By Les Tan.
Occasionally, a reader will get so worked up that he will write to me about something that he needs to get off his chest. Law Jia Fuu is one such person.
This is what Jia Fuu had to say:
“Firstly, this is not a report on which team against which team, and who emerged victorious. Rather, this is a post on the level of basketball in Singapore. As we all know, indoor courts are being built in various schools, scouts and coaches are doing all the hard work to get good players in their team.
However, on the sideline, as the audience can see, most of the teams are not well-trained and players don’t have the commitment in them to win Referees are biased against teams and simple standards like the shot clock are not being observed throughout the match.
Well, my suggestions will be that if you are a player and reading this post, please work harder to improve your overall skills, continue to improve and never give up. Secondly, a new breed of referees should be train in Singapore, shot clock standard should be observed and lastly, LOVE THIS SPORT!!!”
So what do you think of the basketball scene in Singapore? Let’s hear your thoughts.
REDpoll
Feel free to express your opinions via the poll. Multiple answers are possible.
REDpoll
Feel free to express your opinions via the poll. Multiple answers are possible.
REDpoll
Feel free to express your opinions via the poll. Multiple answers are possible.
You can try the Co-Curricular Activities Branch (CCAB) at 21 Evans Road. There are some outdoor basketball courts.
Hiya,
Sorry for offtopic but:
Just aarived at Singapore and since I will be staying here for a while, was wondering where are the outdoor baskeball courts here in Singapore?
Found one in Chatsworth International School but dont know if I could access it ?
Would appreciate if someone could help me out
Thanks
Alex
today i saw a very bad match in BAS!!!!AHS vs SCGS girls, the two referee quite bad.
I can’t believe that someone of the referee is FIBA referee, he represents singapore in the international game. i have a question: our referee level just like this?!
one oldman referee can’t run, and can’t see clearly; one FIBA referee lazy and don’t know what he do! they counldn’t control the match and always make a wrong call. i saw that which coach shout them, they will help the other.
sometime you can see many player pull(i thought this is rugby>”<) in the zone, nothing will happen! but, when you just hit/touch someone hand, you will get trouble. What is the standard? i think this is the question every basketballer wish to know.
i let to share a new ways of improving basketball in singapore.
firstly, i feel that the bas need to change the ways of competition style in sinagpore. firstly, they SHOULD NOT rush the competiton digram as players in singapore train so hard and they just prepare for playing 3 matches in youth cup?is it fair den team with good players but no need train so hard can play more??? omg.. bas is making the tourament too fast n rush.
secondly, national squad team. i think that everyone in singapore should have the same chance in selectiing player and not choose the player as if they have relationship to the coach of the sg youth team or coach or bas members this is unfair and sg wil not imporve…!!!this is wad i have to sae as u noe hw corrupted it was
1) Please train REFs more!! They need more professional trainings, don’t let people look down on Singapore’s REFs!
2) Get better equipments! The buzzer or score board is always faulty, they should get better ones or it is very hard for the players!
3) REFs always forget about 3 sec zone! They ought to be more alert!
As a matter of fact i don’t think a lot of people play basketball in Singapore. The participation rate can still be increased since we all know basketball is essentially a Chinese sport in Singapore, we have a big talent pool not yet discovered.
Standard for adult women is good and local youths still can fight it out with other teams in regional competitions, like SEABA and Asian Youth Champs (U-18 won India and Hong Kong in 2006). But when it comes to the adult men, it’s surprising how inadequate we are in competing with other adult men’s teams, even at regional levels(let’s not mention the evidence).
I recognise a fundamental issue with the Singaporean training system. We simply do not have a scaffold good enough to erect a strong and steady building. It is highly unlikely for people to spend time and effort in basketball if it will eventually be an unsustainable effort. There is no incentive for people to forgo jobs and studies to commit themselves to perfecting the art of basketball. We need a pro league that offers a sustainable pay (can refer to the development of local football with the development of S-League). But this is also highly unlikely in near future since the crowd support is evidently small(crowd support is inversely related to price rate) and most people take basketball only as a hobby. Perhaps increasing participation rate and seriousness in the sport can spur the development of a future for basketball.
