National Team (Women's) selection
Date: 17th January 2004
Location: Tampines Millennium Court
Organized by: InSSAS (Inline Skating Sports Association Singapore)

* Women's National Team (8-12 players) needed
* SSC sponsorship to attend the FIRS World Championships
* only 10 women turned up for the selection
* approximately only 50 women play in Singapore

Being the first year, we were surprised not to see a public announcement or email inviting ALL Singaporean women players to come forward for the opportunity to represent their Country at the upcoming "Worlds" in Canada. AIHS could have introduced more women players and assist with the selection process (AIHS has done for the Men's team previously) however AIHS was not invited, informed nor given the opportunity to assist. Not surprising there were 10 women who turned up for the "selection" (there are usually 8-12 players in a team), and they were all put through a series of training drills by Georg..

Although it is a a great achievement to find funds and have 10 women interested to go to the FIRS World Championships, AHIS Committee believes more could be achieved at the grass roots with more positive results rather than paying for a 12-16 person team to one Championships and this is why.

In 2003, the Women's Team from Singapore (mostly the same women from this years selection), attended the FIRS World Championships in Chec Republic. They ranked 10th out of 10 but gained un measurable experience. AIHS encourages participation at tournaments even if we know and expect to be at the bottom of the pack as we are Learners not Losers however, if there are only 50 women players in Singapore how can we expect to better our position, performance for both the short and long term? It is obvious that we need more Women players and that, arguably, will not be achieved by bringing home a low ranking result or even a medal from a World Championships because there are not enough women even interested or playing the game, its simply a numbers game.

Currently singapore has 50 women who can play play
About 20 who are at competitive level
And 10 who were interested to be in the National Team

Use the budget allocation + a dedicated team of women volunteers and Increase the base of skaters to 150in the next 12 months and see the results, at least 20-30 competitive players who are interested and capable to be in the National Team. This still seems like a small number (it is) but its better than sending 10 players each year from the same small pool, there is simply no sport development in that only selected player development, what's the goal!?

With all due respects, wouldn't the money be better spent on free training programs, in school programs, and road show type events to encourage women to get involved and play inline hockey?