free from politics. But is it far fetch to think we could change it ‘overnight’ as the article has promised? We shall see … […]

[…] Today mark the first day of 2nd South East Asia Junior Athletics, and this is the compilation video in short of some of the events held today. We saw our neighbouring counterparts such as Thailand and Phillipines coming down to our High Performance Centre at Bukit Gombak for this annual athletics event. Singapore is the host for this year Tags: 2nd, South, East, Asia, Junior, video              […]

[…] The local athletics scene is coming to a close as the biggest and final event of the year, Singapore Open 2007 is here. It will be held on the 8-9th September at Centre of Excellence, Bukit Gombak stadium. […]