Some Things Never Change

Every year there is the MSSM (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia) tournament and it has been on for like close to 10 years now for squash. You may think that by now the people running the show would be quite good at organizing the various components needed to get it going, right? NAH... Still making stupid screw ups like they only came in yesterday.

You see, in Penang, the MSSPP (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Pulau Pinang) is in charge to make sure that the state has a team to participate in the event. The U-18 event is to begin on the 22nd of April 2008 and they are supposed to leave on the 21st. Now, the person in charge had told the team that they will leave on the 20th of April instead of the 21st. A check with the department confirmed that the departure date is the 21st. So which is the correct date?

The person in charge has yet to inform the players or hold any kind of briefing to inform the players regarding the tournaments and the requirements. Is it so difficult to have a meeting to brief everyone? Then the issue of attire... The person in charge has yet to distribute the attire to the players except for the duffel bag. No letter has also been given to the parents informing them about the details of the trip and tournament e.g. tournament venue, accommodation, time to drop and pick the kids, etc. This is absurd from the Education Ministry! How can such sloppiness be accepted? And this has been going on for the last 5 years.

The initial 3 years were very good and the person in charge was none other than Nicol David's mum. She was excellent with the paperwork and everything else. Then when she retired, the new guy was hopeless and it has continued till today except it is a new guy even though he was part of the team that the previous person that was in charge. They just can't seem to learn, can they?

They left on a Monday the 21st of April with 7 players and guess what? 9 officials... What the hell? And 16 of them in a 44 seater bus all by themselves. Then, no matches on the 22nd but only the opening ceremony. And the tournament schedule is only 4 days, 23rd to 26th April for both individual and team events. This means 2 days for each event... This is absolute madness for the U-18 standard. They will be forced to play 3 matches at least twice during the tournament. And even though the tournament ends on the 26th, they will only return on the 27th. This means 3 days of doing nothing.

Only plus point I can see is that the team is staying in a hotel nearby and this is a first after the many years of hostel that are not fit for anyone to stay in. So a four star hotel is indeed a welcomed option. Hope this stays on from now onwards.

This maybe my last post for a while as I will be in Shanghai from tomorrow onwards. All blogs are blocked by the ISPs there as part of the government directives. If they have changed that, then I will update you on my 2nd trip to Shanghai. Till then, happy squashing.


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