By Chan Han Keong

WHEN I started working, my supervisor gave me a bit of advice.

She asked: "What is the one thing you're most passionate about?"

Back then, I was still in my rebellious rock "n" roll phase, so I said immediately: "Music."

"Then make sure you never work in the music industry," she replied just as quickly.

"Because you'll eventually be cynical about whatever field you work in.

If you want to be passionate about music for as long as possible, stay away from it."

That conversation partly explains why I work as a sports journalist, although I was just as keen on sports back then.

Yet, just as my supervisor said, the longer I work in sports, the more bitter I feel about it.

Sports is fast losing its magical capability to uplift the human spirit.

Greed is driving professional sports to such a degree that cheating is virtually condoned in some lucrative sports (think Formula One and its leniency with Renault over its fixing of last year's Singapore Grand Prix).

Athletes desperate for glory resort to performance-enhancing drugs, while money is all that talks with sports teams and players - not to mention its being an omnipresent spectre in the form of gambling.

It is in times like these that I keep an eye out for any morsel of uplifting news on sports or events that can, at the very least, ease that suffocating feeling of cynicism.

Last week, I found two.

The first occurred outside Cathay Cineleisure Orchard last Friday, and it was a conversation I had with an old English tourist.

He was stopped in his tracks by loud cheerleading - part of a Youth Olympics event to introduce its presenters for next year's inaugural Games.

The Englishman was amazed at the young presenters' enthusiasm, and when I explained their purpose to him, he said: "Your event's going to be a big success if all of Singapore's youth can be as energetic as that."

No arguments there.

Last Saturday, I woke up early to join thousands of red-shirted Singaporeans at the Nike+ Human Race, an event in which about a million runners all over the world run at the same time.

To run 10km without the additional push of benefiting charities takes plenty of enthusiasm.

I found out that of the 10,000 local runners, about 60 per cent were under 25 years old.

These two instances proved that the galvanising effect of youth can never be underestimated.

When it comes to sports, youthful enthusiasm can always triumph over unsavoury cynicism.

hankeong@sph.com.sg

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