As a player i think i am looking at very bleak future.
i personally believe there’s something wrong with some of the players. now i’m not going to give any names of players of teams but this situation is just inappropriate. we have players in the middle of the game, and when defensive fouls are called on them, they tell the other party:” you don’t deserve my foul” which directly states that the other party is not worth fouling to stop him. WHAT, DOES THAT MEAN HE HAS the right to talk to his opponent if he’s on a good team/ good player? Additionally, every player has their own playing style, shooting style, whatever you name it. Yet some players will go to the extent of making fun of other players’ actions intentionally to insult them. I find it ok if both parties are friends and they are just joking with each other. However, where is the sportsmanship if it was done with the intention to imitate and mock his opponent? please give this comment some thought 😀
i agree that the shot clock is really important . some refree just start the time running when the player havent even pass out the ball . ridiculous or not you tell me ?! -.-
My point of view is, kid nowadays dont even have the passion for this sport, they just play the sport for fame or fortune for the older dudes. So what if they are talented/very skilled. They dont have the passion for basketball. You can be a very lousy player, but if u have the passion for this sport, the determination to train, nothing is impossible, u just have to keep up with the pace in order to hold yourself a trophy someday. This sport should be a one for passionate players, and determined. Hardworks are not in vain they do bring u somewhere, depends on how much u work for it.
*anaerobic lactic
1. JUST DOUBLE THE REFS’ PAY.
2. CLASS THE REF PROPERLY. Eyesight, alertness, anaerbio lactic, playing experience and refereeing knowledge. You can’t be a good ref if you don’t know how to play a decent basketball game.
3. GET A HARDWORKING REF MANAGEMENT AND PAY THEM WELL.
In order to have a winning basketball team, you need the correct players(good physical and mental readiness), a good coach(experienced and hardworking) and a really supportive management(willingness and ability to give what the coach requested). Most schools failed in getting all three together. Now the standard is so low that you got just two of them, you can have CHanceS in the top 4 for zone. And it’s another big joke that many schools appointed a sport-nerd teacher to be in-charge of a sport CCA. It’s a direct game-over for that CCA.
let me share my 2 cents worth.
“steal” time: if u have a chance to lok at the time keeping machine, u will see a button with + sign and one with a – sign. it will add or take away 1 min from the playing time. when the referees gets bored or for whatever reason, some will press the – sign so that the game will end faster. some say we r only paid 20 for refereeing a game some say we r paid 10 as table empires. but ultimately, if u wanna earn a living, i suppose else where have better offers.
our referees are not impartial. they “support” some teams and that is the cause of some of the mis-calls or lousy calls.
furthermore the bb circle is soooooo small, i have seen many coaches who r referees, i have seen coaches and referees drinking coffees right after a game. it is very very difficult for me not to think…….wildly.
so referees are sooooo engrose in watching the game that they forget to start the time even when the throw in has been successfully made.
but i am not impressed with the players as well. some players just wanna show off their skills, some want fame, but many many din wanna put in the necessary effort, thats y many gave up or slack shortly.
b4 u referee, b4 u walk into the court coaching and b4 u take up the ball and play, ask ypurself, what do u really really want. dun kill peoples’ passion n deny peoples’ hardwork. i feel very sad for the HCI boys cos their hardwork is being denied by…….some unknown reason.
ya referee standard nowadays very losuy..
shotclock and things lke 3 seconds also very hard to spot
but timekeeping really needs to improve la, if not will continue to have errors in games such as in wrs-hci match
I think everything have to start from the top then all the way down,
Association: Are we having enough tournamentin singapore to satisfy all the players of different age group? Seems like we only organise more for players of under 18. Understand the problem with finance but did we really try to market up the sports in a way to attract more sponsor? Frankly we cannot rely on SSC Who take cares of SL****RS more than the national team..(imagine our national players need to pay for their physio where the **INGE** can get it free) WHO ARE WE TRYING TO GROOM????? ( Worse case the national team players are not paid allowance for training… Most of them are still student)*Hope somebody from ssc can see this.
