DOES a lack of facility warrant striking off football as a CCA?

No, said James Wong, the teacher in charge of the Victoria School (VS) football team who argues that a lack of space should not prevent a school from offering football as a CCA.

Along with RI and Saint Joseph's Institution, VS dominated the school football scene some three decades ago.

But while the other two schools have since dropped the sport, VS has kept football on its CCA line-up even till today.

'We don't always need the whole field, we can do our training on half a field,' said Wong, 33, who represented the boys' school as a centre-back from 1989 to 1992.

'Some days, when we do physical training, we don't need the field. We can make use of other resources in school as well,' he added.

'We can also play floorball in the hall as well because it develops the anaerobic endurance.

'These alternative forms of training are beneficial too.

'So I think it is not a good reason to shut down a CCA based on availability of resources.'

For Victoria School, good old creativity is their answer to a lack of space.

LIM SAY HENG

This article was first published in The New Paper on January 19, 2009.