Asian Games

[watchman]

Dragon Boat making its debut in the Asian Games in China this November, which whill be the biggest global sports stage yet. Our Nteam will be going. Hope they do well.

Talking about Nteam, can see they training hard on the weekends. Recently saw them doing pacing with some of the local poly and unie teams.

Was at Ben Shears when I saw Men Nteam paced with SP. They started behind and managed to chase SP down. 200m I think the distance was.

My sister's friend from NYP told me that just last weekend, Women Nteam paced and beat NYP and RP at Lower Seletar. Get this, the Women Nteam beat the polies' Men Teams. They paced over 1,000m, 500m and 200m.

Not bad. Hope they are as strong as they look.   

[hard-dog]

I witnessed first hand the RP boys beating pac west in putrajaya over 500m.
Subsequently I watched NYP beat RP at SDBF.

Unless the Girls have been going under 2:00min, I find that very, very hard to believe.

[cool]

I witnessed first hand the RP boys beating pac west in putrajaya over 500m.
Subsequently I watched NYP beat RP at SDBF.

Unless the Girls have been going under 2:00min, I find that very, very hard to believe.

from what i know. RP men boat that against nteam ladies ain't the same ppl as the boat that went to putrajaya as quite a number of them quit after SDBF. correct me i'm wrong. no offence

[boatingkid]

the Nteam girls did beat the poly boys and girls.
and whatever happened in Putrajaya, RP's 1:55min, is about 5mths old.
POL-ITE is 4mths old.
anything can happen within that few months.

anyway, i wish our National Team the best for the Asian Games.
podium or nothing!

[wassuprai]

The purpose of these pacing exercise is not about whether Nteam can beat the local teams or not. Rather it's about confirming whether is Nteam doing the right things, is our tactics correct and all that.
Kudos to the polies and unies for breaking their SRR routine to help Nteam develop. The Nteam belongs to us all and it is good that we in the Dboat fraternity has a hand in it's development.
It is hoped that the pacing exercise was beneficial to all the teams concerned.
Our Nteam Women is strong enough to beat or at least keep-up with the top local Men Teams. Proven over 3 sessions already.
Our Nteam Men is all that is expected from a top international side. They are stronger then when they took part in the SAVA MR500.

[ok_doggie]

Agree with wassuprai that Nteam is definitely improving and which bode well to the fraternity.

And will also like to use the opportunity and platform to check on SDBA plans on the next World Championship as SDBA is going to put forth a junior squad.

Will this arrangement be the same as previous world championship that the club/school or combined is selected and self-funded? Or it will be a stand-alone national squad which is funded by SDBA?

Secondly, will SDBA put forth a U23 crew if a club/school is interested and self-funded? As from my understanding, SAFSA have expressed interest to SDBA in their pursuit to hone their ability and to compete the highest possible level.

Cheers
Adrian

[hard-dog]

adrian raised a very good point.

I think if the U23 has to self fund, there will never be any real QC.

the team that has the funds will just go and race.

If SDBA really wants to form a real standalone N team which is made of the BEST (like how the senior N team is) they will need to take the best from NJC, SAFSA and all the Unis and Polies with U23 paddlers to form a huge, super fast composite.

Agree with wassuprai that Nteam is definitely improving and which bode well to the fraternity.

And will also like to use the opportunity and platform to check on SDBA plans on the next World Championship as SDBA is going to put forth a junior squad.

Will this arrangement be the same as previous world championship that the club/school or combined is selected and self-funded? Or it will be a stand-alone national squad which is funded by SDBA?

Secondly, will SDBA put forth a U23 crew if a club/school is interested and self-funded? As from my understanding, SAFSA have expressed interest to SDBA in their pursuit to hone their ability and to compete the highest possible level.

Cheers
Adrian

[Placid]

hard-dog,

i doubt the intention of adrian's mail is to ensure QC, but whether SAFSA is allowed to go up or will SDBA only allow the stipulated junior N-team to go. so that he can make plans accordingly.

adrian raised a very good point.

I think if the U23 has to self fund, there will never be any real QC.

the team that has the funds will just go and race.

If SDBA really wants to form a real standalone N team which is made of the BEST (like how the senior N team is) they will need to take the best from NJC, SAFSA and all the Unis and Polies with U23 paddlers to form a huge, super fast composite.

Agree with wassuprai that Nteam is definitely improving and which bode well to the fraternity.

And will also like to use the opportunity and platform to check on SDBA plans on the next World Championship as SDBA is going to put forth a junior squad.

Will this arrangement be the same as previous world championship that the club/school or combined is selected and self-funded? Or it will be a stand-alone national squad which is funded by SDBA?

Secondly, will SDBA put forth a U23 crew if a club/school is interested and self-funded? As from my understanding, SAFSA have expressed interest to SDBA in their pursuit to hone their ability and to compete the highest possible level.

Cheers
Adrian

[wassuprai]

Yo ok_doggie,

Sorry for late reply, been kinda busy and crazy lately.
Because of the prestige carried by the World Championships, the team send will have to be a National squad. Nteam will go and if funds permitting, with a full Men, Women and Mixed team. Early estimates put the price tag at $350,000 to send Men and Women teams only. That my fren is a lot of money.

Part of our long term development plan is to have a bonafide Youth Team (Yteam). This will happen in December this year whence the selection of the Yteam will take place. The purpose of the Yteam is to primarily feed and support the long term needs of Nteam. Target age bracket are those in late secondary and JC. Those in ITE, Poly and Universities are primed Nteam candidates due to the inherent flexibility in their curricullum and also because they're considered as tertiary education level. But mainly targetting late secondary and JC will also allow for some access to MoE sports development funds for such eventualities. Helps to balance the cheque book a bit.

So that was the plan. We were advised to steer away from appointing a school/institution to represent the nation at international level. It was deemed 'not fair to those that are not given the opportunity'. We learned from the last experience of getting a Yteam representative from only 2 schools. There were a lot of unhappy youths, schools, parents, school principles and politicians (yep, it escalated to ministrial level).

If SAFSA interested to compete in the U-23, perhaps they should officially write-in and declare their intention. Some disclosure of how SAFSA would fund this endeavour would help keep the focus. But having said that, SDBA-MC will have to deliberate on it. This is the best step to take that I can think of at this moment.

[ok_doggie]

wassuprai - Thanks for the updates

We will officially write-in to SDBA. Do understand the consideration of merit and constraints.

For your and MC consideration,
1. Open WC trial race (or to use SDBF as a standing gauge) for teams who are interested in the mentioned categories where Nteam is not represented. By doing, age-groups squads will be able to organise and prepare themselves for the trial. Thus, this will be what Singapore system always have been Merit Based.

2. Teams raced will seek for their own sets of funds. Thus removing the need of SDBA to burn a huge hole in their pocket.

3. SDBA can provide logistic support (eg. local race boat training for selected team; WC racing attire). This will definitely reduce the price tag of having a age-group crews than maintaining one.

Lastly, what I'm seeking is to advance the sport locally and thus presenting a strong local scene which will translate to a stronger nteam. As for SAFSA, we are seeking the opportunity to advance our game through higher level of competiton based on merit if the chance is given.

Thanks
Adrian