Youth Olympics 2010

It's official: Singapore will be hosting the first ever Youth Olympics, beating the other finalist Moscow of Russia in a vote by the International Olympic Committee based in Switzerland. Isn't it weird that it isn't in Greece? I mean, both the Committee and the Games. Since it was, you know, created there? Anyway, the evening news on Channel 8 says the country expects about 5,000 participants from countries all over the world to be here in the year 2010. The lodging of the competitors is being built as extended campus ground of NUS. The competitors would be around the ages of 14 to 18.

I'm sorry, what? "Yeaaaa" and everything but come on. If you'll do me a favour, walk out and pull out some random secondary school students and ask them what they think. No, go ahead. The most common response would probably be along the lines of "Oh, really? That's good then. Good for Singapore." But what they actually think would be along the lines of "Oh, really? So what?"

Honestly, I don't hate this country. I've actually tried to talk one of my friends who do to do otherwise, but to no result. Our youths don't hate this country either. But it doesn't mean they love it with a fervor that would make a rabid evangelist look pale in comparison. No offence to my Christian friends, I'm sure you know what I mean.

My point is that nobody cares. At least not the ones who should. It's the bloody Youth Olympics, and the only people who are excited about it are the old people who are spending all their time organising the committee and sending the proposal and everything. Granted, it's supposed to be like this but I really don't see any enthusiasm from the youths. If anything, I'll bet at least some of the local competitors are going "Oh fuck there's goes my trip to Russia." At least two of my friends agree and one of them said it should have gone to Moscow just because it'd be interesting to see all the sad faces on the Padang.

Sports has never been an imperative in our society and culture. Sure, there's the whole keeping fit thing like every other country has and the Singapore Workout but there's no national sport. Okay, maybe not that much but at least a sport where you have local teams and everyone would watch every week and talk about it in their office or in the coffeeshop or in school.

There's not a single sport that this country has monopolised, and especially not when we have ESPN. Soccer? The English Premier League. Golf? The PGA Tour. Tennis? All the different 'open's. Basketball? The NBA. And all we have is the S-League and in comparison it's like watching a bunch of barefooted teenagers playing with an old ball in a state field, and all the spectators are their friends.

The real reason behind the unpopularity of sports is the career prospects. It's just like pursuing a career in art. First of all, it's vague. Second, if you wanted any income whatsoever you have to be at least the top quarter of the country. Third, even if you were the top in the country you're not even earning what the middle half in other countries earn. To put this in perspective, an English Division One player earns maybe a thousand or two thousand quid a week. The top S-League players earn about three to four thousand dollars a month.

All this effort into sports this country is putting in is like the neighbourhood rich kid who sucks in basketball but uses his money to build a basketball court to let the poorer kids play even though he knew he'd just end up buried in the middle of the spectators anyway. Everybody would be saying how generous he is and how he is contributing to the neighbourhood but they'll all be sniggering behind his back, knowing all he wants is people to like him.

But you have to eventually admit that it is good for the economy because of the tourists that it will definitely bring, and for the guys my age entering NUS after NS that means a whole bunch of hot 17-year-old gymnasts wandering around the campus when they're not balancing on a piece of wood or doing a number of somersaults that would make an average man faint.