SINGAPORE BOULDERING LEAGUE

Edit – See original NSSCC2010 program here.

NSSCC 2010 can be summed up by the words of International IFSC judge, Mr.Woo Chee Yeong – “If you don’t like to wait, you can don’t take part” – told to SAJC Coach, Ben Toh, when asked to account for the many delays.

Well, if 1 event was delayed, ok. If 2, nevermind. Even if half the scheduled events were delayed, it’ll be irritating, but tolerable. But when all events are delayed, then it probably means the organisers are incompetent.

Still, who am I to judge the supreme ruler of the climbing universe in Singapore; anyway, here are some facts to chew on -

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During Technical Briefing, conducted by Mr.Woo and Mr.Stanley on 15th April -

1.Coaches and teachers were told that no additional athletes can be added.

In reality – The starter list posted online on 17th April had additional climbers who previously were not in the physical copy given out during the technical briefing.

2.Mr.Rasip, Secretary for SMF, explained that CCAB did not recognize Sports Climbing officially because last year less than 20 schools participated.  He attributed it to H1N1, and said that for 2010, more than 20 schools have already signed up.

In reality – Only 19 schools were counted in the original physical copy of the starters list.  Perhaps this also explains how the online version is different – that illegal additions were made last minute.

3.Mr.Rasip confirmed that the male and female champions of each division will be selected to represent Singapore at the Asian Youth Championships in Iran in October 2010.

In reality – The registration form stated that “All Division Champions will be selected to represent Singapore in the Asian Youth Cup, scheduled for July 2010 in Bengkalis, Indonesia.”.  Mr.Rasip declined to respond.  Mr.Rasip was probably mistaken during the briefing, as the newspaper article carried in the Straits Times on 26th April, mentioned that the climbers will be sent for the Asian Youth Cup in Indonesia in July.

4.Coaches and teachers were expected to know how the divisional champions are to be tabulated, and Mr.Woo and Mr.Rasip refused to elaborate on it.  Mr.Rasip said,”If we have to restate everything every year, it would be too tedious”.

In reality – Mr.Halim from Greendale Secondary advised that restating all the rules and regulations every year is necessary, as there are schools and teachers new to the sport, and would as such need to be informed.  In fact, no rules and regulations have been posted, except from the snippet on the registration form.

5.It was during the technical briefing that the scoring system for divisional champions were finalized.  Mr.Rasip also agreed to have both male and female divisional champions for each division.

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Event Log (recorded as an observer for all 4 days)

NSSCC Day 1 – 17 April 2010 (Difficulty – C Div/ Speed – B Div)

0800 – All participants to register, but registration counter was not ready at 8am.

0940 – Speed demo climb ended.  Original schedule is for 845am.

1006 – Difficulty demo climb ended.  Original schedule is for 845am.

1120 – Climbing was stopped for brushing.  And as the organisers did not prepare brushes, the brushes had to be purchased.  This added to the delay.

1220 – Routes brushed, competition restarted.

NSSCC Day 2 – 18 April 2010 (Difficulty – B Div/ Speed – A Div)

0800 – Registration of all competitors

0930 – Time trial for speed starts.  Original schedule is for 900am.

1030 – Difficulty begins.  Original schedule is for 900am.

?? – B Div girls finals started.  Spinning holds resulted in some climbers having to climb thrice.

?? – B Div boys was not able to start on schdule and route was not ready when it rained at 530pm.  Original start time is 315pm.  Postponed to following week.

NSSCC Day 3 – 24 April 2010 (Difficulty – A Div/ Speed – C Div)

0800 – Registration of all participants.

1030 – Demo climb starts.  Original schedule is for 845am.

1040 – Difficulty starts.  Climbing sequence were changed, and then changed back.  Confused climbers were told await in the sun while organisers sort things out.

?? – Complaint from TJC coach to Mr.Woo that one of the belayers is not able to feed rope fast and effectively, making it unfair for climbers belayed by him.

?? – Girls Route A Belayer told by AJC coach NOT to lower a climber who fell and has flipped over, UNTIL the climber manages to flip herself back up.

1230 – Difficulty ends.

1400 – Rain out.

1630 – A Div boys to climb tomorrow.  A Div girls to proceed later in the day.

1700 – A Div girls told to climb tomorrow.

NSSCC Day 4 – 25 April 2010 (Difficulty – A Div/ Speed Team- All Div)

0800 – Registration of all participants.

1000 – Difficulty ended.  Speed paused.

1120 – Time Trial for “C” girls Team started.

1200 – Arrival of GOH.

1230 – Rain out.

1240 – Informed by Speed Judge, Joanne Soo that all A Division Team/Mixed Doubles may be cancelled.

1245 – “A” Division speed to proceed.  But ranking to be determined only by time trial, not by knock-out thereafter.

1310 – Speed Demo climb.

1325 – A Div proceeded with Girls Team time trial.

1400 – Speed ends.

1300-1500 – Prize presentation.  Medals given out for Speed doubles are wrong.  Recipients told that they’ll be contacted to collect their medals in a week’s time.

EDIT

Ms.Joanne disputes that  she said “Results will not be posted, and there’ll be no appeals”, and is backed up by Mr.Woo Chee Yeong, who was standing beside her when I heard her say it.  Since she has a witness, and I have no way of proving what I heard her say, I’ll like to make a categorical apology to her for claiming that she said what I said she said.  However, I still stand by what I heard on that day, and Joanne herself has also commented that my “record is good”, and also “…I agree with your findings”, in her first comment post.

The fact remains that after the speed event and before the prize presentation, results were not published, as verified with the coaches from VJC (Irwan) and SRJC (Adriel).  Thus appeals were therefore also unavailable.

-The end-

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The final day was especially disappointing, as participants were deprived of having a knock-out round due to the fault of the judges and organisers.  ’A’ Division speed climber reported at 8am, and climbed only at 125pm.  The starting time was purposely delayed to await the arrival of the GOH; Knock-out rounds were cancelled and appeals disallowed so that prize-giving could proceed without keeping the GOH waiting.

The GOH is important, and so is attending to his comfort.  But when SMF and the judges screws up (the schedule), and proceed to remedy the situation by screwing up others (participants, schools, coaches, teachers, supporters), then we know that they are a bunch of people who care more for themselves, than for the community that they are supposed to serve.

25 April 2010 was a sad day for sports climbing in Singapore…