Taking It to the Next Level - within reason

Ever increasing demands for the ultimate dish is always the next one

      Our previous Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kwan Yew once put it to his citizens that life is a marathon, a never ending run with no finish line. Yes, I agree with that but only partially. At this stage in life, I find myself running an uphill marathon, an uphill climb with no end in sight.

      We always want to better our last act, improve on the bottom line year after year. Perhaps that is why perfectionists are such unhappy people, as they know they will have to go downhill after a certain time.

     I believe that we have to find a balance between what is set out as an ambitious goal and what can realistically be achieved given the limited resources one has. Look at Singapore's football team, almost 20 years ago, we were minnows only playing and achieving Malaysia cup success. Now 20 years later, we are the AFP Asian Football Suzuki Cup Champions for 4 times, the most in South East Asia. But, our FIFA ranking is a paltry 144 and we have never really improved much since the 1990s. 

     Singapore football is still outside the top 10 in Asia with Japan, S Korea, China, Qatar, Oman, Jordan,  S. Arabia, Australia and New Zealand streets ahead of us. Our foreign talent programme has failed, we have not even made in to the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Cup!

    Perhaps thats where the study of sport which we have had a first mover advantage. Take Shooting, Sailing, Table Tennis, Badminton, and even Swimming. We are nearing World Standard.

   Taking it to the next level is where we see where we can make a tremendous improvment in a short span of time with the same amount of investment, that is where we have improved so much in the last 20 years for the above 5 sports so far,

   Football, the Contact Sports, Rugby, Tennis, Squash, Athletics, well lets take a reality check.