outliers - the story of success

read the above mentioned book by malcom gladwell. it is a very insightful book which revealed to us the true underlying reasons for success - and they arent what people think they are. people usually attribute the success of a certain person to his drive or his derring-do or his determination, etc. the book debunks such myths. i'm not saying that such traits arent important. of course they are. what i'm actually saying is that the reasons for the success of such people are a result of a combination of unforseen factors. it is not necessarily hard work that made them successful. more often that not, it is more a matter of demographics, race, genetics, culture and yes, opportunity.

having read the book, i cant help but feel that i am a victim of the invisible hand of global processes. some finger i cannot see prodding me along. the slow but inexorable walk towards my destiny. lady luck doesnt want to smile on me. perhaps if i were born in another country at another time to another system, i might be a rock-star today. think i'm boasting? think again.

i spoke to some old birds today (i like conversing with the old-timers there is much wisdom in their words) and i gathered some information regarding the inner workings of the upper echelons of the rockclimbing fraternity in Singapore. some people give degrogatory terms to the Singapore Mountaineering Federation (SMF for short). they call it the Singapore Monkey Federation. i must admit that i was initially of that view too - until i spoke to amir and heard both sides of the story. once again, this reaffirms my faith in always hearing both sides of the story first before passing judgement. and even if passing judgement, to keep those comments to myself.

apparently, the SMF is under the International Sport Climbing Federation (ISCF). the ISCF is trying to elevate sport climbing to the status of an olympic sport. members of ISCF have to pay ISCF 3000 swiss francs a year as 'subscription' money. you know how the world works. we all need to conform to something. you need to listen to your teacher; your teacher needs to listen to the principal; so on and so forth. without the backing of ISCF, SMF would lose its moral backing/authority and its bargaining chips with the Singapore Sports Association (SSA). it would cease to become a legitimate association.

SSA comes under the jurisdiction of the government. the source of its budget is from the government coffers. they receive a fixed budget annually and have to account for how the money is spent and whether it is put to its best use. naturally they would allocate higher budgets to the mainstream sports that bring back more medals. it is a chicken and egg story. mainstream sports are socially accepted. teens with potential are talent scouted at a young age. a career as an an athlete in that sport is viable. they train hard and win glory. the SSA pumps more money into the sport. the sport becomes more glamourous. SSA allocates even higher budget to the sport.

SSA gives the SMF $0 for its budget. SMF has to cough out money to pay ISCF its 3000 swiss francs a year otherwise it loses its membership rights and hence its backing. because it has no funds, strong singaporean rockclimbers who have the potential to excel at overseas competitions have to fork out their own money to fly to the organising country and to participate on their own accord. this is unheard of in any professional sport. it is a sure-fire way to drive athletes away. rockclimbing athletes who have potential here are passed over. the sec sch kids have O levels. the older teens have A levels and their 'future'. after which they have army and that means 2 years of no climbing. the working adults cannot train full time because they need to feed their families. thus, there is no point to train open difficulty climbers, because naturally they would get thrashed by the koreans/japanese who train full time. i heard the qualifying grade for such comps are 7c+, which is near to impossible to the climber who doesnt climb a lot (if you read the book it's stated as 10 000 hours of work before you become a true master) - and that is precisely what our climbers arent getting enough. fair enough, maybe our climbers are climbing a lot, or they are trying to the best of their ability to put in as much time as possible given the limitations, but i could probably guess that their herculean efforts would pale in comparism to that of the koreans/japanese.

a combination of the factors mentioned explains the predicament of the rockclimbing scene in singapore to a certain extent. singapore needs a disciplined workforce to shoulder the economy on their backs; entrepreniurial businessmen to rake in revenue from overseas empires; foreign workers to build the nation's infrastructure; service-oriented drones to run the integrated resorts seamlessly. in short, they need everyone else but rockclimbers. furthermore, the rockclimbing industry here is not as established or self sufficient as that of the western countries. we do not have our very own petzl or black diamond or la sportiva or evolv or beal.

the most frustrating thing is that all of these makes sense. but i can do nothing within my power to change it. if i were a government official, i wouldnt want to pump in any money into a sport that does not have as much track record (or foreign talent if you please) as swimming or table-tennis. if i were a degree-holding graduate, i would not seek a career in the rockclimbing industry given its lack of recognition and the lack of a dependable salary. if i were a rockclimbing athlete, i must have taken too many lead falls (and thus busted my brains) if i were willing to pay for the expenses, of travelling to another country and competing in singapore's name, myself.

the people working in the SMF are volunteers. how much effort do you expect of people who arent paid? TT Durai was paid 'peanuts' to run NKF. we see that there is often a direct correlation between pay scale and talent. if we want SMF to be in the hands of talented and capable individuals, then we must pay them the salary that is deserving of them. the volunteers at SMF are running on some other fuel. love? passion? air? grass? i infer that it must be less than 'peanuts'. SMF cannot provide much support for local bouldering competitions because it has little/no funds and its staff are just volunteers. the seeds of conflict and discord are sown. i am a small fry, but i can easily see that what we need is for the industry to revamp its image and work together to raise the prestige of the sport in Singapore - if it wants to even have a slight chance to raise its profile a little.

as such, i cannot help but wonder that if i were born in a country that is less conservative and more supportive and has a burgeoning rockclimbing scene, perhaps i'll be writing down this short blog post as a rock-star and not as a student-still-searching. call me naive if you will, but read the book first. of course i am appreciative that i'm born in a country with a stable economy and strong leadership and with equal opportunities for all. but this isnt the opportunity i want. one man's meat is another man's poison.