disgusting

so yesterday i called tay up and we agreed to go play table tennis. i have a renewed interest in the game, and tay had kindly agreed to train me. we decided to go to Macpherson Community Center to play. we had been playing there for several years already, until i moved abroad for my studies. we had very much appreciated the free facilities there, as Community Centers' should be.

when we got there, we did not find any table. a "quick" check (well, more like a slow check... that woman made us wait for almost 15 minutes) with the staff later, it appeared that one can NO LONGER play table tennis in the Community Center except only on Saturdays, 10 am-12 pm, a pathetic and paltry 2 hours. the sports hall where the table tennis table was, is now used exclusively for FEE PAYING badminton players. the table has been removed completely, stored somewhere.

and then it all sinks in. tay had called Macpherson Community Center up earlier that morning, and checked if there was still a table there for us to play. the staff told us yes, the table was available. but he actually had the cheek to discourage us from playing because, get this, "badminton players might be interrupted by the table tennis players". tay had not thought much of it then.

this is blatant profit seeking behaviour! because badminton courts require booking fees, the Community Center gives priority to the badminton players! and the thing is, its not as if the table tennis table occupy the same space as the badminton courts. they are in the same hall, but the table tennis table was at an isolated corner of the hall. instead of thinking logically, which is to put a simple barrier around that corner, they choose to ban play completely. and why? because they can derive revenue from badminton. and why waste precious revenue on buying the barriers? they probably cost a princely 50 dollars or so.

granted badminton as a recreational sport is more popular than table tennis, but i am questioning the fundamental reasoning here. i love badminton very much too, don't get me wrong. however the reasons behind removing the table tennis table completely are highly dubious.

and the story does not end here. we went to 2 more Community Centers and both of them had removed the tables in favour of badminton. in Geyland Serai Community Center, the table tennis players had to, get this, buy their own tables and place it in an isolated room upstairs, sharing the room with the aikido classes. and its not open to public. in Eunos, there were no tables altogether for the public! in the end, at Eunos, somehow we found a table located in the middle of no where. indignant, we just dragged the table out and played table tennis defiantly outside the main office. the venue was horrid, the lighting absent but we had to make a statement.

Table tennis has been the only sport that has brought some measure of international success to Singapore. i dare say, even more so than sailing. li jiawei and company had achieved true international success. yet if our community centers are not willing to support the sport among the masses, our future success will be just that --> a visage of imported, naturalized foreign players.

we are not asking for much. just a simple table at an isolated corner, is that too much? exercise some common sense please, our Community Centers. don't let the concept of profit and self sustaining revenues cloud the greater good.