Coaches: Do we have coaches who are really good in singapore? Or just a bunch of people who just know a little bit of the game but think they are the best? We really need to upgrade our local coaches. Other than the national coach who had been working with slingers knows the direction. We need to attach more young coaches to pro teams all over the world. Not only player have to step out and improve.
Referee: Every game to every players participating is as important as any others, but does the referee think so? The standard of singapore referee had been the talks for so many years.. We do not need quantity, we need quality, We cannot have 3 different referee making 3 different decision in a game.. And how can the referee improve with such politics enviroment? Referees you know what i mean right? but not to deny WE do have a handful of good referees.
Players: What do we have to say about players? Look at our secondary school standard. We can match up most team in south east asia.. We are actual good.. But look at our players when they reach older age. The standard started to drift further from our neighbouring country.. I think if we can solve all the problem mention above, we might be able to solve this problem..
Just what i think…
The playing field for Secondary Schools in Singapore is not level when it comes to sports. That is a given but that is also what MOE inadvertably promotes with it’s push for schools to develop niche areas. Having said that, if an autonomous schools and independent schools want to divert funds that they have into offering scholarships for local or foreign players thats something that the rest of us cannot control.
The traditional powerhouses in Basketball train hard, that is something that no one should doubt, if you do not have any 1st hand experience with such teams you would not be able to comprehend how their players can play at a level that is so much higher than the others. Having the ability to recruit players help the overall development of the team but if they do not train doubly hard, I am sure that even if you inherit the entire P6 national champion squad you will still be a nobody at the C Div.
There is still hope for late-comers to the game, personal experience at my old school taught me that if you have a group of dedicated players who are willing to train more than their peers, to live and breathe basketball, you will catch up with the powerhouses, but how many teens in schools today are willing to put in the necessary hard work to train on their own, beyond the twice weekly school training sessions? My boys trained 6 days a week, for almost 1 solid year and we eventually became 4th in the South Zone.
No recruitment, pure effort can equals success. Play for your love of the game and let your passion see you through the difficult times.
I feel that the Basketball scene in Singapore has been improving gradually over the years, however much more effort needs to be invested so as to increase the level of playing in this country. This cannot be accomplished merely by training harder or improving the standard of refereeing in Singapore. Granted, both of these need to be done to increase the competitiveness of the sport in Singapore. However, the problem lies in Singaporeans’ attitude towards sports. The notion of professional sports being an unstable job, where the renumerations are low, has been deeply entrenched in our minds. This is the case especially for Basketball, which is not our forte in sports. In order to make the basketball scene in Singapore much more vibrant and exciting, there needs to be serious commitment towards nurturing young talented players and providing them an arena to sharpen their skills. Take for example, our South Easr Asian neighbour Phillipines has a basketball culture which is much more appealing as it has a professional league. This has enabled talented players in their country to experience high levels of competition, driving them to improve continuously, thus accounting for the strength of the Phillipines National team, which is one of the strongest teams in this region. Training and good refeering is crucial to the improvement of the sport in Singapore as a whole, but mindsets regarding professional sports have to be changed and there needs to be serious commitment to improving the sport too. Only then will this propel the degree of competition of basketball in Singapore to higher levels.
The fact is that we are running out of new generation coaches. Now all schools have lessons in the morning and left only the afternoon slots for training. Assume 4 weeks x 5 afternoons x ~2.5 hrs x $40 = ~$2000(not including the reduce of training due to sch events like exams, etc), could you live with $2k/mth in Singapore? Maybe single can, but with a family?
agree…anyway bball scene in spore actuallie is realie bad…T.T
i feel that if the basketball stanatrd need to be improve then there should not be direct admission for those top school coz if good player work with good player how will they improve is just like they are realli good and what they need to train for for sch like unity their trg will not be as hard as others as they are so many good player therefore i feel their the concept of bball in singapore to change 1st then the rest can be done.thats all